Nigeria faces deepening crises as over 50 civil society organisations (CSOs) declared the nation on the brink of collapse, citing worsening insecurity, economic hardship, corruption, and democratic erosion. The coalition, including ActionAid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Yiaga Africa, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), issued a joint statement on Tuesday titled 'A Call to Action by Nigerian Civil Society Organisations'. They pointed to recent attacks in Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, and Benue states that killed dozens and led to mass abductions. More than half of Nigeria's 200 million people live in multidimensional poverty, lacking food, shelter, and education. Fuel prices have surged due to the Middle East conflict, inflating food and transport costs. Protests erupted in Edo State, where youths blocked the Benin-Lagos highway over fuel prices, poor roads, and power outages. The CSOs criticised politicians for self-enrichment despite federal budgets exceeding N100 trillion in the last two years—more than all budgets from 1999 to 2017 combined. They cited eroded judicial credibility, shrinking civic space, and threats to the 2027 elections. "Nigeria is on the brink of collapse," the statement read. "Citizens count losses while politicians trade rhetoric."
The claim that Nigeria's budgets since 2022 have surpassed N100 trillion—exceeding the sum of all budgets from 1999 to 2017—without visible impact on citizens' lives suggests governance has become a numbers game detached from reality. When Rafsanjani Auwal Musa of CISLAC warns of collapsing public trust in democracy, the concern isn't just political—it's about legitimacy. For Nigerians, this means leadership is increasingly seen as extractive, not transformative. The state may still function, but its credibility is running on empty.
