The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has strongly urged President Bola Tinubu and his administration to pay attention to the full scope of insights offered by World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala—criticizing the federal government’s selective amplification of only her praise for economic “stabilisation.”
In a statement from the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC took issue with how officials and media allies have focused on her commendation of the administration’s stabilisation efforts, while ignoring her urgent calls for growth, job creation, and social safety nets to shield Nigerians from the impact of tough reforms.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, a globally respected economist and former Finance Minister, indeed acknowledged the importance of stability, telling journalists after meeting President Tinubu that, “you cannot really improve an economy unless it’s stable,” and that the reforms were “in the right direction.” But she immediately underscored that this must be coupled with accelerated growth and safety measures for struggling citizens.
The ADC emphasized that a truly stable economy must translate to tangible improvements—real growth, productivity, and minimum living standards. Abdullahi highlighted what he sees as the government’s disregard for Okonjo-Iweala’s deeper message:
>What she’s really saying … is that the economy is not growing, jobs are not being created, and too many people are suffering as a direct consequence of President Tinubu’s ill-conceived and badly implemented reforms.”
The party buttressed its argument with recent statistics: GDP growth hovered around 3.13 percent in Q1 2025 and barely improved beyond 3 percent in Q2; inflation stood high at 22.22 percent (with food inflation at 21.97 percent in June); petrol prices averaged ₦1,037.66 per litre; while the naira traded at around ₦1,530 to the dollar—far weaker than its pre-reform levels near ₦460.
According to the ADC, these observations reinforce how fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation, and tariff hikes have deepened citizens’ hardship, making well-designed and effectively delivered social safety nets a necessity—not a luxury. But the party lamented that such programs have been poorly executed or insufficient.
“As long as policy emphasis remains on optics over substance, celebrating superficial stability becomes not just pyrrhic, but dangerous,” the ADC warned, calling on the Tinubu administration to heed the full breadth of Okonjo-Iweala’s recommendations—not just the flattering parts.
