By AHMED MUSA

The House of Representatives on Wednesday lamented the unabated rise in the cost of living in the country, describing it as the lowest economic decline experienced since President Buhari’s first regime in 1983.

It therefore resolved to launch an investigative hearing into the immediate and remote causes of the ever-rising cost of living in the country, particularly the prices of food items.

The lawmakers on Wednesday also moved to interface with all critical stakeholders in the country to find out the root cause of the trend with a view to finding solutions to it by initiating policies needed for addressing the skyrocketing prices of goods and services in the country.

The resolutions also include engagement with captains of industries, Trade Union Associations, Board of Directors, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and other promoters in the economic sector, on ways for a drastic reduction in prices of goods and services in the country.

The House further noted that it’s opened to “any other strategies that can mitigate the effects of the current inflation in the country.”

These followed the adoption of a motion on matters of urgent public importance brought by Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka (APC, Ogun), calling attention to the “urgent need to investigate the skyrocketing prices of commodities, goods and services across the nation with a view to cushioning the impact on the citizens”.

Presenting the motion at the plenary, the lawmaker stated that “Unfortunately, this is still the lowest decline Nigeria’s economy has experienced since 1983. What does this mean for the average Nigerian? Not too farfetched, because Life has become increasingly difficult for many Nigerians, especially the low-income earners, unemployed youth, other vulnerable people, those on fixed incomes such as the pensioners and others.”

“Quoting conspicuously from – Virginia Woolf. “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well,” he said.

The lawmaker noted that “the prices of food items, Commodities, Goods and Services have skyrocketed by as much as 100 per cent in many parts of Nigeria in the last one year attributed largely caused by monetary policy, border closures, COVID-19 containment measures, and insecurity, causing Nigeria’s inflation rate to rise geometric progression in August 2021.”

“Price Index in the past months has increased astronomically owing to many controllable and uncontrollable factors with inflation at a 48-month high, posing the challenge for increased spending on housing, shelter, medicals, clothes baby food and even cooking gas, because our nation’s local production still falls short of our local demand, minding the population, climate change, and hunger, a major future issue looms if, immediate remedial action is not taken care off soon, by this House.

“Cognizant of the World Bank`s report that Nigeria’s economy contracted by -1.8% in 2020, lower than the -3.2% loss the organization had predicted at the beginning of the pandemic.

“All these problems bedevilling our economy, the House is spurred on a move to properly manage the situation before it spreads out of control owing to the impacts on the cost of living, the cost of doing business, and every other facet of the economy”, the motion stated.

It, therefore, prayed the House to mandate the leadership, to constitute a high powered special committee to carry out the investigation. (Daily Independent)

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