Is delulu the solulu?
Financial experts are not impressed with President Tinubu’s inflation goal
Good morning, Big Brains. How’s 2025 treating you? I love it here already. I’m turning a pretty age tomorrow and the year just feels glorious already. I hope you’re pumped too. And if you’re not, no pressure. We literally have 11 months left.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1, 000
Reading time ~ 4 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Financial experts say our president is delulu
Labour said, “New year, new minimum wage.”
The Big Deal
Financial experts say our president is delulu
The “delulu” trend died a social death in 2024 but thanks to President Tinubu, it might be making a comeback in 2025. Like everybody and their mom, Tinubu announced his New Year resolution during the 2025 ₦49.7 trillion budget presentation to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, saying Nigeria’s inflation rate would drop from 34.6% to 15% by 2025. To every Nigerian without a trust fund, this sounded like something to look forward to, but to financial experts, it sounded like a delusion that was not worth a second thought.
Actually, delusion is a cuter way of describing the president’s goal. The Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, decided to be more sarcastic by describing the 15% inflation target for 2025 as “aspirational” and “bullish”.
In Rewane’s words, “...the target is an aspiration; the reality that we think is inflation could reduce from approximately 35% to somewhere like 27% or 25%, but a 15% rate on inflation is very bullish and aspirational, but we are free to have our aspirations.”
Why is this a big deal?
Two things happened in May 2023: President Tinubu became president, and Nigeria’s inflation rate hit 22.41%. It’s been almost two years since then, and the only thing that has remained consistent is Nigeria’s skyrocketing inflation rate.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, some famous Tinubu reforms (like the floating of the naira and removal of fuel subsidies) can be blamed for the constant rise in inflation. The last time we checked, these reforms are still as active as ever. Economists like Paul Alaje believe that nothing will change until the president reviews some of his policies. Unlike Rewane’s 27% prediction, Alaje is of the opinion that inflation won’t go below the 30% benchmark in 2025.
If that is true, 2025 will most likely be as financially challenging as 2024 was, especially for low and middle-income earners in Nigeria.
Right now, about 56% of Nigerians are living below the poverty line. This is one of the worst figures we’ve seen in years. 2025 was the year we were all hoping things would get better. As positive as that may sound, financial experts calling our president delusional isn’t exactly giving us a reason to remain optimistic. Good luck to all of us.
Labour said, “New year, new minimum wage”
Nobody planned to carry over 2024 struggles into 2025, but here we are, starting the new year with the same old minimum wage drama.
Labour is now pushing for the ₦70,000 minimum wage to be adjusted yearly to match Nigeria’s ever-rising inflation.
Labour leaders say the old system of waiting three to five years to review wages is outdated and doesn’t reflect the harsh realities Nigerian workers face daily. On January 1, President Festus Osifo of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) explained their new proposal. “Why wait five years to increase wages when inflation is hitting us every year? Let’s make adjustments annually based on the inflation rate,” he said.
He also explained that the yearly wage adjustments will be tied to inflation rates released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). He broke it down like this: “For instance, by January 15, 2025, NBS will release December’s inflation rate. If it’s 35%, apply that to the ₦70,000 minimum wage to keep its value in check.”
He admitted that while ₦70,000 is better than the previous ₦30,000, it’s still not enough in a country battling skyrocketing living costs, worsened by the removal of petrol subsidies and rising energy bills.
“This isn’t just a wish,” Osifo added. “It’s something we started discussing last year, and we’re not stopping in 2025. Adjusting wages annually based on inflation is the way forward. Waiting years just doesn’t make sense anymore.”
Maybe this would inspire President Tinubu to lock in on his 15% inflation goal. God abeg x10.
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Happy Birthday in advance Margaret!