The obsession of the APC-led government with attacking the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, for citing statistics is both troubling and revealing.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) National Campaign Council has challenged Vice President Kashim Shettima and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to counter Peter Obi’s criticisms of the Tinubu administration with verifiable statistics rather than resorting to personal attacks.
The council said the government’s hostility towards Obi’s use of economic data was an attempt to divert attention from the worsening living conditions in the country, insisting that the figures he cited should be subjected to scrutiny rather than ridicule.
Its spokesperson, Dr Chiogo Constance Ikokwu, in a statement on Thursday, said a government confident in its performance should welcome the use of statistics to assess its policies and achievements.
“The obsession of the APC-led government with attacking the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, for citing statistics is both troubling and revealing.
“Instead of confronting the evidence he presents about Nigeria’s worsening economic and social conditions with facts and numbers, the government and its supporters would rather attack the messenger,” she said.
To underscore the economic challenges facing Nigerians, the council highlighted the rising costs of fuel, food, building materials and accommodation since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.
It said petrol, which sold for an average of N238.11 per litre in May 2023, now costs between N1,300 and N1,435 per litre, while a 50kg bag of rice has risen from between N35,000 and N40,000 to between N50,000 and N90,000 or more.
The council also put the current price of a 50kg bag of cement at between N10,500 and N15,000, against N4,010 to N5,300 in 2023, while the price of bread had increased from between N500 and N700 to between N1,200 and N2,000.
It further claimed that house rents in major urban centres, including Lagos and Abuja, had increased by between 80 and 120 per cent.
The NDC said the government should provide contrary figures if it believed Obi’s assessment was inaccurate.
“Statistics are not insults. They are not political weapons. They are tools for measuring progress, exposing failure and guiding public policy.
“If the government disagrees with Mr Obi’s figures, let it publish credible data, explain its methodology and demonstrate where his analysis is wrong. You do not defeat statistics by insulting the person who cites them. You defeat them with better statistics,” Ikokwu said.
The campaign council also accused the Tinubu administration of failing to learn from developing countries that had made significant progress in reducing poverty, citing Bangladesh, Vietnam, Rwanda, Morocco and India as examples.
It specifically pointed to Bangladesh, which it said lifted about 34 million people out of poverty between 2010 and 2022, reducing its extreme poverty rate from 12.2 per cent to 5.6 per cent.
According to the council, the achievement was driven by five major interventions: agricultural growth, export-oriented manufacturing, microfinance and non-governmental organisations, social safety nets, and investment in human capital and infrastructure.
Ikokwu argued that Nigeria could adopt relevant lessons from such countries to address its poverty crisis rather than dismissing the evidence of their progress.
She said Nigeria, despite its abundant natural and human resources, was now grappling with a poverty rate of about 63 per cent, with more than 140 million people living in multidimensional poverty.
The spokesperson also cited a recent UNDP report which, according to her, indicated that previous gains in poverty reduction in Nigeria appeared to have been reversed.
“The shame is in presiding over worsening conditions while refusing to learn from countries that have made measurable progress, using Peter Obi’s model,” she said.
The council accused the APC government of being consumed by its pursuit of political control and access to national resources, rather than addressing the country’s economic difficulties.
“In a more organised society, the APC government should have resigned,” Ikokwu said.
As political activities gather momentum ahead of the 2027 general elections, the NDC urged Nigerians to assess the administration based on measurable improvements in their lives.
It raised questions about whether more Nigerians were escaping poverty, whether children were receiving better education, businesses were thriving and citizens were safer under the current administration.
The council said Obi was not asking Nigerians to accept statistics without questioning them but to examine available evidence, compare Nigeria’s performance with that of other countries and demand accountability.
“Governance must be about results, not excuses; measurable progress, not propaganda; and the welfare of citizens, not the protection of political reputations,” Ikokwu said.