Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has knocked the President Bola Tinubu administration, saying Nigerians can’t eat Gross Domestic Product, GDP, or use debt-to-GDP ratios to cook.
Atiku stressed that governments are not elected to improve spreadsheets.
The ex-Vice President was reacting to the Presidency’s defense of Tinubu’s economic performance, describing it a last-ditch effort to use propaganda instead of real results.
He said no amount of manipulation of figures can hide the everyday struggles of millions of Nigerians.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said that 767 factories have closed down while 335 are in trouble, adding that Tinubu’s economic success only happens in news statements.
Atiku said it was strange that the Presidency spent thousands of words criticizing the opposition but didn’t answer the one question every Nigerian is asking: “If the economy is doing so well, why are Nigerians getting poorer?”
He also said it was even more confusing that the same Tinubu government, which is working on the 2024, 2025 and 2026 budgets at the same time, is now asking Nigerians to forget about the effects of its economic choices from previous years.
“As the Yoruba people often say, the person who went to the bathroom yesterday might soon forget about it, but the one who cleaned up the mess never really forgets. Nigerians still remember the hurt caused by this government’s poor handling of every budget year since 2024.
“Those wounds are still fresh, and nothing like rewriting history, picking and choosing numbers, or government lies can make them go away,” he said.
Atiku noted that the President’s response was impressive not because of how strong the arguments were, but because it showed contradictions that came out by mistake.
“The State House focuses on big economic numbers while regular Nigerians deal with everyday financial challenges. It talks a lot about how the economy is growing while families are going without food. It has high debt levels even as businesses close their doors. He talks about reforms but millions of people are getting poorer.
“It praises the improvements in statistics, but market women, artisans, manufacturers, transporters, and young graduates are facing an economy that is becoming more unfriendly to honest businesses.”
The former Vice President pointed out that even institutions often mentioned by the Presidency have kept saying that stabilizing the economy hasn’t led to better living conditions for many people.
“The latest IMF Article IV Consultation noted some improvements in certain reform areas, but it also found that 63 percent of Nigerians are still living below the national poverty line, and about 27 million Nigerians experienced food insecurity by late 2025.
“Those are not people who oppose the government; they are the results from an independent international group that the government often refers to.
“Governments are not elected to improve spreadsheets. They are chosen to make the lives of their people better. Nigerians cannot eat GDP. They cannot cook with debt-to-GDP ratios. They can’t pay school fees based on statistical predictions.
“The real test of good economic management is whether families are doing better now compared to how they were before. On that point, this government has not done well.”