By James Emejo
A new public opinion poll has shown that 70 per cent of Nigerians are dissatisfied with the outgoing year, owing to economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment and stagnant educational system.
According to the End of Year Poll – December 2020, published by the NOI Polls, Nigerians, believed the four focal areas were most hard hit during the year.
The report, therefore, called on the federal government and stakeholders to address all the challenges obstructing the growth in the identified sectors and drive growth in the years ahead.
While 30 per cent of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the economic hardship and hunger they faced in the year, 19 per cent lamented high increase in prices of goods and services.
About 17 per cent of those surveyed blamed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the hardship while 11 per cent attributed their dissatisfaction to high cost of living.
Also, of great concern to Nigerians were high rate of unemployment, worsening insecurity, standstill in the educational sector as well as the fact that the “government has failed us”.
On the contrary, the report noted that out of the 30 per cent who claimed that they were satisfied, 29 per cent attributed their response to “God’s sustenance despite COVID-19 pandemic” while 24 per cent said: “I am alive and healthy.”
Other Nigerians who expressed satisfaction for the outcomes within the year also stated that the healthcare system had improved (16 per cent) while 13 per cent indicated certain expectation came through the year.
The report said: “This implies that despite the negative impacts of COVID-19 in Nigeria, the poll suggests that about a-third (30 per cent) of Nigerians nationwide do have some positive assertions about year 2020 – the most interesting thing from this category of respondents is their perceived improvement in Nigeria’s health sector and massive development in the agricultural sector.
“Consequently, the poll assessed the opinion of Nigerians regarding how well we have fared as a nation in certain areas with regards to the year 2020. Hence, the analysis of results revealed that the economy, security and the education sectors took the hardest hit as at least 75 per cent of Nigerians are of the opinion that the nation has not fared well in the areas of economy, security and education.”
It added:”Specifically, 82 per cent of Nigerians stated that the nation has not fared well in the area of the economy, more so, 78 per cent of Nigerians asserted that the country has not fared well in the area of security and 75 per cent of Nigerians nationwide stated that the country has not fared well in the area of education.”
