FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched a scathing critique of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of failing to address the worsening hunger, poverty, and hardship facing Nigerians more than two years after assuming office.
In a statement issued on Monday through his spokesman, Paul Ibe made available to News Point Nigeria, the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate said that “there is no sign that Tinubu is capable of tackling the scourge of hunger and poverty ravaging millions of Nigerians.”
Atiku, who described the hunger situation as “unacceptable and tragic,” said the poor, underprivileged, and downtrodden are bearing the brunt of the government’s policies.
“Most violent socio-political eruptions and revolutions all over the world have often been powered by pervasive hunger and unbearable material conditions especially the paradox of squalor amidst plenty in our land,” Atiku warned.
The opposition leader argued that the primary duty of any government is the security and welfare of its citizens, but lamented that Nigerians are “progressively wallowing in misery and poverty” under the watch of the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
He linked the worsening economic situation to rising criminality across the country, citing “high-wire fraud, terrorism, kidnapping, cultism, drug abuse, and ritual killings” as symptoms of a society pushed to desperation.
Atiku urged the Tinubu administration to take lessons from history, referencing the French Revolution, the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the Arab Spring, all of which were triggered by widespread hunger and deprivation.
“Back home here in Nigeria, it may not be out of place to argue that even the ENDSARS protest was fuelled by the traumatising frustration of hunger and insensitivity on the part of the government,” he added.
While acknowledging the government’s ongoing economic reforms, Atiku insisted that policies must prioritise the welfare of citizens rather than worsen their suffering.
“Whatever reform the Tinubu government might claim to be undertaking, the point remains that food insecurity is a daily occurrence nationwide. There is no government worth its salt that does not place priority on the welfare and security of the people,” he stated.
He stressed that reforms are meant for the people, not the other way round, warning that ill-timed and poorly implemented policies risk pushing more Nigerians into extreme poverty.
“Whether the present powers accept it or not, the reality of our existence is that the poor are increasingly dying of hunger while the majority of the living poor exists at the mercy of the ill-advised policies of this government,” Atiku declared.
The Tinubu administration, however, has repeatedly defended its economic policies, arguing that short-term pain is necessary to stabilise the economy and unlock long-term growth.