CHRICED Warns Nigeria at Crossroads, Says 2025 Worsened Hardship and Democratic Decline
The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has warned that Nigeria is at a critical crossroads following widespread hardship and governance failures recorded in 2025.
Speaking at an end-of-year media briefing in Abuja on Saturday, January 3, 2026, CHRICED Executive Director, Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, described 2025 as a year that deepened poverty, insecurity, and democratic decline.
He said Nigerians entered 2025 with hope that leaders would govern with empathy and accountability, but were instead confronted with rising inflation, unemployment, and a severe cost-of-living crisis.
According to CHRICED, economic policies failed to ease hardship as the naira continued to weaken and the prices of food, transportation, and essential goods remained high.
The organisation noted that although prices of some food items dropped, many Nigerians could not afford them due to lack of income, while farmers faced high costs of fertilisers, labour, and transportation.
On governance, CHRICED criticised what it described as extravagant spending by public officials amid widespread suffering, faulting the continued failure to implement the Oronsaye Report.
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Zikirullahi said the off-cycle elections conducted in 2025 exposed serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s democracy, including voter suppression, violence, and lack of credible competition at the local government level.
He also warned of Nigeria’s growing drift toward a one-party state, citing mass defections of opposition lawmakers as a threat to accountability and democratic balance.
On insecurity, CHRICED said kidnappings, banditry, and insurgency persisted nationwide despite huge security spending, forcing farmers off their lands and disrupting education and businesses.
The organisation further raised concerns over shrinking civic space, alleging increased intimidation of journalists, activists, and civil society groups during the year.
Looking ahead to 2026, CHRICED urged the government to cut the cost of governance, reform security and judicial institutions, strengthen INEC, protect civic freedoms, and tackle corruption.
The group also called on citizens to hold leaders accountable, reject vote-buying, and defend democratic values, stressing that Nigeria must move beyond mere survival.
Zikirullahi expressed hope that with courage and accountability, 2026 could mark a turning point for the country.