Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the current administration of worsening the purchasing power of Nigerians, saying the latest Central Bank of Nigeria Household Expectations Survey shows that families are increasingly unable to afford homes, cars and basic household assets.
Atiku, in a statement on Saturday issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the survey represented a damning verdict on the government’s economic policies and contradicted its claims of economic recovery and prosperity.
According to the CBN survey, buying conditions stood at 28.7 points for motor vehicles, 28.9 for consumer durables and 30.0 for buildings and landed property.
Willingness to purchase vehicles was even lower at 18.7 points, while willingness to buy buildings and landed property stood at 19.2 points.
Atiku said the figures were particularly significant because they reflected the expectations and purchasing decisions of Nigerian households captured by the apex bank.
“These are not figures manufactured by the opposition. They are the verdict of Nigerian households captured by the Central Bank under President Tinubu’s own government,” he said.
The African Democratic Congress presidential candidate argued that the figures showed that the economic crisis had moved beyond the rising prices of food and other necessities to affect Nigerians’ ability to accumulate assets and improve their standard of living.
“What the figures tell us is simple: Nigerians are being priced out of decent living. A home is becoming a fantasy. A car is becoming a luxury. Household appliances are increasingly beyond reach,” Atiku said.
He added that many families were now exhausting their incomes on food, transportation, electricity and school fees, leaving little or nothing for savings, investment or the acquisition of assets.
Atiku linked the CBN findings to the rising cost of food, particularly the cost of preparing jollof rice, using the latest SBM Jollof Index as an illustration of the pressure on household incomes.
According to the index cited by Atiku, the ingredients required to prepare a pot of jollof rice for a family of five cost an average of ₦29,578.
He said the figure was especially significant when compared with Nigeria’s ₦70,000 minimum wage, noting that the cost of one ordinary pot of jollof rice could consume more than 40 per cent of a minimum-wage worker’s monthly income before rent, transportation, electricity, school fees and healthcare were taken into account.
“Only recently, the Jollof Index told us what Tinubu’s economy has done to the Nigerian kitchen. Now the CBN survey is telling us what it has done to the Nigerian dream.
“Tinubu first stole jollof rice from the family dining table. Now, his economy is taking away the house in which the table should stand and the car with which the breadwinner should get to work,” he said.
Atiku accused the administration of placing too much emphasis on headline economic indicators while failing to address the declining purchasing power of households.
He said indicators such as GDP growth and foreign reserves could not by themselves determine whether an economy was working for ordinary citizens.
“Government officials can celebrate GDP growth, foreign reserves and other statistics from air-conditioned conference rooms, but ordinary Nigerians have become unwilling economists, calculating every cup of rice, every litre of fuel and every transport fare before deciding what their families can afford.
“Between official statistics and empty cooking pots, the cooking pots do not lie,” he added.
The ADC presidential candidate also warned that declining household purchasing power could undermine businesses and economic growth, arguing that weak consumer demand would eventually affect production, employment and livelihoods.
“An economy is not successful merely because government officials can quote favourable statistics. An economy succeeds when citizens can work, earn, eat, save, invest and progressively improve their standard of living.
“Before there is GDP, there must be dinner. Before there is prosperity, there must be purchasing power. And before a government congratulates itself on reform, ordinary citizens must be able to see and feel improvement in their own lives,” the statement further read.
The Federal Government has consistently defended its economic reforms, particularly the removal of the petrol subsidy and the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, arguing that the measures are necessary to stabilise the economy, attract investment and establish the foundation for sustainable growth.
The government has also pointed to improvements in some macroeconomic indicators as evidence that the reforms are beginning to yield results, even as Nigerians continue to contend with high food prices, elevated transportation costs and pressure on household incomes.
Atiku, however, maintained that the ultimate test of economic policy should be its impact on the living conditions of citizens.
“President Tinubu should stop governing Nigeria through PowerPoint economics. The real economy is the Nigerian family’s pocket, and that pocket is increasingly empty.
“A government under which families struggle to afford jollof rice, workers cannot contemplate buying cars and millions see home ownership disappearing beyond the horizon cannot proclaim prosperity.
“Tinubu has not merely increased the cost of living. He has increased the cost of dreaming,” he added.
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