Published
on
By
By Kenneth Horsfall
In case you don’t know, the world of marketing is changing rapidly and video has become the new thing. In Nigeria alone, digital video marketing is a $135 billion industry. That means brands everywhere are realizing the value of video and investing in its creation and distribution. So why! Are you not doing the same?
To get started let start with what is video marketing? Video marketing is the production of engaging videos around a marketing strategy that delivers business results. Whether you’ve just stepped onto the scene, or you’ve been using videos for ages, you need a road map outlining what it’s all for, where you’re going, and how you’ll measure success.
Your video marketing plan is every bit as important as execution.
A solid plan can be the difference between knowing how much return on investment (ROI) your content is delivering and throwing metaphorical spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
Do you know that nowadays, brands can no longer get by using written content and images alone — that’s uninteresting and unengaging for consumers who are inundated with live streaming, interactive 360 videos, augmented reality, and more? And because of this growth, you’re now behind if you aren’t releasing branded video content regularly. But if you’ve never created a video for yourself, getting started can be tough. That’s where I come in! With this guide I have created for you, you’ll learn the ins and outs of video marketing, from figuring out which type of video you need to how to distribute it for maximum results. Start browsing below to learn everything you need to get started with video marketing.
How Do I Create a Video Marketing Strategy?
What Kind of Video Should I Create?
What Are the Three Stages of Video Production?
How Does Video Improve My SEO?
How Do I Distribute My Video?
How Do I Know If My Video Is Successful?
Video marketing strategies are nothing new. Just like you wouldn’t create a commercial and buy airtime during the Super Bowl without researching and strategizing, you shouldn’t create a digital marketing video without first doing the proper research and creating a plan.
Your video marketing strategy will ultimately be what guides you — your budget, your timelines, your production processes, your conversion metrics, and more. So, getting this written down and finalized should be step one of your video creation processes.
Before we dive into the specifics, here’s an overview of the steps
In order to know whether you’ve actually achieved what you’ve set out to accomplish with your video marketing strategy, you need to set measurable goals.
Content intelligence platform Conductor recommends defining marketing goals for both revenue and your brand.
Revenue-based goals focus on things like increasing lead form inquiries while brand goals involve things like growing a higher quality email list, driving more blog traffic, or capturing Google answer boxes for targeted keywords.
Brand goals can be just as important as revenue ones because they help position you for future success and often take into account qualitative feedback.
Brand Awareness—typically measured using brand recall and recognition, frequency/quality of mentions, or video views
Demand Generation and Conversion—typically measured by lead count, impact on conversion rate, or influence on sales opportunity and pipeline generation
Viewer Engagement—typically measured by average engagement (also known as the average length of time viewers watched the video)
As with any kind of marketing goal, following the S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting framework is a good place to start.
Specific
The goal should zero in on a specific aspect of your strategy. After all, saying you want to get more views is great, but what does it actually mean?
Measurable
The goal should be accompanied by a relevant key performance indicator (KPI) and metrics that can be used to measure its success.
Attainable
The goal should be something that’s within reach of your department without “sandbagging” (deliberately setting a goal that isn’t a challenge for the team to reach). Try starting with a baseline and determining the desired increase (or decrease, as the case may be) from there.
Relevant
The goal should be relevant to your overall business objectives AND a good fit for the types of objectives that video is best suited to meet
Time-Bound
The goal should have a timeframe in which it can reasonably be achieved so that you can accurately measure how effective your efforts have been. While some goals can be tackled in a quarter or two, others may require a longer timeframe, like a year. Go one step further by breaking down your overall goal into weekly targets. That way you know what you need to be doing, every step of the way.
An example of a S.M.A.R.T. video marketing goal—one that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound—might look like this:
We will increase time on page for key pages on our website by 15% this quarter by embedding relevant videos.
Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute, recommends you start your content marketing strategy with a mission statement. It’s helpful to have one of these for your video strategy too because it gives your team an easy-to-remember purpose to rally around.
Your mission should be a simple, one-line statement that answers the following questions:
What type of video content do you plan to make?
