This Vicious Cycle of Inflation: A Game of Shifting Burdens- SEGUN OKE
The Vicious Cycle of Inflation: A Game of Shifting Burdens
Then came the dramatic transition of power. The ailing one is now gone. In his place, Tinubu emerged. Many doubted he would win—his health was an easy target, a reason to write him off. But defying the odds, he clinched the presidency. And like his health, he damned the consequences and did what others before him dared not do. With one stroke—his first real act in office—the fuel subsidy was gone. Overnight, fuel prices shot through the roof, unleashing a tidal wave of economic consequences.
In the blink of an eye, the price of fuel soared, and like clockwork, everyone rushed to adjust, as if inflating the cost of goods and services would somehow make them richer than before. The bus driver hiked fares, the food vendor passed the extra cost to customers, the landlord saw an opportunity to justify a rent increase, and the electricity and telecom companies followed suit, citing higher operational costs.
It’s a ripple effect—one that spares no one. The pharmacist selling essential drugs raised prices, just as the trader selling tomatoes did. The manufacturer of everyday household goods followed suit. And at the end of it all, the salary earner, already stretched thin, felt the pinch. But what of the unemployed? The struggling small business owner? They were caught in the web, watching as the cost of survival climbed beyond their reach.
Round and round we go, shifting burdens but never really getting ahead. The businessman who raised prices to offset his increased expenses simply handed his gains over to suppliers who had done the same. The worker, forced to spend more on transportation, food, and utilities, demanded higher wages—but where does it end? If the employer concedes, the wage increase drives another round of inflation. If they don’t, the worker’s standard of living plummets.
So, who truly benefits? The government, perhaps, collecting more revenue from taxes? The oil marketers, whose margins swell for a time? Or is everyone just running in circles, chasing an illusion of gain while the economy groans under the weight of perpetual adjustments?
I have deliberately isolated the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations from this analysis—it would only make the case more complex. But one thing is clear: even though the government earns more from taxes, it also pays more in wages, in materials, in labour. More critically, the cost of servicing foreign debt in naira has skyrocketed.
It is a cycle of viciousness—one that keeps taking but rarely gives. And the real question remains: if every increase only feeds another, have we truly moved forward, or are we merely running in place? Someone should halt this meaningless increases , merely driving anxiety/