Feature/OPED
How Inflation is Changing Consumer Behaviour

By Timi Olubiyi, PhD
Small businesses and consumer goods firms are facing heavy disruption in their supply chain and operational costs due to inflation, currency risk, removal of fuel subsidies leading to a significant increase in energy costs, and scarcity of foreign exchange (FOREX).
In recent times revenues and business forecasts are set to suffer short-term pressures, declines and low or no profits. Because the Nigerian economy is largely import-driven, the unstable foreign exchange rate continues to generate higher import bills for many of these companies.
Consequently, this results in a significant rise in the expenses associated with production and manufacturing in the country, and we have noticed the ongoing constraints on consumer spending and business continuity amidst the rising inflation.
Apart from the challenges above, power, restocking cost, and transportation are among other key factors contributing to the high expenses incurred by all forms of businesses in the country, be it micro, small or big companies at this time.
In fact, small businesses are struggling, and many are on the brink of collapse. Even big companies such as Nigerian Breweries have posted losses and released their audited results for the period ended December 31, 2023, revealing a net loss of N106 billion during the year, largely induced by the impact of the devaluation of the naira on its foreign exchange transactions.
Multinational companies in the country, such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Nestle MTN, and Unilever, are also posting losses, and the list of these companies reporting losses continues to grow. These companies may be unable to pay year 2023 dividends to their shareholders based on this status, which is a concern.
If these challenges persist, many of these multinational companies will hold extremely high foreign-currency-denominated debts, which may significantly strain their business continuity and job security for the teeming employees. Because inflation is still rising, new price levels and the high cost of producing goods and services have continued to be the trend.
Due to this inflation, purchasing power is weakening and the ability to buy goods and services has significantly decreased. Nigeria’s headline inflation has reached its highest levels in over 18 years at 29.90 per cent in January 2024, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
But the real inflation rate in the country occasioned by the food inflation could be well above that. The upward trend in the prices of basic food items continues to disrupt the spending pattern of consumers and citizenry, and individuals are refraining from spending on other households’ needs, products and services. Consumption and spending are currently weak in the country, which should ordinarily be the economy’s primary driver.
Therefore, to stem the current tides, companies may need to adopt strategic measures to cushion the effect of these challenges, particularly the volatile foreign exchange and harsh business environment.
One key way of managing businesses at this time is through cost-saving measures, and one of them is through technology adoption, particularly for service-oriented businesses. Business survival and continuity at this time depend largely on the ability to manage operational costs. If operational cost continues to increase and these businesses cannot transfer these costs to the customers, the businesses will be at risk and in a vulnerable position.
The use of technology may be helpful at this time because it will allow the automation of common processes in business, such as distribution, sales, after-sales service, and inventory management. The marketplace for business transactions will be extended beyond traditional boundaries with the adoption of technology through e-commerce.
The necessary shopping, bargaining, and transactions can take place anywhere, and businesses can be accessible everywhere and anywhere in Nigeria with the adoption.
This strategy’s adoption will provide customer convenience that will enhance and reduce shopping costs. Transactional and operational costs of online transactions are lower; therefore, business operators can showcase, transact and sell anything, even perishable items, such as fresh tomatoes, chicken, and so on these platforms.
In essence, it will reduce huge transportation costs, and e-commerce will provide the platform for businesses, irrespective of their size or number of employees, to thrive beyond borders and geographical location and build reputations. If a country has businesses that produce goods and services that can be sold in the international market, then there is a great likelihood that its currency will be strong.
Companies should strive to achieve this at this time and connect with their high-net-worth customers and business partners promptly and efficiently nationwide and internationally.
Commercial activities are aided faster online, and effective usage of e-commerce can provide this. Likewise, it is convenient for clients to transact online because it will save them the stress of transportation and other logistic cost. By adopting e-commerce, businesses benefit from increased revenues and sales, improved market reach, access to new markets globally and cost savings on marketing and communication expenditures.
Therefore, the ability to quickly and flexibly incorporate new strategies such as e-commerce will set business operators apart during this period, including young entrepreneurs, women in business, agriculturalists, manufacturers and business executives. It will change shopping and consumer behaviour.
