Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies have made decent living unaffordable for many Nigerians.

In a statement issued on Saturday by Phrank Shaibu, his senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku said the latest Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) household expectations survey contradicts the federal government’s claims that the economy is improving.

Citing the report, the former vice-president said buying conditions stood at 28.7 points for motor vehicles, 28.9 points for consumer durables and 30.0 points for buildings and landed property.

He added that willingness to purchase vehicles was 18.7 points, while that for buildings and landed property stood at 19.2 points.

“These are not figures manufactured by the opposition. They are the verdict of Nigerian households captured by the Central Bank under President Tinubu’s own government,” Atiku said.

“What the figures tell us is simple: Nigerians are being priced out of decent living. A home is becoming a fantasy. A car is becoming a luxury. Household appliances are increasingly beyond reach.

“Families are exhausting their incomes on food, transportation, electricity, school fees and other necessities, leaving practically nothing for savings, investment or asset acquisition.”

Atiku said the findings reinforce the recent SBM Intelligence Jollof Index, stating that the cost-of-living crisis has expanded beyond food prices to affect the aspirations of ordinary Nigerians.

“Only recently, the Jollof Index told us what Tinubu’s economy has done to the Nigerian kitchen. Now the CBN survey is telling us what it has done to the Nigerian dream,” he said.

“The numbers make the tragedy even more stark. According to the latest SBM Jollof Index, the ingredients required to prepare a single pot of jollof rice for a family of five now cost an average of ₦29,578.

“Think about what that means for a worker earning the ₦70,000 minimum wage: one ordinary pot of jollof rice can swallow more than 40 per cent of an entire month’s salary, before rent, transportation, electricity, school fees and healthcare are considered.

“And this is the same economy in which Nigerians are now postponing the purchase of homes, cars and basic household assets because there is simply no disposable income left.

“Tinubu has not merely made life more expensive; his policies are steadily pricing ordinary Nigerians out of food, comfort, asset ownership and the basic dignity of a decent life.”

The former vice-president accused the Tinubu administration of celebrating macroeconomic indicators while household purchasing power continued to decline.

“Government officials can celebrate GDP growth, foreign reserves and other statistics from air-conditioned conference rooms, but ordinary Nigerians have become unwilling economists, calculating every cup of rice, every litre of fuel and every transport fare before deciding what their families can afford,” he said.

“Between official statistics and empty cooking pots, the cooking pots do not lie.”

Atiku warned that shrinking household purchasing power would also undermine businesses and the wider economy.

“An economy is not successful merely because government officials can quote favourable statistics. An economy succeeds when citizens can work, earn, eat, save, invest and progressively improve their standard of living,” he said.

“Before there is GDP, there must be dinner. Before there is prosperity, there must be purchasing power. And before a government congratulates itself on reform, ordinary citizens must be able to see and feel improvement in their own lives.”

He urged the president to focus on improving the welfare of Nigerians rather than relying on what he described as “PowerPoint economics”.

“President Tinubu should stop governing Nigeria through PowerPoint economics. The real economy is the Nigerian family’s pocket, and that pocket is increasingly empty,” Atiku added.

“A government under which families struggle to afford jollof rice, workers cannot contemplate buying cars and millions see home ownership disappearing beyond the horizon cannot proclaim prosperity.

“Tinubu has not merely increased the cost of living. He has increased the cost of dreaming.”

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