Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has lashed out at the Tinubu administration over what he described as a disgraceful attempt to glorify reckless borrowing while millions of Nigerians sink deeper into hunger, poverty, fear, and despair.

Reacting to recent comments by the Presidency suggesting that Nigeria’s debt profile remains lower than that of some African countries, Atiku said the government had once again demonstrated a dangerous disconnect from the harsh realities confronting ordinary Nigerians.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President argued that no responsible government measures economic success by the amount of debt it accumulates relative to other nations, but by whether citizens can afford food, live safely, run businesses, and look to the future with hope.

According to him, the Tinubu administration has reduced governance to a public relations exercise where suffering citizens are bombarded with statistics while their living conditions deteriorate at an alarming rate.

“It is both astonishing and insulting that at a time when millions of Nigerians can barely afford one meal a day, when parents are withdrawing their children from school because of crushing hardship, when businesses are collapsing under unbearable electricity tariffs and inflation, and when entire communities are being overrun by terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers, the Presidency is celebrating debt figures as though indebtedness itself were an economic achievement,” the statement read.

Atiku noted that borrowing is not inherently bad if tied to productive investments capable of improving lives, expanding infrastructure, strengthening national security, boosting agriculture, and stimulating economic growth. However, he lamented that under the current administration, increased borrowing has coincided with worsening insecurity, rising hunger, declining purchasing power, and deepening hopelessness across the country.

He said the irony of the Tinubu administration is that despite unprecedented borrowing and painful economic policies imposed on Nigerians, the average citizen is worse off today than ever before.

“Across the country, farmers can no longer safely access their farmlands because vast territories have effectively fallen under the control of armed gangs and terrorists. Food production has declined sharply because rural communities now live under constant threat of attacks, abductions, and killings. The inevitable result is what Nigerians are currently witnessing — astronomical food prices, widespread hunger, malnutrition, and growing anger among citizens abandoned by their own government,” Atiku stated.

The former Vice President further described as shameful the continued defence of mounting debt by government officials while insecurity has worsened to the point where many Nigerians now budget for ransom payments the same way they budget for school fees or rent.

“In many parts of Nigeria today, travelling by road has become a gamble with death. Families go to bed praying not to receive midnight calls announcing the abduction of loved ones. Villages are routinely sacked while those in power appear more concerned about image management than decisive action. What exactly are Nigerians benefiting from all these loans if insecurity continues to spread and the economy continues to suffocate?” he queried.

Atiku also accused the administration of weaponising propaganda in a bid to distract Nigerians from what he called the catastrophic consequences of its economic mismanagement.
“No nation becomes prosperous by borrowing to finance consumption, sustain wasteful government lifestyles, and paper over policy failures. Countries that borrow responsibly do so to expand productivity, create jobs, secure critical infrastructure, and improve the welfare of their citizens. In Nigeria today, however, citizens see no correlation between the mounting debt profile and any improvement in their daily lives,” he added.

The Waziri Adamawa recalled that the administration in which he served alongside former President Olusegun Obasanjo pursued difficult but disciplined economic reforms that eventually freed Nigeria from the crippling burden of Paris Club debt and restored global confidence in the Nigerian economy.

“It is therefore tragic that a government which inherited a struggling but manageable economy has plunged the nation into deeper debt, deeper poverty, deeper insecurity, and deeper despair within such a short period, yet still expects applause from suffering citizens,” he said.
Atiku warned that no amount of media spin could conceal the growing frustration across the country, stressing that Nigerians are not interested in comparisons with other African countries but in whether their own lives are improving.

“Nigerians do not care about statistical gymnastics from government spokespersons. They care about whether food is affordable, whether their children are safe, whether businesses can survive, whether farmers can return to their lands, and whether the future still holds any promise. Sadly, under this administration, the answers to those questions are becoming increasingly bleak.”

He urged the Tinubu administration to abandon propaganda and confront the nation’s challenges with sincerity, competence, urgency, and compassion before the country slips further into economic and social instability.