Afenifere carpets FG over suffocating economy

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has lashed out at the All Progressives Congress-led administration over the state of the country’s economy, which it said has continued to take its toll on Nigerians.

The foremost Yoruba group stated that the management of the N500 billion allocated for palliative gives cause for concern over the “apparent loss of ideas and confusion plaguing the process.”

According to the organization, in a press statement by its Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni yesterday, Nigerians have been left to bear the brunt of the economic crisis with no particular measure to counter it. The group denounced the Senate’s motion, titled, “Let The Poor Breathe,” which it perceived as a mockery of the suffering populace.

Afenifere insisted that the government must move beyond short-term measures and prioritise the implementation of comprehensive strategies aimed at addressing the widespread suffering across the country, as it underscored the importance of investing in long-term infrastructure and facilities that can uplift communities, ensuring that the impact of the allocated funds is maximised and reaches those who need it the most.

The statement read, “Nigeria is currently caught in a labyrinth of inclement weather caused by a convoluted election process and its unwieldy outcomes, intractable security problems, and the nightmarish aftermath of a sudden and harsh removal of the petrol subsidy on the other hand. ”

In less than six weeks, an already asphyxiating economy reeling under the crushing impact of hyperinflation, unemployment, mass hunger, and poverty foisted by the gross ineptitude and incompetence that characterised the watch of eight years is looking like an episode drawn straight out of Dante’s Hell.

“Nigeria, despite being touted as the 55th largest economy in the world, currently ranks 142 out of 167 on the global prosperity index, with the expected total number of Nigerians plunged into the deep end of multidimensional poverty reaching 133 million before the end of 2024.

“In the same vein, the number of extremely poor Nigerians for the same period is estimated to hit 71 million, which may now be compounded by the multiplier effects of the peremptory removal of the petrol subsidy, the intractable fall of the Naira, and the surreptitious increase in school fees payable in Federal Government secondary and tertiary educational institutions.

“It is feared that this latest gross act of thoughtless policy implementation and its unintended consequences will further push Nigeria’s economy down the slope as Nigeria has officially overtaken India as The New Poverty Capital of the World.”

Afenifere further stressed that the sudden manner in which the subsidy was removed caught many off guard, as it was announced without due consideration for its impact on the people and the economy.