Most times in Nigeria, conditions of living hardly improve, and neither do difficulties ease. What happens is that we adjust to the new hardship, which then becomes like normal until a new hardship, usually increase in prices of fuel, gas, forex rate and consequently, goods occurs. We go about another round of whining and adjust again to the new normal. That has been our lot.
Take two examples. The Goodluck Jonathan administration was thought to be cruel when it contemplated the fuel price increase of 2012. Today, we have adjusted to Bola Tinubu’s over 400 per cent of Jonathan’s then proposed price hike (there was no whimper from us when Muhammadu Buhari jerked up pump price to above N170). It is believed Tinubu is not done with tampering with the upward adjustment of fuel price. But despite the outcry against rising cost of living, we seem to be gradually adjusting.
Foreign exchange rate is another major indicator of the standard of living index and using recent experiences, Buhari had it hovering around N700 to N850 to a United State Dollar and, boom! Tinubu had javellined it to double the figure in just eight months. It could go higher.
A combination of fuel pump price raise and rapid devaluation of the Naira has worked to raise the cost of everything in shop shelves as well as transportation leading to reduction in the purchasing power of both the common and uncommon man.
What do we have? Nigerians have shrugged their shoulders and adjusted to the new reading. Those who buy standard size loaf of bread may have elected to settle for the lower standard or may have struck bread off their menu completely. To avoid paying higher fare to destinations, some now trek or even decide not to go to the place anymore. Most Southeasterners adjusted their usual December home rush by staying back in their stations.
In all, Ibrahim Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme was specially designed by the International Monetary Fund for Nigeria and Nigerians because, way back in 1986, they already knew how elastic our capacity to adjust is.
