Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Friday, expressed concern over rising poverty levels in Nigeria following a recent report by the World Bank, which put the country\u2019s poverty rate at 63 per cent.\n<\/p>\n
Atiku raised the alarm in a statement issued in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.\n<\/p>\n
The chieftain of the African Democratic Congress criticised the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu and warned that worsening hardship reflected policy failures.\n<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cWe note with grave concern the World Bank\u2019s confirmation that, notwithstanding what millions of Nigerians are already experiencing daily, poverty is rising at an alarming rate under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith over 60 per cent of Nigerians now living below the poverty line, up from about 40 per cent just a few years ago, this is not reform\u2014it is regression on a monumental scale.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis crisis is neither accidental nor unavoidable. It is the direct outcome of poorly conceived and harshly implemented policies, from the abrupt removal of fuel subsidies to the chaotic devaluation of the naira, all executed without adequate safeguards for the Nigerian people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Atiku further criticised the administration for being disconnected from the struggles of ordinary Nigerians, insisting that rising poverty amid reforms reflects a failure of both policy direction and leadership.<\/p>\n
According to him, the consequences of Tinubu\u2019s \u201ctrial-and-error policies\u201d are visible everywhere, arguing that food prices have spiralled out of control and small businesses are collapsing.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the World Bank has acknowledged the troubling paradox of rising poverty amid so-called reforms, exposing a government dangerously disconnected from the lived realities of its citizens.\n<\/p>\n
A government that presides over a situation where the majority of its people are poor, yet insists that progress is being made, has lost both moral authority and economic direction,\u201d he decried. <\/p>\n
Offering an alternative approach, the former VP emphasised the need for carefully sequenced reforms, effective social protection, and policies focused on job creation, food security, and economic stability.\n<\/p>\n
He maintained that economic reforms should improve citizens\u2019 lives rather than deepen hardship, urging a shift towards leadership that prioritises shared prosperity and national wellbeing.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria cannot continue on a path where poverty deepens while the government celebrates policy experiments. Leadership is not about defending failure\u2014it is about correcting it. The evidence is already clear in the lives of Nigerians.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe choice before the nation is stark: continue on a trajectory of deepening hardship, or embrace leadership that is committed to restoring dignity, stability, and shared prosperity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The criticism comes on the heels of the World Bank\u2019s latest Nigeria Development Update, which highlighted a sharp rise in poverty despite recent improvements in key macroeconomic indicators.\n<\/p>\n
In the report titled \u201cNigeria\u2019s Tomorrow Must Start Today: The Case for Early Childhood Development,\u201d released in Abuja, the bank said poverty levels climbed from 56 per cent in 2023 to 61 per cent in 2024, before reaching 63 per cent in 2025\u2014representing about 140 million Nigerians.\n<\/p>\n
The report noted that the increase occurred even as inflation began to moderate, pointing to a widening gap between economic reforms and their impact on household welfare.\n<\/p>\n
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that headline inflation declined significantly from 34.80 per cent in December 2024 to 15.15 per cent in December 2025, while food inflation dropped from 39.84 per cent to 10.84 per cent within the same period.\n<\/p>\n
Despite the easing of inflationary pressures, the World Bank maintained that price levels remained high enough to erode purchasing power and worsen living conditions, underscoring the depth of Nigeria\u2019s cost-of-living crisis.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Friday, expressed concern over rising poverty levels in Nigeria following a recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[173855,44432,72,943,4993,64559,113,173856,61,60,173857,173858,173859,20094],"class_list":{"0":"post-392476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-atiku-abubakar","9":"tag-bola-tinubu","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-cost-of-living","12":"tag-economic-policies","13":"tag-economic-reform","14":"tag-economy","15":"tag-fuel-subsidy","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-naira-devaluation","19":"tag-nigeria-poverty","20":"tag-nigerian-politics","21":"tag-world-bank"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}