Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has raised concerns about the potential for hunger riots in the country, urging the Bola Tinubu’s Government to take swift action.
Speaking to journalists at his office in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday, Agbakoba highlighted the severe poverty affecting many Nigerians, despite the country’s substantial oil and gas resources.
Agbakoba criticized the mismanagement of these resources, which he claimed are being controlled by foreign interests. He warned that the increasing difficulty for Nigerians to afford food could lead to mass unrest.
Agbakoba stated, “Hunger riot can occur anytime in Nigeria,” Agbakoba said, advising Tinubu to restructure his cabinet and cut the cost of governance.
“Tinubu needs to dismantle the cabinet. Having over 40 ministers is too large. We don’t need more than 20 ministries,” he said.
The legal practitioner suggested scrapping certain government agencies and expanding the tax net to include multinational oil companies that he alleged are evading taxes.
“Don’t increase taxes, just expand the tax net and go after defaulting IOCs,” he added.
Agbakoba also suggested scrapping certain government agencies and expanding the tax net to include multinational oil companies that he alleged are evading taxes.
Agbakoba’s warnings come as food inflation in Nigeria soared to 40.66 percent in May, according to the latest Consumer Price Index and Inflation report from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The CPI measures the average change over time in the prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.
This represents a significant increase from 25.25 percent in June 2023 and highlights the growing cost of living. The report noted that headline inflation reached 33.95 percent in May, the highest level since March 1996, driven by rising food and transport prices.
Agbakoba stressed the urgency of addressing these issues to prevent a potential crisis, calling on the government to act before the situation worsens.
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