ADC: Rising food prices shows Tinubu has run out of ideas

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the Tinubu administration for soaring food prices, asserting that President Tinubu and his government lack a solution to Nigeria's cost of living crisis. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party declared that the Tinubu government has "run out of ideas." They argued that the government's current strategy, which solely focuses on core inflation figures, fails to address the daily hardships faced by ordinary Nigerians.

The ADC pointed to the latest inflation reports from the National Bureau of Statistics, which indicated that Nigeria's headline inflation rate dropped from 15.91% in June to 15.43% in July. However, they expressed concern over the government's persistent emphasis on this statistical indicator, while ignoring the more critical measure of food inflation.

Despite the slight moderation in headline inflation, food inflation surged by 48% in July, with prices of staples like rice, tomatoes, onions, pepper, beef, eggs, and garri increasing significantly.

The ADC highlighted that the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report revealed that 35 million Nigerians face acute food insecurity, with millions of children at risk of malnutrition. The party criticized the Tinubu administration for making claims of economic progress while Nigerians continue to struggle to afford food. Abdullahi urged a responsible government to acknowledge its limitations and admit defeat if its current approach fails to yield results.

He proposed several measures that an ADC-led government would undertake to address the issue, including integrating agricultural interventions, directly tackling production costs, ensuring farmers' safety, improving transportation to reduce food costs, and establishing a transparent national food reserve to stabilize market prices for both consumers and producers.