Nigeria is not the only country facing economic hardship — Fashola

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, says the rising cost of living and economic hardship bedeviling Nigerians are not peculiar to the country.

Speaking in an interview with Channel Television, on Friday, March 25, the minister said the raging crisis in Nigeria can be likened to situations in other countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.

He said this after he was confronted with a chart showing indices such as a 220 percent increase in fertiliser prices between 2020 and 2022, decline of the naira’s value by 59.45 percent, and rise in the cost of cooking gas by 129 percent within the same time period.

According to him, “I think it is perhaps not helpful to publish that spreadsheet in isolation. What you should do is to compare it with the rest of the world. Tell me anywhere in the world where the cost of living is not rising, whether it is UK, US.

Just three days ago, CNN was showing footage of Americans stealing fuel and they would not be stealing it if it was cheap; these are very challenging times globally for the entire world. So this is not an isolated occurrence that affects Nigeria only.

When Covid happened, we responded and put up an economic sustainability committee, and we cushioned the impact of the difficult times on Nigeria through a suite of measures. And the impact and result is now there for us to see.”