By John Odhe, YENAGOA
Citizens are faulting the World Bank Nigeria’s latest development update, questioning how the financial organisation arrived at its findings.
They query the bank’s assessment of declining inflation and economic stability amidst persistent increase in the prices of food and other essential commodities.
The reactions followed president Bola Tinubu’s endorsement of the report, insisting that it was an indication that his administration’s commitment to economic reforms were yielding positive results.
However, callers to an audience participatory Radio programme in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, rejected the world bank projections, insisting that they did not reflect the harsh economic realities across the country.
Some of the callers described the report’s claim of economic improvement as merely existing only on papers, maintaining that many households were struggling to meet their basic daily needs amidst high cost of living.
During the phone in session, some callers who identified themselves as Jacob and James said: “this economic changes that we are hearing about is newspaper changes.
“Some of us who did not know how to eat madiga this Tinubu’s government has taught us how to eat madiga.
“If the president says the country’s economy is now balanced, let him tell us how much he has paid out of the money he has borrowed from the world bank and other countries.
“If you go to the market, the jerry can of groundnut oil that we have been buying for N50,000 has climbed to N70,000. If they are saying that our economy has improved, they are just deceiving themselves.”
