2022 will be tough if Nigeria fails to restructure —Gani Adams

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, yesterday, said with the current situation of things in the nation, Nigerians may have to be ready for a tough 2022, if the Federal Government fails to embrace restructuring. Speaking during the second edition of the Odo Erelu festival in Lagos, Adams said that as of today, the Nigerian economy is obviously in a terrible condition, while naira is falling on a daily basis. His words: “For instance, N700 exchanges for one British Pound Sterling at the moment, while the Dollar is put at N578, and Euro is currently N656, at the official rate. Our naira continues to fall to the global currencies. And this has affected the exchange rates in the global market. “The economy is obviously not stable. Prices of essential food and commodities are on the high side. A bag of rice produced here in Nigeria is put at N25,000, while garri, which is also a very important commodity for the low-income earner, is no longer affordable to the people. “Today in Nigeria, nothing is free because everything has been monetized. And corruption has taken its toll on the entire system. Meanwhile, inflation and the current economic downturn have triggered the growing spate of insecurity across the country. “In Nigeria today, the middle class could hardly survive the harsh economic crisis while the lower class is languishing in poverty. We don’t need a prophet to tell us that by 2022, the naira might still slip further beyond what we can salvage because prices of commodities have gone beyond our reach. “From the present economic situation in the country, if President Buhari fails to save the economy from collapsing before December, this year, God forbids, we should be ready for a very tough time by 2022. “Federating units will allow each region to be able to harness the social, political and economic potentials of their respective regions. It will boost agriculture and provide effective security for farmers.” He also said that many of the evils that befell Yorubaland were as a result of ignorance and failure to celebrate ancestors.