Whether you’re leaning towards educational, entertaining, or a mix, your brand’s expertise and audience needs should determine your approach here.
Who are you making this content for?
Outline your target demographic with as much detail as you can. You can’t create great videos without determining the buyer personas you want to appeal to and their pain points.
What should your audience take away from your videos?
Think about what value your content will add and what tasks or goals it will help your audience accomplish.
In order to justify creating different types of videos (including some that may not be directly related to your product), your business needs to understand why you’re creating video stories, who you want watching your content, and what you’re trying to accomplish.
Your video marketing mission statement should look something like this:
“At (company name), we make (type) video content for (specific buyer personas), so that they (exactly what you want them to do).”
To be successful with video, you first need to know who you actually want watching your content. Defining a target audience—and learning about what they like, what they need, what their pain points are—will help you create video content that connects.
Many marketers seem to share the misconception that if they create a video that doesn’t rake in millions of views, they’ve failed in a major way. Fortunately, this is far from the truth.
While a broad reach can be desirable for B2C companies, things are a bit different in the B2B space. No matter what industry you’re in, recognize that your objectives will differ.
B2B brands often have a harder time developing videos for widespread reach, but don’t get discouraged. Not everyone needs your product or service; that’s why it’s important to attract and maintain the leads worth following up with.
When it comes to your target audience, the more specific the better. It’s okay if your content isn’t interesting to anyone outside of that group; you’re aiming to help viewers self-qualify.
Start by looking at the buyer, customer, and/or user personas your company already has. Research what their video preferences are: Is it a good medium for reaching them? If so, what types of videos work best? Build a profile of your video audience from there.
If you don’t already have personas, now’s the time to create some. Use whatever sources of information are available to you to learn about the people you’re trying to connect with. Include anything about your persona that’s pertinent to your content creation, such as how they learn, what kind of content they prefer to consume, and more.
For a deep dive into other information, you could include, check out HubSpot’s guide to creating buyer personas.
Next, map the buyer’s journey for your product or service so you can identify points where video content can help potential customers move along the path to purchase (and what type of video is best suited for the task at hand).
Think about what different kinds of content might address your personas’ questions at different stages of the buying process. For instance, the video that introduces a persona to your company will be different from the one they’ll need when they’re in consideration mode.
As you move forward with creating new videos, ask yourself every time which persona the content speaks to and at what point in the customer journey.
Before you dive in and start filming, you need to figure out what kinds of videos you’re going to make.
Think about what story you want to tell, how you can best do that through video, what video styles and types are best suited to sharing that story, what kinds of videos your target audience likes, and more.
It’s important to consider where the video will fit into your organization’s customer journey and marketing funnel (or flywheel). Remember that your audience will likely need different video types and messages at different points in their journey.
When you’re first getting started, choose a few styles and types of videos to test and see what works and what doesn’t. Depending on the stage of the funnel or flywheel, this may constitute what gets the most reach, what gets the most engagement, or what drives the most leads or conversions.
As you make your plan, it’s important to think about what sort of video budget you’ll have to work with. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to get a sense of how much you’ll need to invest or, if your budget is already fixed, how to get the most bang for your buck.
What Types of Videos Do You Want to Create?
Your budget for video really depends on the types of projects you outline in your video strategy. Your finances will often dictate the creative avenues you can explore.
Every production, from live-action to animation, will range in terms of the time and resources required, so there isn’t a definitive answer when it comes to setting a video budget. Whether you aim for polish or gritty authenticity, your production quality and style will also be a factor in the cost and may even impact the number of videos you’re ultimately able to create.
Will You Create Videos Internally or Outsource them to an External Production Company?
B2B marketers cite allocating staff time and resources for video production as a top challenge for creating video, according to a Demand Metric study. This issue inevitably begs the question: “Should we try making videos ourselves or should we enlist the help of a video production company?”
If you plan to produce videos internally, you’ll need to think about who will be responsible for creating them. Will you hire an in-house videographer or a video production team?
A good way to determine which direction is best for your business is to outline your expected output. Across the board, we’re seeing companies of all sizes increase their volume of videos produced.
