Since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, the cost of petrol has increased by a factor of more than five.
Bolaji Emmanuel was forced to part with both his driver and his Honda Pilot utility vehicle due to the nation’s economic crisis and skyrocketing petrol prices.The rising cost of living is causing him difficulty.Emmanuel is not alone. Due to rising costs, many people in the most populous nation in Africa are giving up driving.
Tiger nuts are sold at the market in Jibia on February 18, 2024. – Nigeria, which shares 1,600 km of border with its neighbor, was until now one of Niger’s main trading partners with $193 million in exports in 2022 according to the United Nations (electricity, tobacco, cement, etc). Since the border closure, it has even been a double whammy for the local population, who have seen food prices explode under the combined effect of new movement restrictions and galloping inflation after the Nigerian president , Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in office since May, implemented economic reforms which plunged the country into crisis. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)
Since May 2023, when President Bola Tinubu took office, the price of petrol has increased by more than five times.”I parked it at my son’s residence. Emmanuel, a 72-year-old retired health worker, told AFP, “I now use public transport.” “It may not be convenient, but the state of the economy requires it.”
After taking office, Tinubu terminated an expensive fuel subsidy and devalued the naira, two measures that experts and government officials believe will boost the nation’s economy and draw in foreign capital.
A file photo of a resident at a market in Akure, Ondo State. Photo: Sodiq Adelakun
However, Nigeria is currently experiencing one of its worst crises in decades due to a three-decade high in inflation.A litre of gasoline was selling for about 195 naira right before Tinubu became president. Beginning in early October, the price increased to at least 998 naira ($0.61) per litre in Lagos and 1,030 naira in the nation’s capital, Abuja. It can go for as much as 1,300 naira elsewhere.In June, inflation hit a nearly three-decade high of 34.19 percent. Subsequently, in September, it decreased to 32.7%.
According to the World Bank, over 40% of the population lives in poverty, making the decline in purchasing power even more difficult for the locals. It is anticipated that this number will increase in 2024 and 2025 before levelling off in 2026.The middle class in Nigeria, which accounted for roughly 20% of the country’s population in 2020, is now willing to forgo the comforts of private vehicles in order to survive.
People buy and sell food at the Illaje market, in Bariga, Lagos, on June 29, 2021. Since the start of the pandemic in 2019, food prices have risen by an average of more than 22%, according to official statistics, and feeding a family properly has become a daily challenge. Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP
Automobile dealers in Lagos and Abuja told AFP that, in an effort to save money, they had noticed an increasing number of people trading in their fuel-guzzling cars and SUVs for more economical vehicles.Automobile dealer Maji Abubakar in Abuja told AFP that “people are actually selling their big cars these days.” “The issue is that there is not much demand for them, even if you put them on the market.””The primary reason I have not sold an eight-cylinder car in over a year is the cost of petrol,” he continued.
Nigerians Give Up Automobiles As The Crisis In Living Expenses Deepens
Even the infamous “go-slow” traffic in Lagos has decreased as fewer cars are on the road.– Used or Chinese cars, bicycles –For months, Ogun-based tech entrepreneur Elijah Bello has been trying to find a buyer for his Lexus RX 350 SUV.He replaced it with a smaller, more energy-efficient Toyota Corolla later on.The trend started last year, and according to Bunmi Bailey, head of research at SBM Intelligence risk consultancy, “will intensify” and “we will see fewer cars on the roads.”Bailey’s little car is filled with 55,000 naira. He told AFP that he could use it for two weeks for his typical commute from home to work, despite the fact that his larger car uses 110,000 naira worth of petrol in just eight days.
According to Kunle Jaiyesinmi, deputy director at the Lagos-based CFAO Group, which specialises in automobile distribution, the market for new cars has decreased by 10 to 14 percent over the past year.”If you want to negotiate the price, you see that it is within the range of 95 or 100 million ($57,000 to $60,000) for an SUV that sold for 40 to 45 million naira ($24,000 to $27,000) about two years ago,” Jaiyesinmi told AFP.However, persistent inflation and strong currency rates are pushing more middle-class individuals towards used Chinese-made vehicles rather than those with American or Japanese brands.
Despite the lack of suitable infrastructure in places like Lagos, where auto accidents are frequent, some people are switching to bicycles.”Yes, we have seen an increase in cycling… for several months now since the fuel price increase,” stated Femi Thomas, the director of FT Cycle Care, a Lagos-based group that encourages riding bicycles.
Glovo, a food delivery platform, reported that its users were becoming more interested in bicycle deliveries.The group’s public relations manager in Nigeria, Chidera Akwuba, told AFP that about 20% of orders are delivered by bike.