Poverty Debate: ADC Tackles APC, Insists Tinubu’s Govt Caused Hardship

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has refuted  the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defence of President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, which also  accused the opposition party of inciting Nigerians against the government.

APC, in response to an ADC  statement, accused the opposition party of misleading Nigerians by blaming the Bola Tinubu Presidency for the 63 percent poverty rate in the country as revealed by a research last week.

The research was presented at a stakeholders’ dialogue organised by Agora Policy in Abuja. It showed that the national poverty headcount rose sharply from a baseline of about 49.8 per cent to roughly 63 per cent following the subsidy removal before moderating slightly after the introduction of social protection measures.

Faulting APC’s claim that ADC was misleading Nigerians based on the report, the National Publicity Secretary of the opposition party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, insisted that the data showed Nigeria’s poverty rate has risen to 63 percent, up from about 50 percent before the removal of petrol subsidy.

Abdullahi maintained that the report which showed that 93 percent of Nigerians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction are not opposition talking points.

He said they are publicly available reports that highlight the human cost of the administration’s economic policies which reflect the views of ordinary Nigerians living under the APC government.

The ADC spokesman said instead of addressing the clear evidence that more Nigerians are falling into poverty under this government, the ruling party decided to attack the opposition and dismiss the lived realities of millions of citizens.

He noted that facts cannot be dismissed by press statements, stressing that the independent report that triggered the debate shows that Nigeria’s poverty rate has risen to 63 percent, up from about 50 percent before the removal of petrol subsidy.

“This means that tens of millions of additional Nigerians have been pushed into poverty in the period since the administration’s failed economic policies were introduced.”

ADC added that while APC’s claims Nigerians support its reforms, the data said otherwise.

The opposition party’s spokesman said independent surveys showed that 93 percent of Nigerians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.

“Eighty-eight percent describe the national economy as bad, while 74 percent say their personal living conditions are poor. These are not opposition talking points. They are the views of Nigerians themselves, APC members included.”

The ADC also said while APC insisted that the hardship Nigerians are experiencing is “transient,” the numbers tell a different story.

“Recent surveys show that 82 percent of Nigerians report going without enough food at least once in the past year, 82 percent have gone without medical care, 79 percent have gone without cooking fuel, 74 percent have gone without clean water, and 95 percent have gone without a cash income at some point during the year. These figures point not to temporary discomfort, but to widespread and deepening economic distress,” ADC stressed.

Countering the APC claim on macroeconomic indicators, ADC said Nigerians live in a real economy where fuel prices have surged by almost 500 percent, from about N255 per litre in May 2023 when Tinubu came into office, to around N1,500 per litre today in many parts of this country.

“This is pushing up transport costs and driving food prices beyond the reach of millions of households.”

ADC further faulted APC’s claims that the money previously spent on fuel subsidy, which should amount to roughly N6.4 trillion in savings last year alone, is now being redirected to “vital sectors” such as healthcare and social development.

The opposition party said it is on record that only N36 million, just about 0.02 percent of the capital budget, was actually released for capital projects in 2025 for Nigeria’s entire federal healthcare sector.

“Nigerians are therefore left to ask a simple question: if the subsidy savings are truly being redirected to critical sectors, where exactly is all the money going? Why are local contractors not paid? Why are the universities still poorly equipped?”

The human cost of Tinubu and the APC’s failed policies is even more evident in the food and agriculture sector, Abdullahi added.

“Latest reports have it that out of more than 150 rice mills across Nigeria, nearly 90 have shut down operations, while the remaining mills are operating at between 30 and 70 percent of their installed capacity, largely because the Tinubu administration’s policies have encouraged import dependency.

“Official data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that Nigeria’s food import bill has jumped from N3.83 trillion in 2023, when President Tinubu came into office, to N7.65 trillion today, an increase of N3.82 trillion, or about 100 percent. This shows that instead of strengthening our local agricultural sector and protecting Nigerian farmers, the policies of the APC government are undermining domestic production and putting thousands of Nigerian farmers and processors out of business.

“Economic reforms must ultimately be judged by their outcomes. When poverty rises from 50 percent to 63 percent, when nine out of ten Nigerians say the country is on the wrong path, and when millions struggle to afford basic necessities, it is clear that something is fundamentally wrong.

“Nigerians do not expect economic lectures or political attacks on the opposition. They expect policies that make their lives better. The APC may dismiss these concerns, but Nigerians cannot dismiss the realities of the APC’s failures that they confront every day.

Until the APC-led Tinubu government begins to measure success by the well-being of its citizens, the gap between official claims and the lived reality of Nigerians will only continue to widen.