Group decries prevailing hardship in Nigeria

• Condemns Federal Government’s renewed anti-people policies
• Says no to hike in fuel price, electricity without sustainable alternatives

A group, the United Action Front of Civil Society, has decried prevailing hardship in the country.

It, therefore, urged Nigerians, especially the labour movements, organised civil society groups and youths to remain vigilant and resolute in resisting the renewed anti-people policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

A statement, signed by Head, National Coordinating Centre of the group, Wale Okunniyi, said the likes of the court injunction restraining labour unions from exercising their inalienable rights to protest and embark on strike were aimed at ambushing and destabilising them as well as other organised civil society groups to demobilise angry Nigerians and youths.

The statement reads in part:
“We denounce the ‘insensitive’ and ‘unconscionable’ imposition of government policies without proper consultations and engagement with stakeholders and citizens in spite of foreseeable over-riding negative effects of these policies on Nigerians.”

The group, therefore, accused President Tinubu’s government of foisting renewed despair, hardship and hopelessness on Nigerians as consequences of its policies to “levy the masses to enrich the powerful.”

It said the monetary policy had further worsened the multi-dimensional poverty among over 40 per cent of Nigeria’s populace, as evidenced in the free fall of Naira to a despicable new low hitherto never experienced or imagined in the history of Nigeria.

“The new administration appears unmindful of the ripple effects of the devaluation of Naira, considering low level of production and huge dependence on import for household and industrial items in Nigeria,” it said.

The organised civil society, under the leadership of Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Nkoyo Toyo, Shehu Sani, among others, added that while Nigerians “are still groaning as a result of unbearable impact of the increase in pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the government has again desperately gone ahead to also announce an increase in the electricity tariff effective July 1, 2023.”

It described the “cumulative crunching effects of the anti-poor policies of the Tinubu administration as punitive and unacceptable to the majority of Nigerians.”