Nigeria's election and the economy

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nigerians head to the polls very soon, in what's expected to be a very closely-contested election. In this episode of Business Daily Rob Young explores how the economy could impact the vote.

Africa’s largest economy, is struggling with soaring prices, fuel shortages and insecurity. We hear from Maty Ukhuegbe Osaro who runs a restaurant in Lagos called The Fish Lady, she tells us how the pandemic and rising prices have affected her business and about her hopes for the outcome of this election.

Economist and financial business boss, Bismarck Rewane, says us the uncertainty around the election has led some large businesses to hold off taking key decisions and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organisation, and former finance minister in Nigeria tells us she's optimistic about Nigeria's economic potential.

Presenter / producer: Rob Young Image :Campaign rally for the Labour Party in Lagos; Credit: Getty Images

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love, Janessa, a brand new true crime podcast from the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts.
0:07.2	It's a story about love, deceit and survival, and it's available now.
0:12.2	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:17.3	Hello, I'm Rob Young. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Coming up, Nigeria is about to hold what is expected to be the most closely contested election in its history. Many businesses and consumers are anxious.
0:31.2	A lot of people have actually postponed their final investment decisions. It's not clear as to what type of policy is going to come after the elections.
0:41.0	Africa's largest economy is also struggling with soaring prices, fuel shortages and insecurity.
0:47.3	The abductors are getting bolder in terms of the people that they're targeting
0:51.1	and the ransoms are getting more expensive.
0:53.9	Obviously, the people across the country are also even more worried about this dynamic.
0:58.0	The challenges facing Nigeria's economy city, is incredibly busy.
1:17.2	There's barely room to move.
1:18.7	But here, like in markets and shops across the country, prices have been going up for months
1:23.7	by an average of just over 21% in the past year.
1:29.7	Food prices have gone up by even more.
1:38.6	In this nearby restaurant called the fish lady, the owner, Mathieu Kwegbe Asaro, is chopping vegetables to serve with her speciality, grilled fish. Like everyone else in Nigeria, Matty's felt the impact of the rising food prices
1:46.3	and it's hitting business as consumers are more careful about what they spend.
1:51.2	What's been happening with the customer numbers lately is that, I mean, first off, before COVID,
1:56.9	the business was split between dining and deliveries. During COVID, we moved to strictly delivery,
2:02.3	and that had a huge impact on sales because the nature of business is fresh-grilled fish,
2:06.1	I mean, which is better eating straight out of the fire.
2:09.2	Now, post-COVID, we're seeing a slow return of diners,
2:12.6	but the deliveries are slowing down because of the increase in prices.
	...

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