There are telltale signs that the Nigerian economy is slowing.
The signs started to manifest after President Bola Tinubu’s pronouncement on May 29, 2023, of the removal of subsidy on gasoline.
A survey by Nairametrics around markets in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory reveals that apart from food, which is the most necessary to life, there is a general lethargy of business activities in the markets.
At the Lagos Trade Fair in Ojo Local Government Area, it is now common sight that businesspeople who hitherto opened their shops as early as 7:30 a.m. saunter in past 11:00 a.m.
A mechanic, who identified himself as Simon, relating his experience with Nairametrics, said he went to buy spare parts from the market last week past 10:00 a.m. and had to wait for 1 hour and 30 minutes before he could buy the spare parts.
Uche Ogamba, a shop owner, reacting to Simon’s experience, said there is no point in coming to the market to sit for hours early in the morning just to see your first customer of the day appear at noon.
He noted that business activities have been slowing drastically since June and there is no sign of abating.
Another shop owner nearby, who sells spark plugs, Aviristus John, said people are not using their vehicles as much as they used to, so there is less need to repair cars.
He told Nairametrics that since he stocked his shop with goods in May, there has been no need to restock because customers hardly come to buy. He said before now he would replenish his shop with goods almost every three weeks.
The story is similar in the cosmetics section of the market. Nneka, who sells perfumes, complained that business is very slow.
She said unlike the restless nature of the business she had gotten used to, she sometimes finds herself dozing in her shop because her shop is no longer a beehive of activities.
The story is the same in the popular Ladipo Market in Lagos. Moses Echekoba, who sells piston rings, told Nairametrics that he fears he may not be maintaining his position as the man of his family.
- “Can you imagine that sometimes I see only five customers for a whole day? And not all five will buy. They complain about the price of the parts. They don’t understand that we pay more for the parts than before,” he said.
He said before now he would come to his shop early in the morning to offload goods from his container and dispatch them to his customers at various destinations across the country.
He stressed that over the last two months, he has gotten requests for goods for dispatch from just two customers.
- “People are not driving their cars like before. When you don’t use your car, it doesn’t develop faults relating to wear and tear,” he said.
Nairametrics also visited the phones section of Ladipo Market. Nze, who sells used phones, said business has been bad over the past three months.
- “It’s like people don’t have use for phones again because the market is poor,” he said.
Ugochi, a saleswoman in Alaba International Market, who sells solar panels, told Nairametrics that in recent times, she has not sold a single unit for a whole week.
She said people just don’t come to ask for solar panels as they used to. She stressed that her boss had not paid her for two months because she had not been making sales.
Nairametrics sampled the opinions of shop owners in the Wuse and Utako markets in Abuja, Nyanya Market near Abuja, and Suleja Market near Abuja. All related stories of low patronage correspond with the timing of the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu.
A perfume seller in Utako Market, Abuja, Ibrahim Ahmed, also told Nairametrics that business has been bad. “Customers no dey come like before. Everywhere dey dry.”
Amina, who sells fruits in Nyanya Market, also complained about low sales.
- “All of us wey dey this market no dey see the customer again o. Life day is hard for us,” she said.
The low sales trend is also affecting filling station operations. Across the major cities, there are scenes of low operations at filling stations.
At filling stations along the LASU/Isheri Road in Lagos, there are common scenes of one salesperson operating one pump out of six because vehicles enter the stations in trickles.
One operator at an NNPC filling station told Nairametrics that there is no need to keep many operators when you see vehicles come for refilling once in an average of ten minutes.
At a Total filling station along Ikorodu Road in Lagos, for example, there is visual evidence that the station is under-operated as many idle pumps abound.
This has implications for job security at filling stations. A manager at an Oando filling station, who pled anonymity, said there is no guarantee that all pump operators in his station will retain their jobs as most of them are redundant during the day.
- “Sales are low. We are not making money as we used to. So, we have to cut down on our staff strength to reduce operations cost.”
Another station manager, who also pled anonymity, said his station makes an average of N500,000 profit on every 33,000 litres of fuel.
- “So, if 33,000 litres of fuel will last two weeks in a filling station, how can we stay afloat? We have to pay staff and buy fuel to run our pumps during power failure. Patronage is low. People don’t have money to buy fuel anymore,” he said.
While data from the National Bureau of Statistics reveal the economy grew by 2.5% in the second quarter of 2023, the effect of the economic slowdown could be reflected in third-quarter GDP results.
