NEWS LEVERAGE

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy has taken aim at outgoing African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, over his recent comments suggesting that Nigerians are worse off today than in 1960.

In a strongly worded article, Onanuga dismissed Adesina’s claims as factually flawed and likened his rhetoric to that of opposition figure Peter Obi.

Adesina, a former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and current AfDB head, had cited figures reportedly showing that Nigeria’s GDP per capita dropped from $1,847 in 1960 to $824 in 2024, suggesting a decline in Nigerians’ standard of living.

However, Onanuga countered the statistics, referencing historical economic data that placed Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 at just $93 not $1,847.

“Dr. Adesina should know that GDP per capita is not the only criterion used to determine whether people live better lives now than in the past,” Onanuga argued, calling the measure a “poor tool” for assessing true living standards.

Citing improvements in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and digital access since independence, Onanuga stated that Nigeria has made undeniable progress. He pointed to mobile phone penetration as a case in point, contrasting the 18,724 telephone lines available in 1960 with today’s mobile access for over 200 million Nigerians.

He further criticized Adesina for overlooking the informal economy, which Onanuga described as a critical part of Nigeria’s economic fabric. “GDP figures alone do not provide a complete picture,” he added, recalling how global firms once underestimated Nigeria’s potential due to misleading GDP indicators.

In a sharp political jab, Onanuga concluded that Adesina “spoke like a politician, in the mould of Peter Obi,” implying that the AfDB chief was more focused on dramatic appeal than verified facts.

The rebuttal has stirred fresh debate about Nigeria’s economic trajectory and the tools used to measure national progress particularly as the National Bureau of Statistics prepares to rebase the GDP.