This chart demonstrates the volume of videos produced by small, medium, and large organizations to help you determine your video marketing strategy
Although large companies continue to be the most prolific creators of the video, companies of all sizes report an increase in overall production volume, according to findings from Demand Metric
Even if you’re not at this level of volume just yet, you’ll have to consider whether you’re creating campaigns (one-off assets) or a program (regularly scheduled videos as part of a cohesive content marketing strategy). This will often make the difference in deciding whether to produce videos in-house or outsource. You’ll want to consider what is reasonable for your company based on your size, the scope of what you’ll need to communicate, and your budget.
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to video production, there are a lot of companies succeeding with a combination of in-house and production agencies. According to our annual benchmark data, as company size increases, so does the use of external resources for video content creation. Most small and medium companies use exclusively internal resources to produce their video content, while large enterprises are more evenly split between internal, external, or both.
How Much Will It Cost?
Deciding whether you want to produce your videos in-house or outsource them will play a big role in your costs, both per video and for your entire video program.
Video Production Company Costs
When outsourcing your videos, you can expect to go in with a typical budget ranging anywhere from N1.5 million to upwards of N10 million per video asset. This range is pretty standard for a run-of-the-mill explainer video, but again, the budget will change as you opt for higher production values.
Advanced videos with an “advertising look and feel” will range anywhere from N5 million to N20 million for major productions. On average, most budgets for a polished production (the kind that comes equipped with a full production crew) usually land somewhere between N5 million to N15 million.
With these numbers in mind, if you wanted to outsource one basic explainer video per month for a year, you’d be looking at a baseline of around N28 million at the very low end of this spectrum. All video production houses vary. We recommend you call around to get quotes that mesh with your brand’s needs and budget.
In-House Videographer Costs
If you’re looking to go the in-house production route, you’ll likely be looking to invest in your own equipment, train a staff member, or even hire a videographer. Video producers earn N25 million per year on average, according to PayScale.
Whether you hire a dedicated producer or train an existing employee, they should know how to conceptualize, capture, and edit footage from concept to completion (depending on their skill set and experience). You’ll want someone who can break down complex B2B products and work with videos from pre-production to post.
They should be imaginative, good with metaphors, and have a great sense of your target audience. Aim to hire someone with a great sense of timing when it comes to editing and someone who’s talented at directing people in front of the lens.
What Sort of Video Equipment and/or Video Marketing Software Will You Need?
If you plan to go in-house—whether you hire a dedicated person or assign video creation duties to an existing member of your marketing team—you’ll need to think about the nuts and bolts of production.
Even if you keep things pretty basic, you’ll likely still need to invest in some video production equipment. However, this would be a one-time upfront investment. For many companies, deciding to do production in-house often ends up being more cost-effective in the long run.
For traditional, professional video production, you’ll want to consider the following equipment:
Video camera
Tripod
Stabilizer
Lighting equipment (things like lights, light stands, etc.)
Audio equipment (such as a wireless microphone kit)
Editing software
If you’re thinking of going the smartphone route, think about:
Lighting case (such as a selfie ring light) or clip-on light
Lighting kit
Tripod
Stabilizer
Lens
Microphone
Editing app or software
Looking for specific equipment recommendations for video production? Refer to this content about tools for traditional video production and smartphone video production, or find out what kind of equipment you can get for different budget points.
You should also consider what video marketing software your team will require to edit, organize, manage, host, and analyze your video content. There are a variety of free and paid options including ones created specifically for business use. Do some researches, check out some demos, and determine what best meets your needs.
Do You Want to Hire Actors?
Depending on the story you want to tell, you may be happy with having employees star in your video or you may want to bring in professional actors to play certain parts.
Keep in mind that bringing in actors will increase costs.
If you go the employee-actor route, think about getting release forms set up to ensure you’re legally allowed to use their image. While this may sound intimidating, it’s usually a simple, one-page form.
Some companies even have new hires sign this documentation along with onboarding paperwork. If you plan to make a lot of videos and want employees to feature prominently, you may want to consider something along these lines.
