Nigeria’s oil-rich businessmen are suffering to cope with the economic consequences of the fatal coronavirus pandemic and the fall of the currency.
In the midst of the closure, a dispute between Russia and Saudi Arabia over the value of fossil fuel to fall, bringing with it the cost of the Nigerian currency.
With the naira still volatile and a partial blockade still in place, 3 business owners of Lagos’ grocery stores focus how to deal with it.
Private kindergarten opens two months closing Lagos. It employs 10 people.
“We closed our doors before the government closed the country. Our first priority was to ensure the protection of children.”
“At the time, we only had 3 children, however, it started very well when we opened in the middle of a school year. We were there for the parents.
“When the blockade happened, I panicked, because just before, we had to see the devaluation of the naira.
“Today, everyone is projecting that it will rise to 500 naira for a US dollar. It would be a crisis. I’d like more naira to be paid to the expat in my establishment.”
“As a new school, we only have a safe amount of savings for the first and time of the year until the school succeeds.
“At the moment our staff – security, cleaners, nannies and administrative staff – are all on full salary. I’ve told them I will cut their salaries by 50% to prepare for the worst, but I expect to cut salaries by around 30%.
“There were 4 other people – a teacher, training assistants and a receptionist – whose three-month trial ended in April. We told them we’d go back to them when classes resumed. If they do, I’ll have to renegotiate wages because I can’t pay them what we’ve agreed anymore.
“All parents who checked in for September still intend to come, i.e. 4 more children. But my biggest concern is that we can’t open it then.
“I have the idea of finishing school. If the pandemic continues for another year, the school will not survive. Rent is very expensive here at one of Lagos’ major grocery stores. I wouldn’t be hiring in the 3rd year if we didn’t open in September.
“Today, yes, the virus is still there, yes, everyone is scared, but other people are a little more relaxed. The economy is my biggest concern in Nigeria.”
Twenty-five full-time staff working from home. Architectural and visual arts projects continue with fewer-than-usual construction workers on site.
“The reaction on my part has been to put a lot of things on hold.
“Everyone is trying to figure out how this is going for them as Americans and organizations. Let’s hope most projects come back.
“I think the uncertainty will last a while. I’m sorry about the difficulties.
“[If] you look at the burden of things now until months ago, in some cases it’s almost double, so the difficulties will feel dramatically.”
“People’s incomes are declining because many corporations are in volume because of the pandemic, so times are difficult.
“We take a conscious resolution not to get rid of [remaining] a wonderful team.”
“But we want to talk to staff about how we can offset certain expenses and move them to a later time of the year.”
“I would say that we are executing [at] 50% productivity at best, however, I think it also has to do with the nature of the paintings we make.
“You can’t just walk over to someone’s desk to check up on what’s going on.
“We’re all a little tired of zoom calls and team calls. We’re not that effective.”
He employs people. Process and distribute spices, seasonings and flours.
“My food business is essential, so when the shutdown happened, we sent waiver letters to our staff so they can move on to the paintings and ship their products.”
“But I must tell you it wasn’t easy. Many of them were harassed by police for the first two days, which we reported to government authorities.”
“Some of our workers were even attacked, it’s a challenge. The government has been very responsive and demanding situations have been reduced over time.
“At the social distance, we had to decrease the amount of other people running at some point. So we divided everyone into groups A and B, who worked a week, a week off.”
“We had a capacity of about 50%, but also our production, which prevented us from profiting from sales.
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“Many of restaurants reduced or shut down operations during the lockdown, so obviously there was reduced demand.
“Curfews have also made it difficult for the paintings to complete days.
“Staff members have been on full salary, and we told them we would review the situation as time goes by, but it never got to that.
“Now we’re back in full operational mode with a new provision for social distance. Customers are also operational and demand has improved.
“We are seeing an increase in retail sales because the surprise of oil and Covid-19 have limited imports, so Nigerians are adopting products.”
“We are aware that this is a 12- to 18-month war and that Nigeria is about to take the big hit of the coronavirus.”
“We think, “How can we make sure we thrive during this period?
“This means thinking about how we can be more successful and innovative, as well as how we do with our customers.”