On Saturday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of misleading Nigerians in its interpretation of recent poverty statistics linked to the economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a press statement issued in Abuja, the APC said the opposition party’s reaction to the report was politically motivated and ignored the broader context of the ongoing economic reforms.
The ruling party, however, said that before President Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, the fuel subsidy regime and the multiple foreign exchange systems had become a serious threat to Nigeria’s economic survival.
The party said although successive administrations recognised the need to reform both systems, they lacked the political will to implement such changes due to fears of the short-term economic hardship the reforms might impose on citizens.
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The staement partly read, “It was a matter of national consensus that the fuel subsidy and foreign exchange regimes as operated prior to May 29, 2023 had become an existential threat to the country’s economic survival.”
It noted that President Tinubu ended the fuel subsidy on the day he assumed office and later unified the country’s foreign exchange markets.
“These bold and historic policy shifts unshackled Nigeria from the throes of economic stagnation and disintegration and gave our country a fighting chance to build back a stronger, more resilient and prosperous economy,” the statement added.
The APC also criticised the ADC for interpreting a recent report presented during an Agora Policy dialogue as a condemnation of the government’s economic policies.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC’s) attempt to spin a recent report presented at the Agora Policy dialogue indicating a rise of poverty rate of 63 percent from 49 percent as a ‘damning verdict on this administration’s economic policies’, speaks either to its shocking ignorance of economic policy or its willful blindness to the justification for, and transformative impacts of, ongoing economic reforms,” the party said.
The ruling party further accused the ADC of focusing on criticism without presenting alternative solutions.
“Clearly, the ADC does not recognize itself as a political party. The ADC has not articulated a single alternative policy position or prescription of benefit to Nigerians,” the statement said.
The APC argued that condemning government policies had effectively become the opposition party’s main strategy.
“Condemning the APC and its policies has become its operating manifesto with absolutely nothing to offer by itself or by its power mongering leaders,” it added.
The statement also defended the removal of fuel subsidy, describing it as a major fiscal policy decision.
“The fuel subsidy removal represents one of the most consequential fiscal policy decisions in the country’s recent history,” the APC said.
According to the party, the subsidy regime had placed enormous pressure on public finances for years while benefiting only a few interests.
“For decades, the fuel subsidy regime placed a devastating burden on public finances, gulping trillions of Naira, upwards of 90 percent of total revenue, annually while delivering limited benefits to ordinary Nigerians,” it stated.
The APC added that the subsidy system encouraged inefficiency, corruption and large-scale fuel smuggling across borders while enriching middlemen and import cartels.
It said funds previously spent on the subsidy are now being redirected to sectors such as infrastructure, education, healthcare and social development under the current administration.