Depending on the production quality you’re aiming for and your budget, you might be able to invest in an in-house videographer or a team of marketers dedicated to video. However, you might also be outsourcing content to an agency or production house.
No matter how you’re operating with production, be sure to outline:
Who’s responsible for creative concepts and storyboarding
Who writes the scripts, when needed?
Who gets a say in the content and who’s responsible for final approvals?
Who organizes the logistics of a video shoot?
Who shoots and edits video content?
Who is responsible for distributing the finished videos?
You may also want to define an “editorial board” of major stakeholders who are consulted for input on videos. You definitely want feedback at critical points in the video process, but be mindful of an excess of cooks in the kitchen.
There are two main ways to approach video content and most business’ video strategies will likely involve a combination of both.
First, there’s evergreen, “business as usual” (BAU) content: This could be a regularly scheduled video series, supporting content for core pages of your website, how-to content for support pages, customer testimonial videos, and other video content that has a long shelf life.
Second, there are campaign videos, which usually run for a shorter period of time. These can range from video ads for your business to promote for something your company is doing (such as a new product or a sale) to topical social videos to timely video content that’s seasonal, aligns with a holiday, or hops on a trend. Campaign videos tend to have a shorter shelf life and are often retired after they’ve served their specific purpose.
For each video campaign you tackle, you’ll need to create a video marketing campaign strategy—essentially a mini-version of your main strategy—those answer all of the pertinent questions for the individual campaign. As with your overarching strategy, you’ll need to think about cost, target audience, goals, and more.
The big difference here is timing. This element, while important in your general video strategy, is of the utmost importance for video campaigns. This is because campaigns often rely on timeliness.
How far in advance you begin planning these projects will vary by production house or videographer, but you’ll typically want to book your campaign six to nine weeks in advance of the delivery date. For particularly complex projects, allow 10 to 13 weeks.
Sample Video Production Timeline
In terms of timeline, the breakdown typically goes something like this:
One week to share the brief and research options
One to two weeks for concept development
One to two weeks to lock down the script and pre-production details
One week blocked off for production (most shoots will take one to two days)
Two to three weeks for post-production
Keep in mind that timelines will vary depending on the type of video you’re creating for your campaign. For instance, a basic talking head will take far less time than the average motion graphic video.
Plus, don’t forget to schedule the time you’ll need to plan for distribution and any other elements that may accompany the video in the campaign.
After you’ve accumulated a ton of content, you need to decide where your videos will live on the web and on your site. When releasing any video, it’s critical to leverage multiple distribution channels to maximize reach and engagement.
Channels to consider include:
Multiple pages on your website (blog, a resource hub, product pages, etc.)
Inbound marketing campaigns
Outbound email marketing campaigns
Social media channels (the ones your prospects are present on)
YouTube
Your sales reps
When getting started with video, make a list of the distribution locations that make sense for you. Think about providing a dedicated place where visitors can explore all of your video assets on your own website.
Many major brands now have entire pages on their websites devoted to video. They’re focused on creating a video content hub that will keep potential customers engaged for longer and guide them through their buying journey.
Distribution isn’t the only part of this equation; you also need to determine how you’ll organize, host and manage your video content. When your team has only five videos, this may not seem that important, but it quickly becomes crucial to effective video marketing. And it’s much easier to put a system in place from day one than it is to try to shoehorn things after the fact.
When it comes to video hosting, organizations use either a free, paid, or a combination of both to manage video content. As the volume of video production goes up, so does the need for a more robust online video platform. And those that invest in paid video solutions are more satisfied with their with the value they get from the video.
This chart demonstrates satisfaction in video hosting solutions, an important consideration when developing a video marketing strategy
While free platforms are the most popular video hosting solution, it’s common for organizations to use both free and paid business platforms. According to findings from Demand Metric, those who report using a paid hosting solution for business as a stand-alone solution or in conjunction with a free platform have higher satisfaction levels.
In the same way you track key performance indicators (KPIs) for written content, you need to produce, release, then review your video’s engagement data to justify your investment in video and to understand how well you’re performing. In fact, video analytics rank as the number one online video platform feature for businesses.
