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Paul Ibe, media aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has described President Bola Tinubu’s recent remark about hunger in Nigeria as “most insensitive.”
Tinubu spoke during a reception for members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) led by Most Rev. Matthew Ndagoso at the State House.
The president asserted that hunger existed before he was born and he could not control the growth of Nigeria’s population, while assuring that his government has stabilised the economy and is working to improve the quality of life for citizens.
Reacting to Tinubu’s claim that there was hunger in Nigeria before he was born, Ibe said the president’s comment ignored the current realities facing Nigerians.
He repeated a claim often made by the opposition that there is “no certainty about his date of birth.”
Ibe further stated that “his assertion that he has no control over population growth is handwringing.”
He argued that regardless of the situation before 2023, the Tinubu administration’s policies have worsened poverty.
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“Even if Nigerians were hungry before his birth, what Tinubu has enthroned through his ill-conceived trial and error policies is a regime of multidimensional hunger and poverty,” Ibe stated.
Ibe accused the president of prioritising politics over governance, and cited World Bank figures to back his claim.
“The President, who has prioritised politics over governance needs to be reminded that between 2023 and date, approximately 25 million additional Nigerians were sucked into poverty as a result of his poverty of ideas, with the total number rising from 115 million when he took over in 2023 to an estimated 140–141 million by 2025/2026, according to the World Bank data,” Ibe wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
On population, Ibe questioned what steps the APC administration had taken to address growth.
“And with reference to population growth, what policy has the Tinubu-led APC administration introduced to stem population growth. All that President Tinubu is doing is quarrelling with his tools,” he added.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), has repeatedly criticised the Tinubu government over rising hunger and poverty, saying “there is no sign that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can address the prevailing hunger and poverty in the country”, and that food insecurity has become “a daily occurrence nationwide”.
