A Nadir Of Hope In ‘The New Normal'?

As Africa’s biggest economy marks its diamond jubilee, there are mixed views for its post-pandemic recovery forecast. But there is reason to be hopeful about the hyper-competitiveness and resilience of the country’s middle class and youth through the fog of uncertainty.

- Muyiwa Moyela

OCTOBER IS CELEBRATION SEASON IN NIGERIA. A historic excuse for some dining, sober reflection and bouts of national moaning.

As Africa’s largest economy by GDP marks her diamond jubilee independence anniversary on October 1, the theatrics of the political class, the floundering economy and the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the polity occupy the mind of most Nigerians.

Every October, Nigerians unite to engage in the pyrrhic ritual of collective nostalgia and wishful thinking. They embed their hopes, patriotic aspirations, pains and perforated potential in long speeches. This October, they will also ponder the fate of their personal and collective economy in the emerging post Covid-19 world.

Some 42% of employed Nigerians surveyed had lost their jobs during the pandemic, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

By July 2020, inflation had accelerated to 13%, the highest in 27 months. The pandemic showcased Nigeria’s (and also sub-Saharan Africa’s) underinvestment in her public infrastructure, housing, education and healthcare sectors.

Nigeria’s physician-to-patient ratio is four doctors per 10,000 patients, according to World Health Organization data. Statistically, a third of Nigerians born in 1960 may have already died.

The country has the world’s third-lowest life expectancy rate of 55 years, only better than Central African Republic (54) and Sierra Leone (53), according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). War-torn Afghanistan has 65 years, Somalia, 58 and Syria, 73.