Metrics might still be a scary word, but the video is actually easier to track and measure than you might think. You can get detailed viewing data with the help of an online video platform.
We’ll get into video performance in more depth later on, but here’s an overview of some metrics you should track for each video campaign you release:
Number of Views and Unique Viewers: While this won’t be a measure of success on its own, it will help you understand if your distribution strategy is working
Attention Span and Drop-Off Rates: Does more than 60% of your audience make it to the end of your videos on average?
Click-Through Rates: Split test the results for email content with and without video content.
Demand Generation: Number of new leads and opportunities generated as a result of watching the video or how a video is influencing pipeline and revenue
Content Consumption: How many videos do individual leads watch in a day? A week? A month?
This step in your video marketing strategy is to determine how you’ll collect this critical information (usually done with the help of the online video platform of your choice).
Once you have a set strategy, you’ll be able to see how your video content aligns with your business objectives and start using assets more effectively.
Use this data to create a more detailed strategy next time around so you can set up any future marketing videos you create for success.
The growth of video marketing is presenting a unique opportunity for brands like yours. As consumers continue to prefer video to other forms of content, they’re now expecting brands of every size and in every industry to connect with them using video. Platforms are increasingly prioritizing video content, and even new devices like phones and tablets are more video ready than ever before. That means you have to take full advantage of this amazing marketing tool to be competitive. The longer you wait, the more customers you’ll lose.
Take a look at some of our favourite brand video examples!
Luckily, it’s easier now to create a beautiful short video. You can hire experienced freelancers at the drop of a dime, or hire an agency that’ll handle everything for you with no stress. Plus, the cost of producing a video is low, so you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank to create a branded video you’ll love.
Overwhelmed? Trust us, it’s a lot to take in. But this outline should be your first step toward an effective and profitable video marketing strategy that’ll change the way your company looks at video marketing coming this new year 2022.
So, what are you waiting for?
Kenneth Horsfall is the creative director and founder of K.S. Kennysoft Studios Production Ltd fondly called Kennysoft STUDIOs, a Nigerian Video and Animation Production Studio. He is also the founder and lead instructor at Kennysoft Film Academy and can be reached via director@kennysoftstudio.com
The Man Ortom; His Politics and Leadership Style
INEC’s Bogus Budget and Nigeria’s Socioeconomic Misfortune
Pingback: 2022: What is Your Video Marketing Plan? – DMB India
Pingback: 2022: What is Your Video Marketing Plan? – Best Newsers Agency
Pingback: 2022: What's Your Video Advertising Plan? – Mighty Tech
Published
on
By
By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi
The barrage of reactions and commentaries that trailed the recently published disturbing pictures that drew the attention of the Delta State government to the visibly distressed structures, dilapidated classrooms with fallen ceilings, windows and doors at Oyoko Primary School, Abavo, Ika South Local Government Area of the state has again given credibility to the belief that a free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society.
For without reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern. For there is no adequate way in which it can keep itself informed about what the people of the country are thinking, doing and needing.
Despite this new awareness, what has, however, caused concern among Deltans with critical interest as well as qualifies the development in the state’s education sector as a crisis is a fact that before the dust raised by the ‘deplorable, inhuman and gory account of Oyoko school condition could settle, another was up. This time, it has to do with an eyewitness account of the poor state of a secondary school in Abavo town, St Charles College.
For clarity, St Charles College, he said, was originally built, owned and operated by the Catholic mission in the state. The school has to its credit produced prominent citizens of Ika nation extraction and Nigeria as a whole. Also remarkable is the fact that the college was at a time the only secondary school within the Abavo clan that could boast of boarding facilities. Those were the good old days.
The school, like other missionary schools in the state, was seized by the state government, mismanaged, starved of funds, stripped of learning convenience, ‘killed’ and the carcass finally returned to the original owners by the administration of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan without any form of financial mitigation or infrastructural remediation.
The commentator noted with nostalgia that ever since the government led its cold hands on St. Charles, the centre can no longer hold and things fall apart.
