Rising economic hardship in Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, has been blamed for growing domestic violence, with women at the receiving end, a report by NOIPools Limited released Tuesday reveals.
The report says that majority of respondents attribute the growing domestic violence to economic hardship, with women at the receiving end while others attribute it to lack of trust, submission and deteriorating moral values, among others.
Nigeria’s headline inflation shot up to 15.6 per cent in May, 2016, about 1.9 percentage points in excess of the previous month’s record of 13.7 per cent. The latest record did not only indicate a steady rise since last year (except in August, 2015), but also showed a six-year high point, matching the same level as in February 2010.
Also, the fortunes of the country have in the past months nosedived into an economic hardship after transition to a new democratic government led by the country’s major opposition party the APC, which promised change to its over 170 million population, took over the reins of power.
The hardship, according to analysts, was occasioned by dwindling revenue of the government, following a 50 percent fall in oil prices, FX scarcity paralysing activities of businesses, high inflation impacting negatively on consumer purchasing power and household expenditure pattern.
This development has also resulted in huge job losses in many high profile institutions, particularly banks and manufacturing companies, while some have closed down, with a larger number of the states now unable to pay salaries and others cutting down wages to be able to exist.
According to NOIPools report, 42 percent of respondents said the growing economic hardship was responsible for rising domestic violence, while 21 said it was as result of couple conflict. Nine percent said impatience, six percent said lack of trust; five percent said lack of submission; four percent said lack of moral values; three percent said illiteracy and ignorance, while ten percent gave other reasons.
Nigeria’s headline inflation shot up to 15.6 per cent in May, 2016, about 1.9 percentage points in excess of the previous month’s record of 13.7 per cent. The latest record indicated a steady rise since last year (except in August, 2015) and also showed a six-year high point, matching the same level as in February 2010.
Analysts at Financial Derivatives Company, one of Nigeria’s leading economists said the inflation rate was the highest price level in Nigeria since February 2010. “The current inflation spiral has been caused by both fundamental cost pressures, periodic scarcities of essential commodities and forex unavailability. The pricing pass through has been mixed but mainly in price inelastic commodities.
The opinion poll was conducted in the week of June 13th 2016 and involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, the research agency says with 95 percent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 3 percent.
NOIPolls Limited leads in country specific polling services in West Africa and conducts periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria.
Modestus Anaesoronye
