The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to “abandon his neoliberal economic policies that has ruined the lives of almost the entire country or simply quit,” saying Nigerians should not be made to remain on the same path.
In a statement released on Saturday, the party said it is worried by a recent World Bank report showing that 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line. It added that the report matches an earlier World Food Programme (WFP) finding “that 17 million Nigerians are now living with acute hunger, with the worst food security crisis the country has experienced in nearly a decade.”
The statement, signed by ADC National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, described both reports as “stark evidence that the present administration’s economic policies have failed and are likely to deliver even more catastrophic consequences if President Tinubu continues in office beyond 2027.”
According to the party, the reports only confirm what it called “catastrophic situation is the inevitable consequence of economic policies that have favoured money over people and statistics over survival.”
ADC said it had repeatedly warned that economic growth, higher government revenue and growing foreign reserves mean little if they do not improve people’s lives or protect their livelihoods.
“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 party said that after three years in office, the outcome is now obvious.
“The evidence of 139 million people living in poverty and 17 million at the risk of starvation is President Tinubu’s scorecard. On account of this catastrophic failure alone, President Tinubu should be contemplating resigning from office rather than seeking re-election.
“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.
“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.
“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. 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.
“An ADC government will therefore pursue structural reforms that address the root causes of hunger”.
ADC said that if elected, it would lower energy costs and make food production safe again.
“We will secure farming communities and agricultural corridors so that farmers can return to their land without fear, cultivate throughout the farming season and transport their produce safely and affordably to markets. No nation can achieve food security while insecurity keeps farmers away from their farms.
“We will increase domestic food production. We will prioritise the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s 264 abandoned dams and bring them back to productive use, to expand year-round irrigation across farming communities. We will improve access to quality seeds, fertilisers and extension services, while investing in storage, preservation and agro-processing facilities that reduce post-harvest losses and increase the amount of food reaching Nigerian markets.”
The statement said Nigeria now faces a clear decision.
“It is between an economy that produces impressive government statistics and one that produces better lives for its people. Hunger is the most honest measure of economic performance because it cannot be manipulated.”
