Tinubu’s economic policies have ruined lives – ADC

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said that the economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration have allegedly ruined the lives of Nigerians in the last three years.

The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, yesterday, said recent reports by the World Bank that 139 million Nigerians now live below the national poverty line is an evidence of the effect of government policies.

The party stated that there is evidence that things will get worse in the country if President Tinubu is elected for a second term in the 2027 general election.

“The 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.

“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 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 opposition party stated.

The ADC, which accused the government the Federal Government of allegedly marketing “recklessness as courage and wickedness as necessary pains,” said the country desperately needs is a President and a government that truly understand how the people feel and genuinely care about them.

“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, and 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 have 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,” it stated.

The ADC promised that its government will pursue reform that will address the root causes of hunger, reduce energy cost and secure farming communities as well as increase domestic food production among others.