PUNCH
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has said that the current administration’s reform agenda has increased the hardship being faced by citizens.
The President of the CBCN, Lucius Ugorji, made this declaration during his welcome speech on Sunday at the commencement of the 2024 First Plenary Assembly of the CBCN, held at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria Resource Centre in Durumi, Abuja.
The bishop noted that inflation had rendered it challenging for the typical Nigerian to afford essential commodities, such as food items and medication.
“The reform agenda of the present government has added to the plight of Nigerians. With the withdrawal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the foreign exchange market, there has been a sharp increase in the pump price of petroleum products and a steep decline in the value of the naira. Indeed, there is a free fall of the national currency.
As a result of the government’s reform agenda, millions of Nigerians have been reduced to a life of grinding poverty, wanton suffering, and untold hardship as never before in our national history.
“In a bid to survive, an increasing number of the poor have resorted to begging. With more than 80 million Nigerians living under the poverty line of less than two dollars a day, our country, according to the recent disclosure of the World Bank, is the world’s second-largest poor population after India.
“While many impoverished Nigerians continue to suffer and die as a result of the hardship caused by the government’s economic reforms, the president has continued to urge the populace to make even more and more sacrifices with the assurance that brighter days lay ahead,” he said.
