An organization, The Youth Party, has accused the federal government of inflicting pain and hardship on the citizens, by its alleged mismanagement of Nigeria’s economy.
The National Chairman of the organization, Tomiwa Aladekomo, in a statement on Friday in Benin, noted that the government’s failure in this regard has continued to drive inflation and unemployment in the country.
He stated this while reacting to the March 2021 Consumer Price Index/Inflation Report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.
The data revealed that Nigeria’s inflation rate has continued to rise as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation increased to 18.17 per cent (year-on-year) in March; the highest reported in four years, since April 2017.
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Aladekomo noted that the new data from the NBS is a clear indication that the nation is heading towards a severe economic crisis under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government.
He noted that the APC-led government has failed to deliver real dividends of democracy to citizens of the country, even as he added that all indices of social and economic development in the country, including the worsening security situation, were in the negative.
The Youth Party chairman while calling for a deliberate policy of investing in infrastructure, among others, to ease the means of doing business in the country, charged the government to support macroeconomic policies to drive economic growth.
According to him, “While many Nigerians are struggling to stay alive, we continue to receive news of rising inflation with unemployment rate growing at frightening dimensions; insecurity is worsening, the cost of transportation has quadrupled, plus the continued decline in domestic and direct foreign investments, all due to the uncertainty created by federal government’s management of the socio-economic issues.
“We must act now before the situation worsens.”
Aladekomo, therefore, urged the federal government to step up efforts to tackle insecurity, review some of its monetary policies and take urgent measures towards reforming key sectors of Nigeria’s economy so as to tackle rising inflation and alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.
