The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of running out of ideas on how to tackle the rising cost of living, saying the government’s focus on headline inflation figures ignores the reality of hunger in Nigerian homes.

Speaking on Tuesday through its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report confirmed that food remained unaffordable for ordinary Nigerians despite the marginal decline in overall inflation.

The ADC noted that while headline inflation eased from 15.91 per cent in June to 15.43 per cent in July, food inflation moved in the opposite direction.

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

“While headline inflation slowed, food inflation accelerated sharply, rising from 17.52 per cent in June to 20.31 per cent in July on a year-on-year basis. More disturbingly, food inflation rose from 3.75 per cent in June to 5.56 per cent in July on a month-on-month basis. This means that the prices of food items like rice, tomatoes, onions, pepper, beef, eggs, garri and other basic foods in Nigeria increased by 48 per cent in July alone.”

The party said the NBS figures supported an earlier report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation that 35 million Nigerians face acute food insecurity, with millions of children facing malnutrition.

“We therefore find it most insensitive that the government continues to make claims about economic progress while Nigerians are starving under its watch,” the statement read. “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 ADC said the government had “done its best within the limits of its chosen approach” and should now admit its limitations instead of making “relentless attempts to hoodwink the people who can no longer be deceived by the government’s ‘things are getting better’ propaganda.”

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

The party said food security must be treated as a national security issue and proposed a five-point plan.

First, the ADC said its government would move from scattered agricultural interventions to an integrated and targeted national food production and distribution strategy focused on the staples Nigerians consume most.

Secondly, the party said it would tackle the cost of production directly by using targeted support to bring down the cost of fertiliser, seeds, machinery, diesel, transportation and finance for farmers.

The ADC expressed Its plan to make the safety of farmers and farm settlements the bedrock of food policy, noting that inputs are useless if farmers cannot access their farms.

The party also spoke about plans to reduce transportation costs by addressing poor roads, insecurity and multiple levies that make it expensive to move food from farms to markets.

The ADC also proposed establishing a national food reserve through a transparent strategic buffer system to release staples when prices spike and buy from Nigerian farmers when prices collapse.

“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 ADC said. “The responsibility of government is not to explain that contradiction away. It is to fix it”. (Nigerian Tribune)

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