NIGERIA: WHAT'S THE FUTURE PLAN

Nigeria relies on crude oil sales for more than 90 percent of its export earnings. With the dramatic drop in the price of crude oil in the wake of the global economic crisis, Nigeria’s income has diminished. The drop in the price of crude oil and the sweeping panic following the sub-prime mortgage market collapse in the U.S. in 2008 saw foreign investors pulling their money out of the country and resulted in a shortage of hard currency. This led to a fall in the value of the local currency, the Naira. In the black market, where most Nigerians source their hard currency dropped by about 50 percent. The official rate also fell to N145. Inflation Higher production costs for the manufacturing sector are transferred on to consumers leading to inflation. Just like the manufacturing sector, small businesses transfer some of their costs to the consumer. According to Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, inflation rose from 8.2 percent in April, to 9.7 percent in May. The rising inflation and the inability of many Nigerians to cope with it have caused some disquiet around the country. In May, workers started a series of demonstrations to demand higher pay. The main workers union, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, wanted the minimum wage - currently the equivalent of 30 dollars a month - to rise to about 300 dollars. These greatly increased wages say NLC officials, were needed to cushion the effects of inflation.Ismail Bello, an official of the workers' union, fears the worst if the government goes ahead with deregulation. "For us deregulation will mean further increase in prices of petroleum products. For workers we believe that deregulation will bring more pain, it will result in an increase in prices," he said He adds that deregulation "will result in [further] inflation, it will depress workers pay which is already very depressed given the kind of economic crisis that we are going through."