Like millions of fellow Nigerians, Rotimi Bankole says he wants to use Saturday’s presidential elections to push for a better life in his oil-rich but crisis-ridden country.
Double-digit inflation, weak economic growth and mounting insecurity are major issues for voters on February 25 when they choose a successor to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, due to step down after two terms allowed by law.
“Nigeria has been so difficult to cope and live in,” Bankole said. “Survival has been tough.”
For years, the 54-year-old struggled to take care of his family of five while doing two jobs.
Recently, he took on a third job — driving a taxi — but that could only make an extra N5, 000.00 ($11) — hardly enough in a country where the cost of living has spiralled to record levels.
Africa’s largest economy and the continent’s top oil producer, Nigeria has resources and wealth, but the global pandemic and the economic fallout from the Ukraine war hit the country hard in Buhari’s last term.
Inflation is at 21.8 percent, the naira currency has weakened and the World Bank says more Nigerians are now living below the poverty line.
Compounding economic hardships, the country has been hit with fuel shortages and also a scarcity of cash after the central bank began to swap old naira notes for new bills.
A chronic shortage of cash has created lines outside banks and triggered protests in some cities, even as the central bank says the policy is needed to curb the amount of cash outside the banking system.
Bankole started driving a taxi two months ago, but the recent major fuel and cash scarcity has compounded his misery.
He spends long hours in queues at petrol stations, paying as much as N330 for a litre as against N165 previously.
Even running his school has been tough as parents struggle to pay fees while his printing business is struggling.
(AFP via Channels)
