The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government of insensitivity, following comments by presidential Spokesman Bayo Onanuga that he does not see the level of hunger and hardship being reported across the country.
ADC in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said Onanuga’s views reflected the thinking in the President Bola Tinubu administration, and said such confirmed its position that the administration is disconnected from the reality faced by millions of ordinary Nigerians.
“Those comments are not merely insensitive; they are a startling admission of how disconnected the APC government has become from the realities of the people it governs,” ADC stated.
It noted that when over 80 percent of Nigerians are struggling to feed their families, pay school fees, afford transportation and keep their businesses alive, it is extraordinary that a senior presidential spokesman could publicly suggest that the hardship is somehow overstated or even contrived.
“The truth is that Nigerians are not faking their suffering.
“The unprecedented cost-of-living crisis confronting the country today is the direct result of the ill-conceived and poorly executed economic policies of the Tinubu administration, which have thrown millions more into acute poverty since this government came to power,” the party said.
ADC noted that food prices have soared while transportation costs have multiplied, and the value of incomes and savings eroded, and millions of Nigerians who were managing before trapped in economic distress.
“This is not opposition propaganda. It is the daily lived experience of ordinary Nigerians in every state of the federation,” the party added.
According to the ADC, what makes Onanuga’s comments troubling is that “they reveal a government that has become tragically insular and could no longer do anything differently.”
The party told APC that a sensible government does not measure the effects of its policies by merely looking at the people within its immediate circle or driving through paved roads.
“It must listen to the people in the markets, on the farms, in the classrooms, in the workshops and in the streets.
“If the presidency genuinely cannot see the hunger and hardship that Nigerians are talking about, then it raises serious questions about whether it sees the people at all,” ADC stated.
The party noted that roads infrastructure projects not achievements, adding that Nigerians cannot eat roads.
“The first responsibility of any government is to create economic conditions in which citizens can afford food, find jobs, run businesses and live with dignity.
“On this most fundamental test, the Tinubu administration has failed,” it said, and accused the APC administration of failed promises, noting that 62 percent of Nigerians has become poorer than when the APC government took office.
“The question is no longer whether Nigerians are suffering; Nigerians already know that they are.
“The real question is whether this government is prepared to acknowledge the consequences of its policies and accept responsibility for its historic failures.
“Until it does, comments such as those made by Mr. Onanuga will only reinforce the growing perception that the APC government is out of touch with the people and unwilling to confront the damage its economic policies have inflicted on ordinary Nigerians,” ADC stated.
