How high cost of diesel grounded our businesses – Owners

Business owners in Nigeria have narrated how high cost of diesel has kicked them out of business, thereby causing more hardship for them and their staff.

A litre of diesel that sold for between N200 and N220 is now about N800 per litre.

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According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), inflation in Nigeria increased to 19.64 per cent in July, bringing the country’s inflation figure to the highest since 2005.

Ahmad Nuhu, who operates a grinding machine in Kano, said he had to close his shop because he had been counting losses.

He said, “Some clients stopped coming after I raised the price of our services. I cannot cope with the cost of diesel these days.”

A staff member of a sachet water factory in the state, Hamisu Usman, said he had to move to another factory because the one he worked for was running down.

Usman said, “Since the owner introduced some austerity measures we began to lose customers. I spent days without earnign a kobo. I had to move to another factory where my service is needed.”

In Lagos State, the situation is also hitting business owners hard and some entrepreneurs are closing shops.

A printer in Ikeja, Lagos State Mr Richard Aritedo, said in addition to the high cost of printing materials, which has affected his operation, the high cost of diesel has worsened the problem.

He said they now find it difficult quoting for jobs as many clients would challenge them for quoting exorbitant prices.

Aritedo, who is the CEO of Prosper Press, said, “We are using diesel, which has really affected the cost of our operation. Before diesel became over N800 per litre, we used to buy a litre for N200 and N220. Within this year, we bought them for N200 and N300. Presently, it is N780.

He called on the government to come to the aid of small business owners, saying things are hard for them.

Another small business owner, Ekaette Mary, who sells phone accessories and electronics said, “My shop is located in a mall and we contribute to power the generator every day. Now, the money we contribute to buy diesel is three times what we were doing before; that is, from N2,000 to N5,000 and also the number of hours for using the generator has reduced.”

Segun Sanusi, who operates a cold store in Ajegunle, said he had closed the business.

“We can’t afford diesel and high taxes. We are more than 20 who have closed our businesses. I sold three of my generators and bought a taxi cab,” he said.

Some of our colleagues who are from the North and other parts of the South had gone back home saying they would only return when the economy improves.

Also speaking about the tough economic situation, a member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and fellow at the Centre for Global Development in Washington DC, United States, Dr Zuhumnan Dapel, said a professor in Nigeria will need N611,000 in 2022 to buy what N342,000 was buying as of 2009.

He said, “More than a decade of inflation (and currency depreciation) decimating the wages of Nigerian professors: from US$2,300 a month in November 2009 to US$178 a month as of July 2022. Inflation, within 176 months, has wiped out roughly N270,000 from the take-home pay of the highest-paid lecturers.

“Had the government (the employer) decided to fortify the income of the academics against inflation, there would have been (based on my calculations) an annual pay rise of 2.15 per cent,” he said.