UPDATED: Buhari apologises for his economic policies that made Nigerians suffer

Although the government initiated policies and programmes that it claimed impacted Nigerians, Mr Buhari’s eight-year reign as president has seen the nation wriggle through numerous challenges as poverty worsened while inflation and unemployment climbed to the highest levels under him

Although the program increased the yield of some key crop commodities like maize and rice within the last eight years, the substantial investment in the sector over this period has not reflected in the country’s food availability, affordability and accessibility, with millions of Nigerians struggling to purchase food amidst rising food inflation and poor income.

The impact of this policy was not significantly felt among millions of petty traders in the country, as many believed that the initiative was hijacked by the political elites for the benefit of their followers

The N-Power Programme was built to address the issue of youth unemployment and help increase social development, but the impact has been minimal as available data shows that the country’s unemployment figures have been on a steady rise since Mr Buhari assumed power

Between May 2015 and May 2022, the country’s unemployment rate has more than tripled

Current NBS data shows Nigeria’s unemployment rate is 33.3 per cent, translating to 23.2 million people, the highest in nearly two decades and the second-highest globally.

Shortly after Mr Buhari took over power in 2015, Nigeria’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of that year from 8.2 per cent in the second quarter, data from the country’s statistics office, NBS, showed.