Amidst increasing pressures on the three levels of government to increase revenue generation, albeit, non-oil for the federal government and Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, for states and local governments, more unintended negative consequences are surfacing.

Recent happenings in the judiciary have raised fresh concerns over the sanctity of rulings and judgments emanating from our courts. The conflicting deliveries on political issues not based on sound reasoning especially from the high courts is now the order of the day.

In 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the population of Nigerians living in poverty at about 112 million, representing about 67 per cent of Nigeria’s 167 million population at the time. Nigeria’s income per capita GDP stood at $1,555. The Nigerian situation, no doubt has worsened since then.

The decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to, again, postpone the re-run legislative elections in Rivers State is a serious setback to the consolidation of democracy in the state. It is also a bad omen for the rest of the country.

Reports of South Africa overtaking Nigeria in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rating hardly came as a surprise. Though it indicated that both countries have recorded drops in GDP in the last one year, Nigeria’s case was a huge crash compared to South Africa’s.