By Ahmed Ghani Hassan
Since hearing the news about President Tinubu’s palliative, which he will distribute to Nigerians in order to ease the hardship of the removal of the oil subsidy, I’ve been in a complete daze. Twelve million Nigerians will receive 8000 for six months, which isn’t even enough to represent a quarter of the country’s population. Nigerians are unable to afford the three sequre meal each day as a result of the Removal of the Oil Subsidy. Theft and burglary increased along with the number of unemployed people, so I started to wonder why third-world countries were unpatriotic and why the cause of the backwards for themselves.
The population of Nigeria is currently over 200 million, but only 12 million of those will receive the 8000 for six months, leaving over 50 million Nigerians in extreme poverty and destitute living conditions where the cost of living is high and one measure of rice is now sold for 1100 while the government’s minimum wage is still 30000.
Nigerians suffered a double blow after the removal of the oil subsidy because they are still reeling from the destruction caused by the cashless policy, which also put them in a serious financial bind. As a result, many small-scale businesses are now experiencing job losses due to the stagnation of the economy.
Nigerians will have job possibilities and the country’s economic growth will benefit if the money designated for palliative care is invested in small-scale business and agricultural output. Five people would be employed if 1 million Naira were invested in a small business, and those workers would likely make more than the minimum wage of 30,000 per month.
