John Alechenu, Abuja
Former Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Peter Ameh, has said the Tinubu administration has turned almost the entire Nigerian middle class into “old takers and beggars” through poorly conceived and anti-people policies.
Ameh was reacting to a new United Nations report which revealed that 17.9 million Nigerians have been plunged into multidimensional poverty in the last three years -the largest surge recorded anywhere in the world.
He spoke to Vanguard in Abuja, on Sunday.
According to the UN report, the surge goes beyond low income to include deprivations in health, education, housing, clean water and basic living standards.
“This is a case of a poorly conceived vision backed by poorly implemented, anti-people policies. This government has failed woefully to deliver on any of the promises it made to Nigerians,” Ameh said.
He said the figures confirm what ordinary Nigerians experience daily, where fuel subsidy removal without adequate palliatives, double-digit inflation, naira devaluation and high cost of living have eroded savings and collapsed small businesses.
“Under the Tinubu government, almost the entire middle class has been turned into old takers and beggars. People who were once self-sufficient can no longer afford school fees, hospital bills or even two decent meals a day,” he said.
Ameh warned that multidimensional poverty is more dangerous than income poverty because it strips people of dignity and future opportunities.
He called on the Federal Government to urgently review its economic reforms and adopt pro-people measures that create jobs, stabilise prices and protect vulnerable households, warning that the country risks creating a permanent underclass if the trend continues. End.
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