According to Mr. Peter Obi, a presidential candidate for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the current administration of President Bola Tinubu has failed to improve the living standards of Nigerians, despite improvements in certain macroeconomic statistics.
The latest World Bank report on Nigeria’s economic performance should not be interpreted by the Federal Government as evidence that the standard of living of residents has improved, according to Obi.
The ex-governor of Anambra State stated that while millions of Nigerians were still struggling with poverty, unemployment, and inequality, monetary expansion and tax increases were inadequate indicators of success.
Reducing poverty, increasing employment opportunities, and enhancing access to healthcare, education, and food were, in his view, the genuine markers of economic success.
Obi claims that regular Nigerians have not yet seen any real improvement as a result of the economic reforms implemented by Tinubu’s government.
Increases in government revenue, foreign reserves, or GDP do not constitute a stabilisation of an economy. When people are able to buy food, get medical treatment, send their children to school, and live with respect, he continued, everyone benefits and the country is stable.
Data from the World Bank report “Beyond the Federal Purse: How Higher Revenues Reshaped State Priorities” was used by Obi to bring up the nation’s debt load.
According to his calculations, the federal government spent N7.7 trillion on debt interest payments from January to June 2026, while only collecting N6.2 trillion in income during that time.
The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) questioned why the country’s debt load kept increasing despite higher tax revenues, claiming that the stated numbers indicated that interest payments on debt exceeded government revenue by almost N1.5 trillion.
Furthermore, Obi said that capital expenditure had dropped by nearly N700 billion in the first half of 2026, attributing the fall to the Tinubu administration’s inept handling of the national budget.
The reported spending pattern, he claimed, cast doubt on the government’s economic priorities, leading him to accuse it of careless borrowing, corruption, and ineptitude.
In addition, the former presidential candidate for the Labour Party criticised the current administration for what he saw as the administration’s bias in presenting economic data in a positive light while ignoring the real problems that people are facing.
According to Obi, the government cannot expect Nigerians to rejoice over economic indices if they are unable to afford necessities like food, healthcare, and shelter.
He claimed that Nigeria was one of the countries whose poverty reduction benefits had been reversed and that the country’s economic policies had not protected its most vulnerable residents enough, referencing a UNDP report.
Reforms, I have maintained throughout, should be judged by how they affect the people, and especially the most disadvantaged and defenceless among them.
Instead of misleading reporting and official celebrations, he emphasised that measures requiring significant sacrifices from citizens should yield clear, quantifiable, and widely distributed benefits.
Instead of celebrating what he called incomplete economic figures, Obi encouraged the Tinubu administration to reevaluate its economic reforms and put the wellbeing of Nigerians first.
He argued that people should be able to eat better, live better, and escape poverty as the ultimate measure of economic success.
In his words, “Nigeria deserves an economy that serves its citizens, not one that continually sacrifices citizens’ wellbeing for’macroeconomic stability.'” He continued by saying that the country needs an economic system that stops young unemployment, cuts inequality, and ends mass poverty.