The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on President Bola Tinubu to accept the World Bank’s latest report showing that 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line, describing it as an undeniable verdict on his administration’s failed economic policies.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the report exposed the growing gap between government propaganda of progress and the grim realities faced by millions of citizens whose livelihoods have been devastated under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government.
The World Bank’s October 2025 report, released on Wednesday, revealed that the number of Nigerians living in poverty has climbed to 139 million, up from 81 million in 2019.
Reacting swiftly, the Presidency dismissed the figures as “unrealistic” and “not reflective of Nigeria’s current economic situation.” The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, in a post on X, argued that the data should be “properly contextualised” within global poverty assessment frameworks.
However, the ADC countered that the government was using manipulated statistics to mask its domestic failures while Nigerians continue to suffer widespread hardship.
“The government cannot continue to live in denial while citizens face hunger, joblessness, and inflation,” Abdullahi stated, urging Tinubu to confront the economic crisis with honesty and accountability rather than dismissing credible global assessments.
