•Tinubu and ADC logo
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on 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 cannot continue to continue on this same path.
ADC, in a statement, yesterday, said it is deeply concerned by recent reports by the World Bank indicating that 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line.
This report, the party said, is consistent with a similar report by the World Food Programme (WFP) “that 17 million Nigerians are now living with acute hunger, with the worst food security crisis the country has experienced in nearly a decade,” reports Sunday Trust.
The statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said these reports were “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.”
ADC said the reports are not surprising as this “catastrophic situation is the inevitable consequence of economic policies that have favoured money over people and statistics over survival.”
ADC said they have warned that the economic growth, increased revenue, and rising foreign reserves that the APC government continues to celebrate are meaningless if they do not translate into better lives for the people 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.”
ADC said three years down the line, it is now clear that the chicken has come home to roost.
“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 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.
“An ADC government will therefore pursue structural reforms that address the root causes of hunger”.
If voted into power, ADC said they would reduce energy cost 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 the choice before Nigeria is no longer between competing economic theories.
“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.”
