Don’t celebrate rebased GDP, it’s economic cosmetics Nigerians can’t eat – ADC slams Tinubu govt

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has strongly criticised the Tinubu administration for celebrating Nigeria’s newly rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP), describing it as “economic cosmetics” that will fail to address the realities of poverty, inflation, and collapsing infrastructure facing millions of Nigerians.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party accused the government of using the rebased GDP figures as a public relations tool to mask its economic failures, stating that “you can’t rebase hunger because Nigerians cannot eat GDP.”

The ADC noted that while the administration has been quick to announce the revised GDP figures, which place Nigeria’s nominal GDP at ₦373 trillion, the supposed growth is illusory, driven by steep currency devaluation that has eroded the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians. The party highlighted that GDP per capital has plunged from $3,223 in 2014 to around $1,000 today, describing the figures as “bloated, hollow numbers.”

“Economic growth is not about dressed-up numbers that make the government look good. It means nothing if it leaves the majority of people behind and is not felt on the dining table or in the marketplace,” Abdullahi stated.

The ADC argued that rather than reflecting genuine progress, the GDP rebasing exercise exposes the Tinubu administration’s failure to grow or transform the economy it inherited, noting that Nigeria has slipped from Africa’s largest economy to fourth place behind South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria over the past decade.

The party also accused the government of using the rebased GDP to create the illusion of a lower debt-to-GDP ratio to justify further borrowing, despite over 90% of government revenue already going towards debt servicing.

“There is no real increase in industrial output, no boost in agricultural productivity, no rise in real income, and no improvement in electricity, healthcare, or security,” the ADC said, adding that the rebasing exercise is “statistical seduction with no meaning for ordinary Nigerians.”

The ADC called on the government to engage in transparent conversations about the implications of the GDP rebasing rather than announcing it like a “campaign slogan,” stressing that true economic growth must be felt by the people and built on solid policy, not borrowed funds.

“If this is the Tinubu administration’s solution to everything, then it should also try to rebase its way out of insecurity, rebase the national grid into 24-hour electricity, rebase hospitals back to life, and rebase the country away from hunger,” the statement read.

Concluding, the ADC said that the rebasing of the GDP is not a triumph for the Tinubu administration but rather a verdict on a “lost decade of squandered potential, hollow leadership, and broken economic promises.”