…Nigerians going through economic Red Sea – PDP

However, the Tanimu Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee (INWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also lamented that Nigerians are currently going through economic Red Sea as a result of the alleged insensitivity of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

The PDP INWC, in a statement by its spokesman, Ini Ememobong, said many Nigerians are currently in a worse state than they were on May 29, 2023, when Tinubu assumed office as president.

According to the party, most Nigerians are in agreement that no administration in the history of the country has put Nigerians through the economic pain, polarisation, disunity, insecurity and threat to democratic consolidation as the present All Progressives Congress (APC) has allegedly done.

The party noted that while President Tinubu, in his Independence Day broadcast, portrayed himself as the biblical Moses, leading the country from slavery to freedom, the reverse is the case.

It noted that food inflation was on the rise under the present administration, just as Nigerians are grappling with increase in house rents, transport fares and school fees.

“The Presidency, in its statement, specifically said, ‘By 2023, poverty was rising and hope was nearly gone. The country’s situation was darker than ever. While this is true, as admitted by the Presidency, what is sad but even truer is that many Nigerians feel worse today than they did on May 29, 2023.

“Yes, Mr. President says Nigerians should not look back, because he knows that is where the truth is. But from where Nigerians stand, they are looking at higher prices of rent, transport fares and school fees that they are grappling with.

“Nowhere is the pain more visible than in the price of food. Food prices remain high and unaffordable for millions of Nigerians. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation stood at 19.57 percent in August 2026. That means food prices are still rising, only more slowly, on top of the steep increases that families have already endured.

“The one-month dip in August, the first in six months, does not put food back on the table of the average household. In some states, the situation is even more desperate, with food inflation above 35 percent.

“For a family spending most of its income on food, these are not mere statistics; they mean empty plates or smaller portions. That is the context that the President and his handlers are afraid of facing, because the receipts are there.”

The party added that “the President speaks of support for enterprise but ignores the reality that even after the recent reduction of the Monetary Policy Rate from 26.5 percent to 23 percent, the cost of borrowing remains far too high for businesses to thrive. The last thing a responsible administration should do is peddle skewed narratives in response to a real-life crisis.

“These facts lead to only one conclusion: that most Nigerians prefer where they were in 2019 to where this administration has put them today. The lived experience of Nigerians was far better then than it is now, due largely to the reckless and insensitive economic policies and the unfortunate implementation strategy of the Bola Tinubu/APC-led administration. So clearly, Tinubu and the APC are the Pharaoh who is chasing Nigerians.”

The PDP noted that the 2027 general election affords Nigerians an opportunity to elect their Moses, who would rescue them from the Pharaoh and the economic pain that they are currently facing.”