The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has launched a scathing attack on President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, citing recent reports by the World Bank and the World Food Programme (WFP) as evidence that the administration has failed to improve the living conditions of Nigerians.
The opposition party said the latest figures show that 139 million Nigerians now live below the national poverty line and that about 17 million people face acute hunger underscore what it described as the devastating impact of the administration’s economic reforms.
In a statement on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC argued that the government’s celebrated economic indicators have not translated into improved welfare for citizens.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is seriously disturbed by the recent reports by the World Bank indicating that 139 million Nigerians or about 60 per cent of the entire population now live below the national poverty line,” Abdullahi said.
“This is hardly surprising as this catastrophic situation is the inevitable consequence of economic policies that have favoured money over people and statistics over survival.”
The party maintained that it had consistently warned against policies that, according to it, prioritize macroeconomic indicators over the welfare of ordinary Nigerians.
“The ADC has repeatedly warned that the economic growth, increased revenue and rising foreign reserves that the Tinubu-led APC government continues to celebrate are meaningless if they do not translate into better lives for the people or protect their livelihoods,” the statement added.
“Instead of changing course, the government has stubbornly stuck with its ruinous economic policies and even continues to market recklessness as courage and wickedness as ‘necessary pains’.”
The ADC said the worsening poverty and hunger levels amounted to a damning verdict on the administration’s performance nearly three years into its tenure.
“Three years down the line, it is now clear that the chicken has come home to roost. The evidence of 139 million people living in poverty and 17 million at the risk of starvation is President Tinubu’s scorecard,” Abdullahi stated.
“On account of this catastrophic failure alone, President Tinubu should be contemplating resigning from office rather than seeking re-election.”
The party further accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians, alleging that public officials continue to enjoy lavish lifestyles while citizens endure severe economic hardship.
“What Nigeria desperately needs is a President and a government that truly understand how the people feel and genuinely care about them. A government that understands that the true measure of any economic policy is whether it improves the lives of the people, not compounds their misery,” the statement said.
“A President whose government is not openly feasting while asking the people to continue fasting. A government that does not wallow in profligacy while handing the people palliatives.”
The ADC also rejected the administration’s reliance on social intervention programmes, insisting that poverty could not be addressed through temporary relief measures.
“This is why the ADC rejects the cycle of temporary interventions and emergency responses that has come to define the APC’s economic policies in the name of social intervention programmes,” Abdullahi said.
“Poverty cannot be defeated through palliatives. It can only be defeated by building an economy that enables Nigerians to produce more food, earn decent incomes and live with dignity.”
Outlining its alternative economic agenda, the opposition party pledged to focus on boosting food production, reducing energy costs, improving security in farming communities and investing in critical agricultural infrastructure.
According to the ADC, an administration led by the party would rehabilitate Nigeria’s abandoned dams to support irrigation farming, improve access to quality farm inputs, invest in storage and agro-processing facilities, and promote regional agricultural production belts to strengthen food value chains.
The party also promised greater investment in healthcare, education and skills development, arguing that hunger and poverty are closely linked to inadequate social services.
“The choice before Nigeria is no longer between competing economic theories. It is between an economy that produces impressive government statistics and one that produces better lives for its people,” the statement said.
“Hunger is the most honest measure of economic performance because it cannot be manipulated. Until fewer Nigerians go to bed hungry, until poverty begins to fall instead of rise, and until every Nigerian family can once again afford three decent meals a day, every claim of economic success will remain unrecognisable to the people whose lives those policies are supposed to improve.”
