The World Bank has warned that the incompetence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime in addressing worsening insecurity and harsh economic situation may fuel national unrest and impede the growth of Africa’s most populous nation.

World Bank, in its flagship report for 2022, titled “Global Economic prospect”, also cited mounting insecurity in Afghanistan, expressing concerns that it could further spread to Nigeria due to citizens’ dissatisfaction with the regime.

“Deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan, for instance, could generate instability in nearby countries, while conflict and violence in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa (for example, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, and Sudan) could escalate,” the institution said.

The World Bank report also implied that the current frustration with the Buhari regime has begun to have an adverse effect on the economy due to heightened insecurity ranging from kidnapping for ransom, armed robberies, and banditry.

These challenges, the organisation said, further escalate food insecurity, hinder the country’s growth, as well as affect job creation.

“In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the effects of food insecurity on the ability of people to work at full capacity are a downside risk to growth in the near term, and an acute challenge for households,” World Bank said.

Also, the financial institution had noted that Nigeria’s economy under the Muhammadu Buhari administration is worse than 10 years ago.

“The pandemic has reversed at least a decade of gains in per capita income in some countries—in almost a third of the region’s economies, including Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, per capita incomes are forecast to be lower in 2022 than a decade ago,” the report said. 

In its six-monthly update on development in Nigeria in mid-2021, the organisation had stated that Nigeria lagged the rest of sub-Saharan Africa due to insecurity and food inflation.

The challenges, World Bank said, were responsible for increased poverty rate and slowing growth.