The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the Tinubu administration over rising food prices, saying that the latest reports indicate that the President and his government have no solution to the rising cost of living in the country.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the Tinubu government has “run out of ideas”, saying that the government’s current approach, which tends to focus only on core inflation figures, does not prioritise the daily struggles of ordinary Nigerians.

The party called for an approach that puts food security at the heart of national security, by undertaking immediate actions that boost food production by reducing input, energy and transportation costs, improving security, establishing strategic food reserves and setting measurable targets tied ultimately to one objective: ensuring that Nigerians can afford to eat and Nigerian farmers have money in their pockets.

The statement said: “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has taken note of the latest inflation figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, which show that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate moderated marginally from 15.91 per cent in June to 15.43 per cent in July.

“We are, however, concerned that the government has continued to stubbornly focus on this statistical indicator, while ignoring the more serious indicator, which confirms that staple foods are still beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.

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

“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% in July alone.”

The opposition argued that the current  report supports an earlier one by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) that 35 million Nigerians face acute food insecurity, with millions of children facing malnutrition.

“That is the economy Nigerians are experiencing under Bola Tinubu’s APC.

“We therefore find it most insensitive that the government continues to make claims about economic progress while Nigerians are starving under its watch. 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?

“At some point, a responsible government must be willing to admit that it has reached the limits of its capacity and even its best approach has not yielded the desired results.”

ADC says it believes the current  government has done its best within the limits of its chosen approach.

“Therefore, as the condition of ordinary citizens continues to get worse, what we expect from this government is an honest admission of defeat rather than 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.

“On our part, the ADC believes food security must be treated as a national security issue. First, our government will move from scattered agricultural interventions to an integrated and targeted national food production and distribution strategy focused on the staples Nigerians consume most.

“Second, we will tackle the cost of production directly. Farmers cannot produce affordable food when the cost of fertiliser, seeds, machinery, diesel, transportation and finance keeps rising. Our government will use targeted support to reduce these costs, rather than relying primarily on general interventions whose benefits may never reach the farmer.

“Third, the safety and security of farmers and farm settlements will be the bedrock of our food supply policy. There is little point providing farmers with inputs if insecurity prevents them from reaching their farms, harvesting their crops or transporting them to market.

“Fourth, we will fix the extraordinary cost of moving food from farm to market. A farmer producing cheap tomatoes in one part of the country cannot help a consumer elsewhere if transport costs, poor roads, insecurity and multiple levies make the final product unaffordable.

“Fifth, our government will establish a transparent national food reserve and strategic buffer system capable of releasing essential staples into the market when prices spike, while purchasing from Nigerian farmers when prices collapse.

“This would protect both consumers and producers.

“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 responsibility of government is not to explain that contradiction away. It is to fix it.”