The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) said on Sunday that the economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration have triggered high inflation rate, reduced Nigerians’ purchasing power and pushed millions into poverty.

The President of the CBCN and Archbishop of Owerri, Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, stated this at the opening session of the 2025 First Plenary Meeting of the Bishops, themed “Jubilee of Hope: A light for a better Nigeria”, held at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) in Abuja.

Ugorji said Nigerians have continued to endure increasing hardship on account of the harsh socio-economic situation, including high cost of petroleum products, transportation and essential goods.

“While the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration aim at stabilising the economy on the long term, they have significantly triggered sky-rocketing inflation, drastically reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians, and plunged millions into poverty,” the CBCN President said.

“The World Bank projects that 129 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line. The 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis lists Nigeria as the second globally in terms of acute food insecurity, with 24 million people categorised as food insecure. According to data drawn from the National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation hit 39.84% in December 2024. It is reported that Nigerians now spend about 65% of their income on food alone. Thus healthcare and other basic necessities are sacrificed,” he said.

Archbishop Ugorji noted that government’s efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the citizenry through the distribution of palliatives, duty wavers on imported food items, and other measures have remained the tip of the iceberg.

He said while Nigerians continued to suffer and die, the resultant daily stress is taking heavy tolls on the mental health of many parents as they overstretch themselves to make ends meet.

He said despite the fact that citizens have in recent times witnessed the rehabilitation of some dilapidated roads and the construction of new ones across the nation, the introduction of the student loan scheme, the new minimum wage, and the reduction in revenue to debt servicing from 97 per cent to 68 per cent, as well as some positive effects of the economic and fiscal reforms embarked upon by government, “the state of the nation remains bleak, as dark clouds of uncertainty and despondency continue to gather”.

Ugorji cast a cursory glance at four issues: the Nigeria’s economic outlook for growth, heightening insecurity, rising youth unemployment, and the deplorable state of federal correctional centres.

On insecurity, he said that the scourge still persists, and is even getting worse across the nation as the ‘armies’ of Boko Haram, bandits, unknown gunmen continue to grow in number, as well as in acts of wickedness and barbarism.

He said kidnapping for ransom and the mindless killing of innocent people are on the rise, with the targeting of priests and religious across the county.