Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has blamed the increase in the number of Nigerians living in poverty on the economic reforms embarked upon by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Obi made this claim on March 16 in a post on his official X account, where he criticized the government’s economic reforms, arguing that they have pushed more Nigerians into poverty.
He cited a recent policy study by Agora Policy—supported by the Nigeria Economic Stability and Transformation Programme and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office—which revealed that the poverty headcount rose sharply from a baseline of about 49.8% to roughly 63%.
What Peter Obi is saying
Obi said the report shows that poverty in Nigeria has worsened significantly since the introduction of the current administration’s economic reforms.
- “A new policy study released by Agora Policy… has shown that the poverty rate in our country has climbed from about 40% before the current reforms to over 63% today under this administration, explicitly showing that the economic reforms of this administration have pushed more Nigerians into poverty than ever experienced in our dear nation.”
He added that the increase means a large majority of Nigerians are now struggling to meet basic needs.
- “For a country whose population is estimated at over 220 million people, this means that well above 140 million Nigerians now live in poverty. Families nationwide can no longer afford basic necessities such as food, transportation, rent, or healthcare.”
According to him, households across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones are increasingly resorting to difficult coping strategies such as cutting food consumption, trekking instead of paying for transport, and borrowing money to survive, while many small businesses are shutting down.
Backstory
The research was presented at a stakeholders’ dialogue organised by Agora Policy in Abuja on Thursday.
The study found that the national poverty headcount rose sharply from a baseline of about 49.8 per cent to roughly 63 per cent following the removal of petrol subsidy before moderating slightly after the introduction of social protection measures.
- “Across the board, household consumption declined following both the subsidy removal and electricity tariff adjustments. However, social transfers helped cushion the impact, especially for low-income households,” said Mohammed Shuaibu, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Abuja, who presented the study.
Nigeria’s economy, however, recorded stronger growth towards the end of 2025.
According to the latest Gross Domestic Product report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on February 27, the country’s economy grew by 4.07 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The figure represents an improvement from the 3.76 per cent growth recorded in the corresponding period of 2024, signalling stronger economic activity at the end of the year.
Despite the growth, Obi argued that the benefits are not translating into improved living conditions for ordinary Nigerians.
- “True economic reform must be people-centred. It must protect the most vulnerable while pursuing fiscal sustainability. Reforms that deepen poverty, widen inequality, and crush small businesses cannot be described as successful.”
What you should know
Since assuming office in 2023, President Bola Tinubu has introduced a series of major economic reforms, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of Nigeria’s multiple foreign exchange rates.
- These measures have been widely praised by several international financial institutions, which argue that they are necessary to stabilise the economy and improve long-term growth in Africa’s most populous nation.
- For instance, the International Monetary Fund projects that Nigeria’s economy will grow by 3.9 per cent in 2025 and 4.2 per cent in 2026.
- Similarly, the World Bank has maintained a 4.4 per cent growth forecast for Nigeria in 2027 and upgraded its 2026 growth estimate to 4.4 per cent, from the 3.7 per cent projected in June 2025.
However, critics such as Obi argue that while macroeconomic indicators may show improvement, the reforms have yet to translate into tangible benefits for many Nigerians.
Economic reforms that is effective should impact positively and directly on the Nigerian who is a child of nobody and knows nobody. Anything short of this is mere economic analytics or jargon without any bearing on the current realities in Nigeria.