Umar Sani, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain has issued a warning to the Presidency for attacking the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina.
Adesina had faulted the economic policies of the current administration, noting that Nigerians have become poorer under the administration than they were in 1960.
In response, the Presidency, through President Bola Tinubu‘s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said Adesina’s claims were incorrect.
READ ALSO: Akinwumi Adesina’s Claims on Nigeria’s GDP Per Capital, Facts Tell a Different Story, Onanuga Says
In a statement on Tuesday, Sani warned the Presidency against dismissing the economic analysis of the AfDB President.
He stated that Nigerians have been pushed into poverty as a result of the government’s poor policies.
“Nigeria is at a crucial juncture in its political and economic journey. Once buoyed by the promise of post-colonial growth, the country now grapples with poverty, inflation, and public dissatisfaction. A recent World Bank report highlights the severity of the crisis: over 56% of Nigerians, approximately 129 million people, live below the national poverty line, a staggering increase from 40.1% in 2018. Urban poverty has doubled, inflation exceeds 30%, and while structural reforms have been well-intentioned, they have often intensified hardships.
“In this climate of uncertainty, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, made remarks that compared today’s economic challenges with those of the 1960s. With clarity and empirical depth, he noted that real GDP per capita has plummeted from $1,847 at independence to just $824 today, a reality that underscores Nigeria’s regression despite its abundant resources. He attributed this decline to decades of weak institutions, policy missteps, and chronic underinvestment in essential public goods.
“Adesina’s analysis was not a political attack; it was a data-driven assessment grounded in the realities faced by millions of Nigerians. His comments strongly resonated with the World Bank’s statistics indicating that rural poverty now exceeds 75%. Projections suggest that Nigeria, despite being one of the world’s resource-rich nations, faces one of the steepest uphill battles against poverty,” he said.
The former spokesman of former Vice President Namadi Sambo said Onanuga’s rebuttal not only relied on outdated or inconsistent data but also deflected from a broader truth: Nigeria’s quality of life, institutional coherence, and social infrastructure were demonstrably stronger in the immediate post-independence era than they are today.
He noted that Adesina’s call was out of patriotism and should not be ignored. He stressed the need for the government to prioritize policies that would lift the citizens out of poverty.
“The core of Adesina’s clarion call was about Nigeria rising, elevating itself from deepening and widespread poverty, and achieving a much faster pace of economic growth. Adesina is not someone to ignore. His outstanding leadership and achievements at the African Development Bank and the ingenuity of his innovative ideas have earned him the trust of Presidents and leaders around the continent and globally.
“The Presidency should not politicise the patriotic assessment of Adesina, which if taken seriously has the potential to set Nigeria on a faster pace of economic growth and prosperity. As Adesina said, it is time to turn Nigeria into a developed economy. How can that be wrong and missed in the raging rush to smear his well-intentioned push?
“Nigeria cannot achieve long-term growth through selective amnesia. It requires a willingness to confront painful truths and to recalibrate governance accordingly. As Adesina has made clear, acknowledging decline is not an act of defeat but the first step toward renewal,” he added.