Even the new owner (the mission) is currently in search of the courage needed to tackle the degree of infrastructural decay in the school. The once celebrated hostel facility that previously housed students who are today not just prominent but great men in society is presently without a roof, lying lonely, fallow and deserted. The same fate befell the school laboratory building until recently when the old boys of the school took it upon themselves and had the laboratory building roofed. But even with that feat, the science laboratory cannot boast of a single test tube.
This state of affairs, he lamented, is in sharp contrast with the Anambra State experience under Governor Peter Obi’s administration who funded and equipped the schools with state-of-the-art ICT learning facilities, and provided school buses before he seamlessly handed over the school to the missions.
As the author, what is undeniably my concern, in addition to the above awareness, is not the commentator’s admission that the decay in the majority of schools (primary and secondary alike) did not start with the present administration, rather, it is his declaration that if the level of decay in previous administrations were considered a challenge, what is happening presently should be characterized as a crisis.
To further consolidate his position, he said; Governor Okowa’s mother is from the Abavo community. For that reason, if the Governor could abandon projects and neglect schools in the community where his mother hails from, that will give an insight to what is happening in other parts of the state.
In May 2015, he added, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa assumed office without doing anything substantial to save these financially emasculated schools returned to the missionaries or serve the people; forgetting that governance is a continuum. The Governor at the beginning of this year (2022) promised these mission schools some money, but such promises like many others have gone with political winds. We are particularly unhappy that Governor Okowa abandoned his people, he concluded.
Let’s assume the state government ignored St. Charles because it has been handed over to the mission and is now not directly under the preview of the government. It will again necessitate the question of how well has the government treated its own secondary schools under its watch?
To answer this perennial question, the findings of this study/research along with collaboration from many other investigations using different procedures suggest that both government secondary schools and the recently handed over mission schools share ‘equal sorrows’, virtues and attributes.
The similarity in structural deficiencies is a common denominator.
Take, as an illustration, St Anthony College, Ubulu-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state is a wholly owned government model school. But there is nothing model or modern about the school. The classes are far from being 21st-century learning environment compliant. The few new structures found in the school are attributable to the personal efforts of good-spirited individuals and the school’s old boys association.
The school hostel previously reputed for housing over 300 students is now a show of itself- infested with rodents and reptiles-these dangerous animals jostle for space with students. The environment is laced with dilapidated structures, falling windows and surrounded overgrown bushes. Even the promises made by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) have not appreciably changed St. Anthony College’s misfortune or changed their narratives, he concluded.
Certainly, there is, in my view, a reason to believe that these commentators may not be alone in this line of belief.
For instance, Ika Weekly Newspaper, a well-respected community newspaper based in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of the state, in its recent editorial comment entitled Calling on Gov. Okowa to Address the Sorry State of Oyoko Primary Schools Abavo, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, among other concerns stated that, “no learning takes place in such an environment. Yes, the students may gather at that point called Oyoko Primary School but we hold the opinion that evidence on the ground cannot qualify or ascribe such an environment as conducive for learning. More pathetically, that such a ‘learning environment’ still exists in the state and in the community where the Governor’s mother hails from, is a painful experience.”
Definitely, in my view, there is a funding challenge in the education sector not just in the state but the nation as a whole. Notwithstanding, this piece believes that in many ways, the present administration in the state may have a sincere desire to move the nation forward, but there are two militating factors. First, there is no clear definition of the problem as it concerns the education sector, the goals to be achieved, or the means chosen to address the problems. Secondly, this is the only possible explanation for this situation.
As an incentive to solve this lingering challenge, the state must depart from the cosmetic approach and get involved with more work and make more reforms. They must look for ways to develop/implement plans and policies that will lead to proper funding of the education sector in the state as any development plan without access to quality education is a sheer waste of time.
Also, drawing a lesson from the Anambra State experience under Peter Obi’s administration will be considered a right step taken in the right direction.
This piece holds the opinion that the state government needs to do this not for political reason(s) but for the survival of our democracy and the future of our children.