How may you obtain advice or further information on the article?
Dr Timi Olubiyi is an Entrepreneurship & Business Management expert with a PhD in Business Administration from Babcock University, Nigeria. He is a prolific investment coach, adviser, author, seasoned scholar, Member of the Institute of Directors, Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) registered capital market operator. He can be reached on the Twitter handle @drtimiolubiyi and via email at [email protected], for any questions, reactions, and comments. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author- Dr Timi Olubiyi and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of others.
Feature/OPED
NDDC: When Public Policy and Public Good Combine To Bring Development

By Jerome-Mario Utomi
Public policy, going by experts’ definition, is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs and encompasses what the government does, or does not do to solve a problem in society.
Correspondingly, policymaking and problem-solving are what citizens expect from their elected and appointed government representatives once they have taken office, and are entrusted with serving their constituency.
Given the foregoing, developing public policy decisions for the good of those in, and on behalf of those outside the government (public) has become not only a culture but vital for public officers and all levels of government — municipal, state, and federal Ministries, Parastatals, Commissions and agencies among others. They met this culture when they joined the service, guided by the culture while in service and ultimately transferred this culture to their successors in office. It is imperative to note that the root of public policy in our nation, just as in other parts of the world, is deep and there is something massive and positive about it.
A veritable example is the people-oriented and sustained development-minded actions and policies of the Mr Chiedu Ebie-led Governing Board and Management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a federal government agency established by former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000, with the sole mandate of developing the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Upon inauguration in November 2023, the NDDC board, to the admiration of all stakeholders, came up with well-thought-out initiatives and projects. Prominent among these projects, programmes and initiatives are the building of partnerships, lighting up the region, initiating sustainable livelihood, improving youth capacity and skills base, executing efficient and cost-effective projects, including Project Hope for Renewed Hope, reducing carbon emission, and improving peace and security.
While the above initiatives and policies remain admirable, there is another policy by the Governing Board and Management that this piece would underline as something massive and positive.
Some months ago, the Commission’s leadership, during the presentation of its N1.91 trillion 2024 budget to the Senate Committee on NDDC, emphasized priorities such as security, job creation, youth and women empowerment, social welfare, education and the profound initiative to raise N1 trillion, from development and commercial banks, for the completion of 1,006 legacy projects spread across the region. These projects were reportedly in specific areas such as roads, bridges, electricity, schools, hospitals, shore protection and reclamation, among others.
Aside from the overt awareness that when abandoned projects are completed and put into use, it saves the nation from wastage, boosts national assets and promotes socio-economic development of the people, region and the nation in general, there are, however, other covert reasons that render this present development as both newsy and commendable. Students of history is familiar with the origin of project abandonment and neglect of national assets in Nigeria and the politics that fuel this will agree that the NDDC governing board and management are on the path to ending an ugly ‘culture’ that has over the years held down the region’s development.
If this policy framework is achieved as envisaged, it is abundantly clear that future historians and, of course, development professionals shall refer to the present board and management as a bunch that restored new order in the region and hope to the people. Beyond what future historians may say, there is equally the need to highlight why this piece is fixated on NDDC’s departure from the old order, and at the very moment on a mission to tackle a challenge that has not only become a culture of a sort but has its origin deeply rooted in history that predates the nation’s independence in October 1960.
Beginning with the historical undertone as to why Nigerians and successive leaderships in the country daily demonstrate a lackadaisical attitude towards national assets and see nothing wrong with project desertion, history has it that during colonial rule, Nigerians developed the anti-colonial belief that public property is no man’s property. This belief, according to reports, was intended to fight colonialism but it continued after independence and brought insensitivity to government property as well as ineptitude, nepotism, neglect of duty, etc.; it gravely explains as to the reckless way in which government property and projects are handled.
Indeed, what the above information tells us is that both project abandonment and public asset neglect in the country are two striking human tragedies, and the pain they inflict on the nation is deepened by the realisation that they were avoidable.
