“139 million poor Nigerians is Tinubu’s scorecard”

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has said President Bola Tinubu should consider resigning rather than seek re-election, citing the latest World Bank report which estimated that about 139 million Nigerians now live below the national poverty line.

The opposition party made the call in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, following the release of the World Bank’s latest poverty assessment.

According to the statement, the World Bank’s report, which estimated that about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population lives below the national poverty line, reflects what the party described as the consequences of the Federal Government’s economic policies.

The ADC argued that economic indicators frequently highlighted by the Tinubu administration, including increased revenue, economic growth and rising foreign reserves, have not translated into improved living conditions for ordinary Nigerians.

“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,” the statement read.

The party also criticised the Federal Government’s reliance on palliative programmes, maintaining that temporary interventions cannot address the root causes of poverty and hunger.

According to the ADC, reducing insecurity in farming communities, lowering energy costs, rehabilitating abandoned dams to expand irrigation, improving access to farm inputs and strengthening agricultural value chains would increase food production and reduce the cost of food.

The ADC said an administration led by the party would focus on education, healthcare, nutrition, skills development and agricultural reforms, arguing that sustainable economic growth depends on improving citizens’ welfare rather than relying on temporary palliative programmes.

The party maintained that economic performance should ultimately be measured by improvements in the living conditions of Nigerians rather than macroeconomic statistics.

“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,” the statement added.