The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, upbraided President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, stating that his economic reform policies have pushed millions of Nigerians into abject poverty.
Addressing the 2025 First Plenary Meeting of the CBCN held at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) in Abuja on Sunday, Most Reverend Ugorji, who is the Archbishop of the Latin Church Archdiocese of Owerri, Imo State, said it is distressing that President Tinubu’s leadership is unconcerned about the worsening economic situation in which Nigerians continued to endure increasing hardship daily.
Archbishop Ugorji, blamed the prevailing economic hardship on Tinubu’s policies, particularly the withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products, which he said led to high cost of petroleum products and as a result orchestrated the cost of transportation and essential goods nationwide.
In the presentation entitled: “Jubilee of Hope: A light for a better Nigeria”, Archbishop Ugorji said: “While the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration aims at stabilising the economy on the long term, they have significantly triggered sky-rocketing inflation, drastically reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians, and plunged millions into poverty.
“The World Bank projects that 129 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line. The 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis lists Nigeria as the second globally in terms of acute food insecurity, with 24 million people categorised as food insecure.
“According to data drawn from the National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation hit 39.84% in December 2024. It is reported that Nigerians now spend about 65% of their income on food alone. Thus, healthcare and other basic necessities are sacrificed.”
He also noted that government’s efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the citizenry through the distribution of palliatives, duty wavers on imported food items, and other measures were marginal with little or no impact.
While stating that Nigerians continued to suffer and die, with the resultant daily stress taking heavy tolls on the mental health of many parents as they overstretched themselves to make ends meet, Archbishop Ugorji noted that there are however areas to commend the government in terms of rehabilitation of some dilapidated roads and the construction of new ones across the country.
He also identified the introduction of the Student Loan Scheme (SLS); new minimum wage; and the reduction in revenue to debt servicing from 97 percent to 68 percent as other positive indicators that deserve commendation.
“Despite all these, the state of the nation remains bleak, as dark clouds of uncertainty and despondency continue to gather.
“In this address, I shall cast a cursory glance at four issues, including the harsh socio-economic situation of our nation, heightening insecurity, rising youth unemployment, and the deplorable state of our federal correctional centres,” the CBCN president stated.
On insecurity, Archbishop Ugorji said the scourge still persists, and is even getting worse across the nation as the ‘armies’ of Boko Haram, bandits, unknown gunmen continue to grow in number, as well as in acts of wickedness and barbarism.
He said kidnapping for ransom and the mindless killing of innocent people are on the rise, with the targeting of priests and religious across the county.