Utomi Jerome-Mario is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), a Lagos-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). He can be reached via Jeromeutomi@yahoo.com/08032725374
Published
on
By
By Otori Emmanuel
No doubt, inflation is a barrier to the much a country can do in terms of value and wealth creation as it affects every aspect of its productivity. Tragically, this is currently the state of Nigeria where the purchasing power of the Naira declines day by day. This decline is not without effect on daily living – everything increases as the purchasing power decreases.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) annual percentage change in value is known as inflation. It accurately gauges how much a portfolio of goods and services prices vary over the course of a year. The CPI for 2022 increased to 15.60 per cent (year-on-year) in January 2022, according to records from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Based on the NBS, Nigeria’s inflation rate increased from 9.0 per cent in 2015 to 17.71 per cent as of May 2022 (year on year).
It is obvious that over the years, the value of money in Nigeria has been falling, thereby causing a negative impact. Usually, this inflation is expected to reduce purchasing power by 2 per cent or 3 per cent to bounce back to stability but it seems that the inflation in Nigeria has risen above 10 per cent.
In a state like this, Nigeria is gradually tilting into hyper-inflation, thereby reducing the value of the Naira. Over the past 10 years, Nigeria has long struggled with a general increase in the cost of food, goods, and other necessities as well as a decline in buying power which has barely retraced the market.
Inflation rates of 2 per cent to 3 per cent assist an economy because they stimulate consumers to take out more loans and make more expenditures because interest rates are also held at historically low levels at these levels.
How is Inflation caused?
Inflation is brought on by the following among others:
As it is known, the value of money decreases when the economy undergoes inflation, which is an increase in the price of goods and services as a result, a given unit of currency now buys fewer products and services.
Implications of Inflation
According to data from the NBS, the economy made an improvement in 2022’s first quarter, as evidenced by a 3.1 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Both individuals and the nation as a whole are impacted by this high inflation.
The effects on consumers are the harshest – people can no longer maintain a budget since their income is so low. Consumers find it challenging to purchase even the necessities of life due to the high cost of everyday goods. They are forced to request higher pay as a result, which gives them no choice.
Inflation Control
In order to manage inflation, the government and the central bank typically regulate the economy through monetary and fiscal policies. Monetary policy is the principal strategy employed (interest rate fluctuation). However, inflation can be controlled with the following measures:
Published
on
By
By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi
At a very recent function in Lagos, a participant placed this question before the gathering; what exacerbates Nigeria’s current political and socioeconomic challenges? And just immediately, he got two separate but related responses from two personalities I consider well-informed, self-contained and quietly influential Nigerians.
The first stated thus; the situation (poor leadership) in the country is not party, tribe/ethnic, religion, state governors or federal government insulted. Rather, it is a ‘total national leadership collapse in the country from ‘top to bottom’. It is a brazen manifestation of a bunch that is yet to internalize the fact that power is nothing but the ability to achieve the purpose-a and strength required to bring about social, economic, political, cultural and religious changes.
The second captured his response this way; not that the nation’s leadership is lacking in vision but their vision more often than not is not masses-centred. Even those that could qualify as people purposed are in most cases stripped of clear definition, the goals to be achieved, or the means chosen to address the problems and to achieve the goals and making the entire narrative a crisis is that the system has virtually no consideration for connecting the poor with good means of livelihood-food, job, and security.
This is the only possible explanation for the situation and will continue until the present crop of leaders productively looks back to draw both inspiration and lessons from the nation’s forgotten pacesetters and forbearers such as Pa Obafemi Awolowo, the late premier of the western region of Nigeria; Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello of Eastern and Northern regions respectively; Pa Michael Ajasin of old Ondo State and Ambrose Folorunsho Alli, the one-time Governor of the now defunct Bendel State, he concluded.
Indeed, to any student of history, these facts should not be a surprise.
Maybe I am missing something here but from the above admonition, this piece believed and still believes that what today’s leaders need is to study these departed pacesetters, nationalists and nation builders, to study their history, study the actions of these eminent men, to see how they conducted themselves and to discover the reasons for their victories or their defeats so that they can avoid the later and imitate the former’.
Aside from assisting the nation not to wander in dilemma, the above action is important as ‘knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And people who want to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives.’
