The Presidency has disagreed with the African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina’s remarks on Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the economy.

While speaking at the 20th anniversary dinner of investment firm Chapel Hill Denham in Lagos last week, the AfDB President bemoaned Nigeria’s GDP figures, noting that despite it being almost in the same range as South Korea at some point, the country and some of its Asian neighbors have left Nigeria far behind.

Quoting figures from a business and economy publication, Adesina claimed that Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 was $1847 and that it is $824 today.

He noted that Nigerians are worse off today than they were in 1960

However, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Communication on Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the claims by Adesina as “substantive lies.”

The presidential media aide criticised Adesina for presenting figures that, according to him, do not align with verified economic data.

“A few days ago, outgoing AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina claimed that Nigerians today are worse off than in 1960, basing his conclusion on figures that do not align with available data,” Onanuga said.

“According to Nairametrics, he claimed that Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 was $1847 and that it is $824 today. The quoted figures are not correct.

“According to available data, our country’s GDP was $4.2 billion in 1960, and per capita income for a population of 44.9 million was $93—ninety-three, not even one hundred dollars.”

In contrast to the figures Adesina quoted on Nigeria’s GDP in 1960, Onanuga noted that Nigeria’s GDP did not begin to rise until the 1970s, when it was $12.55 billion between $27.7 billion in 1970 and 1975.

“Our country’s GDP did not rise remarkably until the 1970s, when crude earnings ballooned. In 1970, our GDP rose to $12.55 billion. In 1975, it was $27.7 billion; $64.2 billion in 1980; and $164 billion in 1981,” Onanuga noted.

“Up until 1980, per capita income did not exceed $880. It rose to $2187 in 1981 and dropped to $1844 in 1982. In 2014, after rebasing, it reached an all-time high of $3,200.”

Buttressing his point further, Onanuga added that GDP is not the only metric to determine how well a country’s economy is performing.

The presidential spokesman cited the number of educational institutions, road network, medical facilities, and the rise of profit-making business enterprises in the country.

“In its first-quarter results this year, MTN declared revenue of N1 trillion and an increase of 8.2 percent in subscriptions, which took the number of its voice and data users to 84 million,” he said.

“Does this MTN experience correlate with a country worse off than in 1960, when we had analogue telephones and the number of lines was fewer than 20,000?”

All of these, according to Onanuga, raise questions about the source of Adesina’s claims.