The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has backed the World Bank’s October 2025 report, indicating that 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line, up from 81 million in 2019, describing it as proof that the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration have worsened living conditions across the country.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the report exposes the widening gap between the government’s claims of economic progress and the harsh realities faced by citizens. It accused the administration of masking economic failures with misleading statistics.

“The World Bank numbers tell a painful story: under the APC and President Bola Tinubu’s government, more Nigerians have fallen into poverty than at any other time in our history. In 2019, four out of ten Nigerians were poor; today, it is at least six out of ten,” the statement said.

The ADC recalled that President Tinubu, in his Independence Day address, claimed that “the worst is over,” describing the comment as “a calculated whitewash to serve the government’s narrative of progress.” It said behind those figures lie grim realities of hunger, rising costs, and worsening hardship.

The party added that nearly 30 million Nigerians have joined the ranks of the ultra-poor — those unable to afford enough food even if they spend all their income on basic needs.

It noted that food inflation has surged, with the price of a bag of rice increasing fivefold in four years, while poor households now spend about 70 percent of their income on food.

The ADC also lamented that social safety nets have collapsed, with coverage dropping from 20 percent in 2019 to just 6 percent in 2025. It said government support for the poorest citizens amounts to only 0.14 percent of GDP, far below the global average of 1.5 percent.

The party faulted the government’s approach to poverty measurement, describing it as a “race to the bottom” designed to downplay the extent of deprivation.

“By using a deflated local poverty threshold, the government effectively undercounts millions of poor Nigerians. A poverty line set too low does not protect the poor; it hides them,” the statement added.

The ADC urged the federal government to accept the World Bank’s findings and implement people-centred policies that focus on food security, job creation, and targeted social protection rather than celebrating revenue figures.

“What Nigeria needs now is not cosmetic reform but a government that puts people first and understands that inclusive growth is not a slogan but a strategy,” the party stated. (The Guardian)