The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), has expressed concern over the deepening economic crisis that has plunged millions of Nigerians into unprecedented hardship, and has suggested solutions to ameliorate the sufferings.
The organisation, in a statement on Tuesday, signed by its National President, Comrade Yinka Folarin, and National Secretary, Comrade Idris Afees, demanded urgent action by governments at all levels. It sought to reduce official working days for civil servants to three days per week as a temporary relief measure to ease the crushing burden of transportation and living costs.
The organisation also urged governments to be transparent and ensure accountable distribution of palliatives to civil servants, the elderly, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
It also sought urgent expansion and revitalisation of the inter-state rail system to provide Nigerians with a safe, affordable, and efficient alternative to road transport. “State governments must also take responsibility by implementing complementary measures to reduce the suffering of their citizens.”
CDHR demanded the immediate introduction of targeted subsidies and price control mechanisms on essential goods and services, especially life-saving drugs and medical care. “It’s unacceptable that Nigerians are dying daily because they cannot afford basic treatment.”
According to CDHR, citizens are pushed to the brink by the relentless increase in fuel prices and the soaring cost of basic necessities. “What Nigerians are experiencing today isn’t just economic difficulty, it’s a full-blown economic hardship.
“While global factors, including the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, may have contributed to rising fuel prices, it’s undeniable that harmful and anti-people policies of the Nigerian government, both at the Federal and State Government levels, have aggravated the situation. These policy choices have directly intensified poverty, widened inequality, and subjected ordinary Nigerians to avoidable suffering.
“Nigerians were led to believe that the much-publicised Dangote private refinery, alongside supposedly functional government-owned refineries, would shield the country from global shocks. This promise has clearly failed.
“The reality today exposes a painful truth: Nigerians have been left vulnerable, unprotected, and misled. The expected relief appeared not to have come, but only deeper hardship.
“Government at all levels exists to serve and protect the people, not to abandon them in times of crisis. Today, that responsibility is being neglected by the government at all levels. The worst is the situation with the state government, which has refused to complement the Federal Government’s efforts, despite increased federal allocations resulting from the fuel subsidy removal in May 2023.
“Local Governments have been rendered very ineffective by the various state government and it has remained a conduit for siphoning of funds and corporate embezzlement of the people’s commonwealth. Nigerians are groaning under unbearable conditions, and many are losing their lives as a direct consequence of economic hardship and failure of the government to commensurately address the insecurity situation in the country. This is unjust, unacceptable, and mustn’t continue.”
“The time for rhetoric is over. The time for action is now. The Nigerian government must confront this crisis with sincerity, urgency, and compassion. Leadership must be measured not by promises, but by the protection of lives and the preservation of human dignity.”
CDHR warns that continued neglect of the people’s suffering will only deepen public frustration and erode trust in governance. Nigerians deserve to live, not merely survive.
“We reiterate that governance must be firmly rooted in the welfare of the people. No policy, no matter how well-intentioned, should come at the cost of human life and dignity.”