Beyond this understanding, there are reasons to believe that this piece is not alone in the understanding that NDDC leadership is doing something positively new.
A few days ago, the Pan Niger Delta Development Forum, PANDEF, commended the leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for its commitment to transparency, accountability, and infrastructure development in the region.
Giving the commendation during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the umbrella organization of Niger Delta people at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, PANDEF’s National Chairman, Ambassador Godknows Igali, lauded the Commission’s leadership, describing it as visionary and result-driven.
His words: “We have never seen a leadership team like this, and we thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support. Your interventions in infrastructure, particularly the Benin-Ore Road and the Light Up Niger Delta initiative, are commendable. Your youth development programmes are also making a significant impact.”
He further assured the Commission of PANDEF’s continued collaboration, reiterating the group’s role as the voice of the Niger Delta people in the civic space: “We believe in working closely with you and reaffirm our support for your administration. We urge Mr. President, the governors, and other stakeholders to provide you with the necessary tools to succeed,” he concluded.
No doubt, some books teach how to build a house, how to repair an engine and how to write a book, but there are no codified books on how to build a region, society or nation. Conversely, nation-building, in my view, depends on ceaseless creative and far-reaching public policies designed and implemented by well-forsighted leaders- a case in point is the NDDC’s resolve to complete abandoned projects that presently litter its mandate states.
This author, therefore, believes that closing ranks to learn from NDDC’s latest template is not only important but eminently desirable for other agencies and Commissions in the country as “we cannot continue to do one thing repeatedly and be expecting a different result-or tackling our societal challenges with the same mentality used when the problems were created”
Finally, while it is obvious that it is a season of public good for the Niger Delta region and its people, for me, the positive public policies so far generated by the Governing Board/Management of NDDC align with the famous words of Martin Luther King Jnr: “Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability but is achieved through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be coworkers with God”
Utomi, a media specialist, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He can be reached via [email protected]/08032725
Feature/OPED
Familiar Challenges Likely to Feature in SONA 2025 – Can the President Deliver?

By Waldo Marcus
South Africans will be watching this week’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) to see if the government’s long-promised structural reforms will finally be fast-tracked to drive much-needed economic growth. They will also be assessing how the president balances a number of tightropes including concerns that some of the GNU partners have with the Expropriation Bill, NHI and the BELA Act, local government failures including a rapidly approaching water crisis, mixed with global tensions.
Past SONAs have focused on a familiar litany of issues: lacklustre economic growth, high unemployment, failing infrastructure, poor service delivery and a regulatory environment which is not conducive to economic growth. There is little expectation that this year will be any different with many of the same platitudes about a commitment to growing the economy likely be dusted off again.
What will be different this time around is that the president will be balancing an ever more complex environment. Positivity around the GNU has waned with policy differences starting to appear. While the energy crisis has been partially addressed, water is a looming catastrophe. South Africa’s relationship with its largest trading partner is in the spotlight with a threat of tariffs from the United States. Then there are diplomatic issues one being how South Africa plans to extricate its peacekeeping troops from Rwanda.
Locally, the president is under pressure to facilitate a more business-friendly environment. The IMF says South Africa has one of the most restrictive business environments globally. It has recommended a raft of reforms to enhance the country’s business environment, bolster governance, improve labour market flexibility, facilitate trade and achieve the country’s climate goals. The IMF calculates that South Africa could add 1.8% to its growth rate if it can get corruption under control, improve the regulatory and business environment and make government more effective.
The country has also come in for criticism for its competition regulations with Stuart Theobald, chair of research-led consultancy firm Krutham pointing out in a recent Business Day editorial that the government does not appreciate how damaging our competition authorities are to foreign investment and growth. He says South Africa urgently needs to revisit the principles and objectives of how competition is regulated. Large property asset sales are already being slowed due to the Competition Commission’s involvement.
Both national, provincial and local governments need to become more efficient and effective. Operation Vulindlela is an initiative spearheaded by the president and the National Treasury to speed up reforms. Local government in the form of municipalities plays an important role in providing communities with essential services including clean water, proper sanitation, reliable electricity, effective waste management and well-maintained roads and municipal infrastructure.
