The Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reevaluate his economic policies, pointing out that the Nigerian people are no longer comfortable with them.
The call was made by Most Rev. Ugorji, the Archbishop of Owerri on Sunday during his welcome speech at the 2024 Second Plenary Assembly of the CBCN, which was held in Auchi, Edo State. He claimed that Nigerians had suffered more negative effects than positive ones as a result of President Tinubu’s economic policies.
He argued that economic reforms, no matter how carefully considered and executed, could not effectively address the nation’s socioeconomic issues because it appeared that the policies were no longer working. Instead, he supported a return to a regional system of government in order to combat corruption and put the country back on track.
The Archbishop, who asserted that calls for a return to the regional system were made because the nation’s issues extended beyond simple economic reforms, also said that while the bishops recognised the achievements listed by President Bola Tinubu in his August 4 speech, they could not deny that the current state of the country was concerning.
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He enumerated the various issues plaguing the country, among them the growing debt load resulting from a $2.25 billion credit facility obtained in June 2024 from the World Bank, with a 40-year repayment horizon.
According to him, the debt raised the public debt profile of the country to $93.7 billion.
Ugorji also mentioned hunger, misery brought on by insecurity, and multiple taxation as the main issues that the populace faced.
“When all is said and done, we must admit that the cost of running our military imposed presidential system of government with so many elected officials assisted by numerous support staff is staggering and unsustainable.
“We must also acknowledge that the corruption level of many Nigerian politicians have gone beyond scale and measure and that controlling our national resources at the federal government level creates more opportunities for corruption to flourish.
“Having experimented on the presidential system of government for over 25 years and having groped in the dark in search of solutions to our socio-economic problems, now seems to be the opportune time to heed the advice of some of our best minds canvassing for our return to the former regional system of government as envisaged by the founding fathers of our nation or devolve power to the present six geo-political zones”, he said.
