The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has declared that recent reports saying Nigeria’s poverty rate rose to 63% after the removal of petrol subsidy was the real scorecard of President Bola Tinubu and consequence of his ill-defined neoliberal economic policies.
The party’s spokesperson, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this on Friday in Abuja, adding that the new figures confirm the biting hardship millions of Nigerians are facing due to rising fuel and transport costs.
The party said the new report only confirms earlier surveys that indicate deep public dissatisfaction with the direction the country is heading under the APC administration.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) considers latest report showing that Nigeria’s poverty rate has risen to 63% following the removal of petrol subsidy by President Tinubu three years ago as a damning verdict on the administration’s economic policies.
“Yet, this report only confirms what millions of Nigerians already know from their daily experience: the cost of living is rising rapidly, purchasing power is collapsing, and families across the country are being pushed deeper into hardship.”
“The report, presented at a policy dialogue in Abuja Thursday indicated that poverty in Nigeria rose sharply from about 50 percent before the subsidy removal to 63 percent afterward, as higher fuel and transport costs spread through the economy and drove up the prices of food, transportation, and other basic necessities.
“This verdict reflects the real consequences of the APC government’s hasty removal of fuel subsidy without giving full consideration to how such a serious decision would impact on the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.
“Government has repeatedly justified the removal of subsidy on the need to divert resources to areas of critical needs, including health and education. Three years on, none of these sectors has been funded any better, and citizens have not seen the benefits of subsidy removal.”
