Human rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has issued a blistering warning to the Federal Government and state governors, declaring that millions of Nigerians are being pushed toward economic collapse by what it described as “unbearable and suffocating living conditions.”
In a statement released by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the group demanded the immediate declaration of a “National Family Economic Emergency,” warning that Nigeria is fast sliding into a full-blown social and humanitarian disaster.
HURIWA said ordinary Nigerians are being “crushed daily” under relentless hikes in petrol prices, cooking gas, electricity tariffs, transportation costs and food prices, while wages remain stagnant and unemployment continues to explode across the country.
According to the organisation, the economic hardship has reached a terrifying level where millions of families can no longer guarantee basic survival.
“Nigerians are drowning in economic misery,” the group declared.
“Families are being suffocated by hunger, inflation, joblessness and hopelessness, while those in power continue to behave as though the nation is not sitting on a ticking social time bomb.”
The rights group painted a grim picture of worsening poverty across urban and rural communities, warning that many households are already collapsing under the weight of rising costs and shrinking incomes.
HURIWA accused the government of failing to provide meaningful economic relief despite repeated promises of intervention and reform.
The organisation also blasted what it described as the “practical collapse” of key poverty intervention institutions, including the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and the Ministry of Women Affairs, insisting that the agencies have failed woefully in responding to the scale of suffering across the country.
According to the group, millions of vulnerable Nigerians have effectively been abandoned at a time of unprecedented economic hardship.
HURIWA further attacked the handling of the agricultural sector, accusing authorities of lacking the vision and urgency required to rescue food production from collapse.
It said insecurity across farming communities has become one of the greatest threats to Nigeria’s survival, alleging that terrorists and armed gangs now dominate large rural territories and impose illegal levies on farmers before allowing them access to their farmlands.
The group warned that the growing expansion of “ungoverned spaces” across the country has crippled farming activities, disrupted food supply chains and worsened nationwide hunger.
“This is no longer an ordinary economic challenge. It is a national emergency,” HURIWA stated.
“When farmers cannot farm without paying terrorists, when workers cannot feed their families despite earning salaries, and when basic survival becomes a luxury, the country is facing a dangerous breakdown.”
The organisation warned that the combination of economic hardship, insecurity, inflation, institutional failure and unemployment could trigger deeper social instability if urgent action is not taken.
It therefore called on both federal and state governments to immediately implement emergency economic measures aimed at reducing the cost of living, stabilising food prices, restoring security in rural communities and expanding social protection programmes for struggling households.
HURIWA also urged authorities to abandon what it called “policy experiments disconnected from the realities of ordinary Nigerians” and focus instead on people-centred economic recovery programmes.
The group maintained that Nigeria cannot continue to function normally while millions of citizens battle what it described as “economic suffocation.”
“The time for speeches and propaganda has passed,” the statement added.
“What Nigerians urgently need now is courageous leadership, compassionate governance and emergency economic action capable of rescuing millions of families from misery, hunger and despair before the situation spirals completely out of control.”