"If They Don't Know In Aso Rock, Let Me Say It Clearly": Soji Apampa Warns Of Worsening Multi-Dimensional Poverty On AIT
Appearing on African Independent Television (AIT), co-founder of the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) and anti-corruption advocate, Soji Apampa, delivered a stinging critique of the economic conditions facing everyday citizens across Nigeria. Apampa directly addressed political leadership at the Presidential Villa (Aso Rock), warning that multi-dimensional poverty has deepened drastically over the last decade.
Highlighting how inflation and currency devaluation have eroded middle-class purchasing power, he noted that middle-income earners can no longer extend financial support to dependent family members, leaving vulnerable populations stranded. Apampa also pointed to systemic disparities in resource management, elite capture, and a troubling surge in substance abuse among youth and women as indicators of institutional governance failure.
Deep-Dive Analysis
The Collapse of the Middle-Class Safety Net
During the interview, Apampa explained how inflationary pressures have broken the informal safety net traditionally maintained by middle-income workers.
The Financial Pressure Chain:
Erosion of Purchasing Power: A monthly salary of ₦500,000, which previously provided comfortable living standards and extended support to secondary dependents, now retains only a fraction of its original value.
Reduction in Informal Aid: Because middle-earners are forced to spend more on basic personal survival, the volume of financial assistance they can distribute to dependents downstream has dried up, driving extended family units deeper into severe poverty.
Progressive Decline: Multi-dimensional poverty indices show that living conditions have worsened progressively over the last 10 to 15 years, creating widespread social distress across urban centers.
"If they don't know in Aso Rock, let me say it very clearly to them: people are suffering in Nigeria today... The things you could do 4 to 5 years ago with ₦500,000, you probably wouldn't be able to do one-fifth of it now."
Resource Asymmetry, Elite Capture, and Institutional Compromise
Apampa further criticized the constitutional and political contradictions governing Nigeria's natural resources, pointing out how selective resource control enriches a small ruling elite at the expense of national development.
Key Governance Structural Issues:
The Resource Ownership Paradox: While crude oil from the Niger Delta is treated as belonging entirely to the federation account, solid minerals like gold in Zamfara or lithium in the Middle Belt are exploited through informal networks without contributing proportionally to federal revenue.
Escalating Substance Abuse: Apampa linked growing economic desperation and illicit trade to a steep rise in drug addiction among young people aged 16 to 25 and women, asserting that powerful syndicates profit directly off public misery.
Elite Capture and Institutional Restraint: He argued that anti-corruption agencies and institutional heads operate under implicit political pressure, knowing that challenging elite resource-sharing agreements risks their job security or leads to political persecution.
"There is a game being played among the elite and how they seem to have shared out Nigeria's resources... Except you want to lose your job or be hounded, there are some things you will have to restrain yourself on when called to order."
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