The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu over the rising cost of food, accusing the Federal Government of focusing on headline inflation figures while Nigerians struggle to afford basic necessities.
The party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on Tuesday said the latest inflation figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the government had “run out of ideas” in addressing the worsening cost-of-living crisis.
The NBS reported that headline inflation moderated marginally from 15.91 per cent in June to 15.43 per cent in July.
The ADC, however, said the headline figure masked a more troubling development, as food inflation accelerated from 17.52 per cent in June to 20.31 per cent in July year-on-year.
It also noted that food inflation increased from 3.75 per cent in June to 5.56 per cent month-on-month.
According to the party, the figures reflected continued increases in the prices of essential food items, including rice, tomatoes, onions, pepper, beef, eggs and garri.
“While the government celebrates the moderation in headline inflation announced by the NBS, the same report tells a much more troubling story,” the party said.
The ADC argued that the government’s emphasis on core and headline inflation failed to capture the economic reality facing ordinary Nigerians.
It linked the development to an earlier report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which it said indicated that about 35 million Nigerians were facing acute food insecurity, with millions of children at risk of malnutrition.
The opposition party described the situation as evidence of the hardship Nigerians were experiencing under the Tinubu administration and challenged the government to explain why citizens were finding it increasingly difficult to afford food if its economic reforms were working.
The ADC said the administration should be prepared to acknowledge when its policies were not producing the desired results rather than relying on what it described as “things are getting better” propaganda.
“At some point, a responsible government must be willing to admit that it has reached the limits of its capacity and even its best approach has not yielded the desired results,” the statement said.
The party proposed that food security should be treated as a national security issue and outlined a number of measures it would pursue if given the opportunity to govern.
It said an ADC government would adopt an integrated national food production and distribution strategy focused on staple foods consumed by Nigerians.
The party also proposed targeted measures to reduce the cost of agricultural inputs, including fertiliser, seeds, machinery, diesel, transportation and access to finance.
It further identified the security of farmers and farming communities as critical to food production, arguing that agricultural interventions would have limited impact if insecurity prevented farmers from accessing their farms, harvesting crops or transporting produce to markets.
The ADC also called for measures to reduce the cost of transporting food from farms to consumers, citing poor roads, insecurity, transportation expenses and multiple levies as factors contributing to high food prices.
In addition, the party proposed the establishment of a transparent national food reserve and strategic buffer system that would allow government to release essential food commodities when prices rise sharply and purchase from farmers when market prices collapse.
According to the ADC, such a system would help protect both consumers and farmers from extreme price fluctuations.
The party maintained that Nigerians should judge the success of economic reforms not only by headline inflation figures but also by the prices they encounter in the markets.
“The responsibility of government is not to explain that contradiction away. It is to fix it,” the statement noted.
