- A large majority of respondents “disapprove” (33%) or “strongly disapprove” (52%) of the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies. Only 12% approve of their removal (Figure 1).
- Almost six in 10 (58%) say the government should reinstate fuel subsidies even if this means reducing other important expenditures such as health or education (Figure 2).
- More than nine in 10 Nigerians (93%) say the country is going in “the wrong direction.” This represents increases of 30 percentage points since 2017 (63%) and 4 points since the most recent survey in 2022 (89%) (Figure 3).
- Nearly nine in 10 citizens (88%) say the country’s economic condition is “fairly bad” or “very bad,” up 30 percentage points from 2020 (Figure 4). o And three-fourths (74%) report poor personal living conditions.
- The increasing cost of living (33%) is the most frequently cited problem that Nigerians want the government to address, followed by crime and security (31%), poverty (27%), unemployment (27%), management of the economy (25%), and electricity (25%) (Figure 5).
A large majority of Nigerians disapprove of the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies, with more than half calling for their reinstatement even at the expense of other key sectors such as health and education, the latest Afrobarometer survey shows.
Almost two years after the elimination of the subsidies, public dissatisfaction with the country’s economic direction has reached record levels. More than nine in 10 Nigerians say the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Nearly as many citizens say the economy is in bad shape, while three-fourths report poor personal living conditions.
The most important problem that Nigerians want the government to address is the increasing cost of living, followed by crime and security, poverty, unemployment, management of the economy, and electricity.