A former Minister of Aviation and the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, Felix Hyat, shared insights on the prevailing insecurity, 2023 election outcomes, and various issues in an interview with The Punch.
Addressing the economic challenges and hardships faced by Nigerians, Felix Hyat asserted that one doesn’t need to be an economist to recognize the current dire situation in the country. He expressed concern about the absence of impactful economic policies benefiting the ordinary citizens, recounting encounters with people approaching him daily, distressed over their inability to afford basic necessities.
Hyat recounted a poignant story, illustrating the adverse effects of President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove the oil subsidy. He narrated the plight of a woman engaged in selling akara (bean cake), whose business crumbled within two months of the subsidy removal. Emphasizing that akara is a staple for ordinary Nigerians, he highlighted how the sudden spike in the cost of beans, the main raw material, along with escalated prices of other ingredients, contributed to the woman’s economic downfall.
Felix Hyat attributed the overall surge in prices to transportation costs and underscored the compounding impact of the country’s currency depreciation on the prevailing economic challenges
He remarked,
“Let me tell you a story. Before President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the oil subsidy, I knew of a woman who was selling akara (bean cake). After two months, her business collapsed. Akara is cheap food bought by the ordinary Nigerians.”
Everything has gone up. We are not even talking about factory closures anymore. We are talking about ordinary people in the village selling groundnuts, sugarcane, akara, and other small businesses to bring food to the family tables.”