Tinubu’s economic policy has made homes, cars unaffordable for Nigerians — Atiku

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, saying Nigerians are increasingly being priced out of homes, cars and other basic household assets.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the latest Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Household Expectations Survey as a damning verdict on the administration’s economic policies.

He said an economy where citizens were abandoning plans to buy homes, vehicles and basic household assets could not credibly be described as being on the path to prosperity.

According to the survey, buying conditions stood at 28.7 points for motor vehicles, 28.9 points for consumer durables and 30.0 points for buildings and landed property.

The survey also showed that willingness to purchase vehicles stood at 18.7 points, while willingness to purchase buildings and landed property was 19.2 points.

Atiku said the figures were not opposition-generated statistics but the views of Nigerian households captured by the apex bank under the current administration.

“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.

According to him, the figures showed that Nigerians were being priced out of decent living, with home ownership becoming increasingly difficult, car ownership turning into a luxury and household appliances becoming unaffordable for many families.

“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 said many families were exhausting their incomes on food, transportation, electricity, school fees and other necessities, leaving little or nothing for savings, investment or asset acquisition.

Atiku also linked the CBN survey to the rising cost of food, citing the latest SBM Jollof Index, which he said showed that the ingredients required to prepare a pot of jollof rice for a family of five now cost an average of N29,578.

He said the figure represented more than 40 per cent of the N70,000 national minimum wage.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Atiku said it was particularly troubling that the administration continued to highlight positive macroeconomic indicators while household purchasing power remained under pressure.

“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,” he said.

“Between official statistics and empty cooking pots, the cooking pots do not lie.”

The former vice president warned that declining household purchasing power could have wider consequences for the economy, arguing that weak consumer demand would affect businesses, production and employment.

“When citizens cannot consume, businesses cannot sell; when businesses cannot sell, production falls; and when production falls, jobs and livelihoods disappear,” he said.

Atiku argued that economic success should be measured not only by government statistics but by improvements in the living standards of ordinary citizens.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

He urged the Tinubu administration to focus more on the economic realities facing households, saying Nigerians deserved an economy where work translated into dignity and income created opportunities.

“President Tinubu should stop governing Nigeria through PowerPoint economics. The real economy is the Nigerian family’s pocket, and that pocket is increasingly empty,” Atiku said.

“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.”