The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of worsening the living conditions of Nigerians, following the latest World Bank report which shows that 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line.
According to the World Bank’s October 2025 report, released on Wednesday, the number of poor Nigerians has jumped from 81 million in 2019 to 139 million, meaning 61% of the population now lives in poverty.
Reacting on Thursday, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the report is a damning confirmation of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s failed economic leadership, and shows that the hardship faced by Nigerians is getting worse under President Tinubu.
“The World Bank numbers tell a painful story: under the APC and President Tinubu’s government, more Nigerians have fallen into poverty than at any time in our history,” the statement read.
“In 2019, four in ten Nigerians were poor. Today, it’s six out of ten. Yet, the government continues to make misleading claims about progress while millions are suffering.”
While the Presidency swiftly rejected the report, describing it as “unrealistic,” Sunday Dare, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, said the data must be “properly contextualised” within global poverty measurement frameworks.
The ADC, however, insists that the World Bank figures are credible and reflect what millions of Nigerians experience daily — from food inflation, joblessness, and collapsing social welfare systems, to families struggling to meet basic needs.
They accused the Tinubu-led government of ignoring these realities and instead choosing to “boast about revenue collection” while more Nigerians fall into ultra-poverty — defined as those who cannot even afford enough food to survive, no matter how they spend their income.
“Under the APC, nearly 30 million Nigerians have joined the ranks of the ultra-poor. Behind Tinubu’s shiny statistics are grim realities — families skipping meals, children dropping out of school, and people selling personal items just to buy food,” the party added.
The ADC also criticised the government’s poor safety net coverage, stating that only 6% of poor Nigerians now benefit from federal support — a sharp drop from 20% in 2019, and far below the 1.5% of GDP global standard for social protection.
The party further attacked the government’s use of what it called a “deflated domestic poverty threshold” (N137,000/month), which they say is far below global standards and is deliberately used to underreport poverty figures.
“The government’s entire approach to poverty seems designed to flatter itself rather than help the poor,” the ADC said.
It called on President Tinubu to stop defending what it described as “government propaganda” and accept the “unbiased verdict” of the World Bank, adding that it is time to rethink current economic strategies and invest in food security, job creation, and social protection.
The ADC concluded: “Contrary to the President’s Independence Day claim that ‘the worst is over’, the reality is that the worst may not even have come yet. The people are tired of excuses. The government must act fast before things get out of hand.”
The report has already sparked national debate, with many Nigerians taking to social media to criticise the state of the economy, especially after the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira, both of which were major policies introduced early in Tinubu’s administration.