Of concern is the trend of failing municipalities. According to the Auditor-General’s latest local government and audit outcomes report, many municipalities continue to receive poor audit outcomes with only 13% obtaining clean audits. This has triggered a cycle of low collection rates across municipalities as ratepayers demand value for money but fail to see good governance and leadership delivering on promises. Collectively, municipalities owe Eskom more than R109 billion, putting the power utility under pressure.
Property values in poorly run municipalities typically decline. Well-run municipalities that have maintained their public infrastructure, including well-maintained and safe public areas, on the other hand, will ensure that those areas remain sought after by property investors, tenants and businesses.
The president is very aware that the economy pays a heavy price for the high unemployment rate with less personal tax available to be collected, less consumer spending taking place and sluggish GDP growth.
As far as the property industry is concerned, a robust and secure job market is essential for the long-term health of the residential rental market and to keep vacancies low. Stats SA’s employment survey reveals that the unemployment rate increased in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 32.1% from 31.9% in the fourth quarter. The formal sector lost 128 000 jobs with further job losses expected in agriculture, mining and manufacturing in 2025.
A new study by speciality research publisher Taylor & Francis revealed that none of the eight largest metros in South Africa have experienced appreciable employment growth in manufacturing and tradable goods.
An issue that the president will likely touch on in the SONA is reporting on what the government is doing to reduce logistics constraints and ensure improved efficiencies at Transnet. He may also touch on the government’s draft National State Enterprise Bill which proposes the creation of a centralised holding company to oversee state-owned enterprises. Critics of the bill have pointed out that state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and Transnet are already owned by a centralised agency which hasn’t improved their efficiency or competency and that the proposed bill will simply add another layer of bureaucratic bloat.
The annual SONA is often described as bland. In a constrained fiscal space, there is little expectation that this year’s address will deliver anything more exciting. In a perfect world, President Ramaphosa would be announcing a way forward that includes improved service delivery, more efficient local government, a plan to address the water crisis, and the implementation of a less restrictive regulatory environment while at the same time providing assurance to the country’s major trading partners and investors that their needs were also being taken into consideration.
Waldo Marcus is a Director at TPN from MRI Software
Feature/OPED
Who Says Value Deals Are Only for December?

Ever noticed how brands bombard you with discounts in November and December? Then January rolls around, and suddenly, it’s full price everywhere—right when your wallet needs some tender loving care the most.
Let’s face it: The first three months of the new year is for financial recovery. School fees are due, rent is knocking, and that December salary seems to have vanished faster than your New Year’s resolutions. But here’s the real question: Why should amazing deals only happen towards the end of the year?
While other brands are busy recovering from their year-end spending, GOtv is here saying, “Hold up—let’s make the new year interesting.” Here’s a deal that makes actual sense when your pocket needs it most: Step Up Once, Get Twice the Entertainment.
Here’s how the offer works: When you subscribe to a package higher than your current one, GOtv automatically upgrades you to the next tier for free. That means if you’re on Jinja, pay for Jolli and enjoy Max; if you’re on Jolli, pay for Max and enjoy Supa; and if you’re on Max, pay for Supa and enjoy Supa Plus.
Why This Deal Is a Game-Changer
Perfect for The New Year Blues: The festivities are over, and everyone’s indoors more, making this the ideal time for quality entertainment.
Family Time Is Back on Track: With the kids back to school and routines resuming, this deal ensures your family has more options and great shows to bond over after a long day.
Smart Financial Choice: Let’s be honest—January is about budgeting smarter, and this offer gives you maximum value for less.
While others are nursing their financial December hangovers, you could be levelling up your home entertainment, making a wise money move, and creating meaningful family moments.
So, what are you waiting for? Step up now to unlock a world of exciting and entertaining programs. To upgrade, subscribe, or reconnect, simply download the MyGOtv app or dial *288#. To catch up and for on-the-go viewing, don’t forget to download the GOtv Stream App and enjoy your favourite shows anytime, anywhere.
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