Nigerians Grow More Discontent About Economic Conditions – Report

Afrobarometer survey has revealed that Nigerians’ assessment of their personal living conditions and the country’s economic situation have worsened dramatically over the past two years.

According to the survey, the proportion of citizens experiencing moderate or high levels of poverty has doubled since 2017, as majorities experienced shortages of basic necessities such as food, water and medical care during the year preceding the survey.

“Citizens’ ratings of the government’s performance on key economic issues including; keeping prices stable, managing the economy and reducing poverty are overwhelmingly negative,” it said.

Key findings from the survey showed that more than eight in 10 Nigerians, translating to about 85 per cent, say the country’s economic condition is bad, a 27-percentage-point increase compared to 2020. Six in 10 (62 per cent) describe it as very bad.

“The proportion of citizens who describe their personal living conditions as fairly bad or very bad has increased by 24 percentage points since 2020, from 47 per cent to 71 per cent. This continues a worsening trend since 2014.

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“Eight in 10 Nigerians (79 per cent) experienced moderate or high levels of lived poverty during the previous year, double the proportion recorded in 2014 and 2017 (38 per cent), after a significant improvement between 2012 (54 per cent) and 2014. Nigerians cite management of the economy (39 per cent) and unemployment (35 per cent) as the second and third most important problems that they want the government to address, outstripped only by crime and security (41 per cent).

“About nine in 10 respondents say the government is doing fairly badly or very badly at keeping prices stable (93 per cent), managing the economy (87 per cent), narrowing income gaps (86 per cent), and improving living standards of the poor (85 per cent),” it pointed out.

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life.