A prominent Nigerian academic, Professor Alkasum Abba, has strongly criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the worsening living conditions in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Trust TV, the professor accused the government of deepening Nigeria’s economic woes rather than improving them. According to him, the cost of living keeps rising despite the president’s much-touted reforms.
He stated, “President Tinubu said that he inherited a terrible economy but he has made the economy worse.
“It is not what the government says that they have really achieved. Go to the market, the cost of living has escalated. Transportation has escalated.
“Now, anybody who is a pensioner, your pension money cannot buy fuel that will fill your tank.”
During his Independence Day address, President Tinubu had boasted that Nigeria’s tax-to-gross domestic product ratio had climbed to 13.5 per cent as of September 2025, up from below 10 per cent, describing the development as an achievement.
But Professor Abba, while decrying the level of hardship faced by citizens, dismissed the figures as meaningless in the face of widespread hunger.
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“You tell us about the figures that GDP has gone up, what is the use of GDP when I’m hungry?
“People are hungry. We have never been in this situation since we achieved independence. We don’t need to call it hunger, it’s starvation.
“You said you are reforming the economy, so what do I do with it? What is my business with how much we have in foreign reserves when I’m hungry?
“I’m seeking then you come and increase my sickness and then you tell me ‘don’t worry, I’m doing it just to help you to stabilize’, is it when I’m dead that I will overcome it?” He asked.