Life has become so hard in Nigeria. People who were formerly securely middle class are now people who beg and are in need.
Renowned author and social critic Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has voiced deep concern over Nigeria’s escalating economic crisis, warning that many middle‑class citizens have slipped into destitution.
During an interview on Channels Television’s Amazing Africans, she lamented the plight of Nigerians who were once self‑sufficient but now face daily hardship. “Life has become so hard in Nigeria … people who were formerly securely middle class … are now people who beg and are in need,” she stated.
Adichie emphasized that political leadership must be judged not by stock market figures, but by the welfare of average citizens. “The level of suffering, how expensive food has become… I think the biggest political judgment one can make is about the lives of ordinary people,” she said.
She further criticized the focus on economic indices over everyday realities: “People talk about the stock market. Personally, I don’t really care about those sorts of things. What I care about is: that person earning minimum wage, how is that person getting on in this economy? It’s the suffering that worries me the most. And it’s terrible.”
Adichie also warned of broader societal risks, noting that extreme hardship could lead even law‑abiding citizens to consider desperate measures. “It’s not to excuse crime, but I think when life gets very hard, even people who before would not have considered certain things suddenly are willing to, and that’s dangerous to society,” she remarked.