ADC Tears Into Tinubu Over Food Crisis, Says Reforms Have Failed

• ADC says Tinubu’s government has run out of ideas on the cost-of-living crisis, accusing it of hiding behind falling headline inflation while food prices continue to climb.

• Party says NBS figures expose the contradiction, with headline inflation easing to 15.43 percent in July while food inflation surged to 20.31 percent year-on-year and 5.56 percent month-on-month.

• ADC links rising food prices to Nigeria’s wider hunger crisis, citing projections that almost 35 million Nigerians could face acute food insecurity during the 2026 lean season.

• Opposition party unveils five-point food security plan, including cheaper farm inputs, protection for farmers, lower transport costs and a strategic national food reserve.

August 18, () — The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has launched a fresh and blistering attack on the administration of President Bola Tinubu over the worsening food crisis, accusing the Federal Government of running out of ideas and failing to translate its economic reforms into relief for Nigerians.

The opposition party said the latest inflation figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had exposed what it described as the growing disconnect between the government’s claims of economic recovery and the reality confronting millions of households.

reported on Monday that headline inflation moderated from 15.91 percent in June to 15.43 percent in July, food inflation moved sharply in the opposite direction, rising from 17.52 percent to 20.31 percent year-on-year. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation accelerated from 3.75 percent in June to 5.56 percent in July. The report showed that prices of a number of food items contributed to the July increase, including rice, fresh pepper, onions, tomatoes, garri, beef and eggs.

For the ADC, the figures amount to evidence that the administration’s economic reforms have failed to address the most immediate concern of ordinary Nigerians — the ability to afford food.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, who spoke on Tuesday, said the government was placing too much emphasis on headline inflation while ignoring the component of the economy Nigerians experience most directly at markets and in their homes.

“While the government celebrates the moderation in headline inflation announced by the NBS, the same report tells a much more troubling story”, Abdullahi said.

He said the increase in food inflation meant that the apparent improvement in the overall inflation rate had little meaning for families whose incomes were increasingly being consumed by the cost of feeding themselves.

The ADC accused the Tinubu administration of exhausting the options available under its current economic approach and challenged the government to acknowledge its limitations rather than continue to promote what the party described as a narrative that “things are getting better”.

The party said the government had “done its best within the limits of its chosen approach” but should now admit that its strategy was not producing the desired outcome for Nigerians.

It accused the administration of making “relentless attempts to hoodwink” Nigerians who, according to the party, could no longer be persuaded by official claims of economic progress while the price of basic food continues to rise.

“Hunger cannot be wished away by numbers on paper”, Abdullahi stated.

The ADC said the government must answer a question it described as simple but fundamental: if the reforms are working, why are Nigerians finding it increasingly difficult to afford food?

“The Tinubu administration must answer a very simple question: If the government’s economic reforms are working, why are Nigerians still finding it increasingly difficult to afford food?” the party asked.

For families, the party argued, the more important economic indicator is not merely whether headline inflation has fallen but whether the quantity of food that their income can buy has increased or declined. It rejected what it called the government’s celebration of falling headline inflation, insisting that Nigerians were entitled to judge the economy by the price of food.

“The Tinubu administration may point to falling headline inflation as evidence that its reforms are working. But Nigerians are entitled to look at a different number: the price of food. The responsibility of government is not to explain that contradiction away. It is to fix it”, the party said, warning that the rising cost of food could no longer be treated simply as an economic problem, insisting that food security had become a national security issue.

The party linked its concerns to warnings from international humanitarian organisations about the scale of food insecurity in Nigeria.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) projected that 34.7 million Nigerians could face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity by mid-2026, including more than 5.4 million acutely malnourished children. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also warned in May that almost 35 million Nigerians were expected to face acute food insecurity during the 2026 lean season.

The situation is particularly severe in the Northeast, where insecurity, displacement and disrupted agricultural activities have combined with economic pressures to undermine food production and access.

The ADC argued that the combination of high food prices and insecurity required a fundamental change in government policy rather than piecemeal interventions.

“We, therefore, find it most insensitive that the government continues to make claims about economic progress while Nigerians are starving under its watch”, the party said.

The opposition party had made similar accusations in July, when it blamed the Tinubu administration for what it described as a policy-driven hunger crisis affecting millions of Nigerians in conflict-affected northern states.

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ADC Unveils Five-Point Alternative

Beyond its criticism, the ADC proposed a five-point strategy which it said could provide a more effective response to Nigeria’s food crisis.

The first plank is an integrated national food production and distribution strategy. The party said an ADC government would abandon what it described as scattered agricultural interventions and instead focus national resources on producing, storing and distributing the staple foods most consumed by Nigerians.

The second is a direct attack on the cost of agricultural production. The ADC proposed targeted measures to reduce the cost of fertiliser, seeds, machinery, diesel, transportation and agricultural finance. According to the party, farmers cannot be expected to produce cheaper food when the cost of cultivating and transporting agricultural produce remains prohibitively high.

The third plank centres on security. The party said protecting farmers and farm settlements would become a fundamental part of its food policy, arguing that agricultural inputs would serve little purpose if insecurity continued to prevent farmers from accessing their farms. It said farmers needed to be able to cultivate, harvest and transport their produce without the threat of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism or other forms of violence.

The fourth proposal focuses on transportation. The ADC said the cost of moving food from farms to markets must be reduced through improvements in roads, better security and the removal of multiple levies which, it said, increase the cost of food before it reaches consumers.

The fifth is the creation of a transparent national food reserve. Under the proposal, government would purchase strategic staples from Nigerian farmers when prices collapse and release them into the market when prices spike.

The ADC said such a buffer system would serve two purposes — protect farmers from ruinous price crashes while preventing consumers from being exposed to sudden and excessive food-price increases.