Eating the rainbow

Nigeria’s soil supports many species of fruits and vegetables, but the level of their consumption lags behind what it should be, writes OBODO EJIRO.

 

“The oranges are brought in from Gboko, Benue State, the watermelon comes from either Kano or Kebbi State, while the pineapples are brought in from Cotonu, Benin Republic or Edo State. We small traders have to rely on big fruit merchants for supplies from different places so our businesses can continue,” says Idris Adamu, a trader who has made a fortune off selling fruits in Apapa, Lagos.

 

Chapter Zero

More local children and teenagers’ storybooks are being published, but they face many challenges, writes OBODO EJIRO.

"I want that one. No, not that one, I want the one with the dancing princess on the cover,” says a teenage girl, as she stoops over a pack of short storybooks under the Ojuelegba Bridge in Lagos.

Photo Credit: AC Nielsen

Bet On The Stars

The industry emerged unannounced, taking off from the ashes of previously popular football pools. Today, sports betting or gaming, as it is called locally, is big business in Nigeria.
In the past five years, the industry has grown in leaps and bounds, attracting new entrepreneurs and higher patronage.
With outlets now numbering over 300, scattered across the country, most entrepreneurs in the business are Asians (particularly, Indians and Lebanese) who see the opportunity in a country where there is much love for sports.

Saturday, saturday medicine

Concerns about the quality of education from part-time programmes university keep growing writes OBODO EJIRO

During the week, she works as a cashier at a new generation bank in Lagos while he works as a shopkeeper at a small shop in Abeokuta, but at weekends, they are classmates at the University of Lagos. This is how tertiary remedial or part-time programmes bring people together across Nigeria weekly.

FG, CBN battle stagflation as inflation, unemployment rise

The Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are battling an economic anomaly called stagflation as both inflation and unemployment which should have an inverse relationship are rising simultaneously.

The burden of a sale

There is a peculiar challenge facing Nigeria’s economy OBODO EJIRO writes.

They can be seen even when it rains heavily. Young men in their early twenties or late thirties braving the cold, chasing vehicles in desperate efforts to sell loaves of bread in front of Nigeria’s National Stadium in Lagos.

Who moved our cheese?

Decline in oil price (and subsequently, government budgets) often predates economic decline in Nigeria. Proposed states and federal budgets for 2015 confirmed this position earlier this year.

In 2014, 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states budgeted higher than what they spent in 2013. But in 2015, only 9 states had higher budgets compared to what they spent in 2014. (27 states budgeted considerably less than what they spent in 2014 for 2015.)

While state budgets rose by 13 percent in 2014, they dropped by 5.3 percent in 2015. The federal budget for 2015 rose by only 4.3 percent over what was spent in 2014, which amounted to a considerable drop compared to the 2013/2014 period.