Take, as an example, as documented in his Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947), Pa Awo drew the first systematic federalist manifesto. He advocated federalism as the only basis for equitable national integration and, as head of the Action Group he led demands for a federal constitution, which was introduced in the 1954 Lyttleton Constitution, following primarily the model proposed by the Western Region delegation led by him.
As the premier, he proved to be and was viewed as a man of vision and a dynamic administrator. He was also the country’s leading social democratic politician. He supported limited public ownership and limited central planning in government.
He believed that the state should channel Nigeria’s resources into education and state-led infrastructural development. Controversially, and at considerable expense, he introduced free primary education for all and free health care for children in the Western Region, established the first television service in Africa in 1959, and the Oduduwa Group, all of which were financed from the highly lucrative cocoa industry which was the mainstay of the regional economy.
Under his leadership, nobody needed to fly to Canada or the UK to go and look for an education. It was here. People from Canada were doing Commonwealth exchange; coming from Canada to go and study at the University of Ife. If you want to go out, it was just for the fun of it not because the education here was inferior to what you are going to get outside.
Awo, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, former Governor of old Ondo State, whom many describe as the moving spirit of the Free Education Programme of the defunct Western Region, and Ambrose Folorunsho Alli (22 September 1929 – 22 September 1989), the first civilian governor of the old Bendel State, shone like a billion star in the areas of education, infrastructural provision and nation building. They shared similar but interesting attributes worth emulating by Nigeria’s current crops of leaders.
Ambrose Alli, for example, was a member of the constituent assembly that drafted the 1978 Nigeria constitution. He joined the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and ran successfully as a UPN candidate in the Bendel State governorship election of 1979 and won the election. He founded Bendel State University now Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. Many campuses in Ekpoma, Abraka and Asaba were established during his tenure. However, with the creation of Delta State by the administration of Gen. Babangida, the university became two universities, namely Delta State University, Abraka and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, posthumously named after him.
He brought massive development to Bendel in different sectors, from the establishment of numerous post-primary schools and tertiary institutions to the massive construction of roads and housing. His main thrust as governor was to increase educational opportunities. He established over 600 new secondary schools and abolished secondary school fees.
Apart from the establishment of the university, he also established various Colleges of Education in Ekiadolor near Benin City, Agbor, Warri, Ozoro, and three Polytechnics, with a College of Agriculture and Fishery proposed for Agenebode.
He also established four teacher training colleges to supply staff to the new schools, as well as several other higher educational institutions. Other reforms included abolishing charges for services and drugs at state-owned hospitals and eliminating the flat-rate tax.
His administration carried out massive construction of roads to open up the rural areas. In the housing sector, he built low-cost housing estates in Ugbowo, Ikpoba Hill in Benin City, and Bendel Estates in Warri. As Governor, he always wore sandals, joking that he was so busy working in Government House that he never had time to buy shoes for himself. When Ambrose Alli left office in 1983, he retired to his family house.
Aside from the above account, we are equally witnesses to the fact that in the Midwest and Bendel State of old, there existed government-owned companies established by the then leaders. They were established to among other aims create employment while bringing revenue to government coffers.
Examples of such companies include but are not limited to MidWest Lines, Bendel Hotel, Bendel Insurance, and Bendel Glass, among others.
That was in the good old days.
Therefore, as the nation braces up for the 2023 general elections, there is no doubt that presently, Nigeria is at a leadership crossroad and there is a wise saying that “if you do not know the direction you are headed, then, get to the crossroad and you will find the way to your destination’. Nigerians should take hope in the fact that a cross-road is a place of decision, difficult decisions.
Again, ‘it is sometimes convenient to forget. At others, it is uncomfortable to remember. To forget is perhaps one of the greatest gifts of nature. But to remember can also be an invaluable asset sometimes”. It is, therefore, the opinion of this piece that come 2023, Nigerians will not forget the present crossroad. But even if as humans they forget, history will be there to remind them.
Utomi Jerome-Mario is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), a Lagos-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). He can be reached via Jeromeutomi@yahoo.com/08032725374
Copyright © 2022 BusinessPost