A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) based in the north has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle insecurity and “high cost of living” in Nigeria.
The CSOs, under the Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks, in a letter signed by Ibrahim Waiya and Ibrahim Yusuf, the chairman and the secretary of the coalition, respectively, expressed displeasure over the threat to the security of lives and properties of Nigerians.
According to the letter: “The continuous activities of bandits, kidnappers and Boko Haram in many northern states such as Borno, Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and others have adversely affected the economy of people in those states. Many lives and properties have been destroyed,”
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“It is also important to draw the attention of the federal government to the increasing crisis of farmers/herders in places like Benue, which resulted in the number of persons displaced.
“The nonchalant attitude of the federal government in Benue State herders/farmers crisis would not augur well, and political differences should not give political leaders the right to jeopardise the lives of the citizenry.”
Expressing concern over the proposal to remove fuel subsidy by 2022, the group said: “We acknowledge that the petroleum sector contributes substantially to the Nigerian economy. Nonetheless, the prospective benefits are diminished due to the practice of significant subsidies on imports of petroleum products,”
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“Nigerians are dying slowly due to rising cost of living, as the country’s inflation hits a 4-year high by more than 18% in March, with food prices going high by almost 23% high-ceilinged prices. A rise in joblessness has also left a third of Nigeria’s workforce unemployed at the end of 2020, and this is a figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
“The World Poverty Clock reports that at the latest count, Nigeria had 43% of its population that is over 90 million people living below the poverty line of less than $1.90 per day. Therefore, fuel subsidy removal at this hardest time in Nigeria is nothing but an invitation to a higher level of poverty and social insecurity.”
