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A former member of the National Assembly, Dr Farah Dagogo, has lamented the continued plummeting of the value of the Nigerian currency, noting that ₦40,000 in 2015 is equivalent to over ₦500,000 in today's economy.
Dagogo, who represented Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives while in office, said this in a special Eid-ul-Adha message to Muslims faithful across the country.
He charged the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to devise workable economic policies that would alleviate the sufferings and hardship being experienced by the majority of Nigerians.
The former lawmaker raised concerns that all economic indicators point to further pains for the citizenry, describing the current living standards and situations in the country as ‘grim.’
Dagogo wondered why the masses would continue to wallow in so much misery despite the abundant natural resources present in the country.
“Today, yesterday and especially in the past year, the people’s purchasing powers have reduced drastically. Never has this country witnessed this level of hyperinflation in its history, not even during our civil war. It is a grim reality.
“The value of ₦40, 000 in 2015 is equivalent to over ₦500, 000 in today’s Nigeria in 2024. Criss-cross the costs of goods and services during this period and vis-a-vis the reality of today and we all will come to that sad realisation. That was why labour was justifiably demanding for a living wage.
“The inconsolable unavoidable truth is that the value of the money most people are getting or earning in 2024 is not too different from that of 2015, but the purchasing powers have practically gone out the window,” he said in a statement issued by his media aide, Ibrahim Lawal, on Saturday, June 15, 2024.
“Anti-people and inhuman economic policies have helped put the people in a terrible state. Money that could comfortably procure over 10 50kg bags of rice in 2015 can only buy one now, yet no improvement in the real money in the hands of the people.
“Something has to give way, this cannot continue. These sufferings and hardships have to be remedied. Unfortunately, optics point to further pains for the citizenry,” he added.