Presidency Blasts Critics For Exaggerating Nigeria’s Hardship

The Presidency yesterday dismissed claims about Nigeria’s economic woes, accusing alarmists and biased critics of deliberately spreading misinformation to cause confusion.

It maintained that, contrary to what it described as an exaggerated and skewed portrayal of the nation as plagued by hunger, hardship, and hopelessness in a newspaper editorial, the country is rapidly emerging from its lean period.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not indifferent to Nigerians’ difficulties. On the contrary, he is taking deliberate, targeted steps — many already yielding results — to reset our economy from a legacy of consumption without productivity, opacity without accountability, and policy that served the powerful, not the people,” it said.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, the Presidency said while the reality of economic hardship could not be denied, the policies being criticised are meant to ensure that Nigerians have a more secure, stable, and prosperous future.

Dare faulted the alarmists’ attempt to confuse the public by claiming that “Nigerians are hungry” without recognising the government’s ongoing interventions that are yielding results.

The presidential aide frowned at the misinterpretation of the UNICEF prediction that 33 million Nigerians, including 16 million children, would face hunger this year.

He said what was presented was not a UNICEF-specific report but the Cadre Harmonisé Food and Nutrition Insecurity Analysis, jointly prepared by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and UNICEF.
Dare said: “It is not a current count, but a worst-case projection for the June–August 2025 lean season, assuming no mitigation actions by government or partners.”

The presidential aide highlighted government’s actions to avert the looming danger, including the release of over 42,000 metric tonnes of grains from federal strategic reserves, the procurement of additional 117,000 metric tonnes, the reactivation of the Food Security Council by the President, and scaling up of emergency nutrition support in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Katsina, Sokoto, and Bauchi states.

Dare noted that although malnutrition is a serious national concern, it should not be localised as a “Northern Nigeria” crisis.

He said: “We also acknowledge that