The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the Federal Government over rising food prices, saying the continued increase in food inflation shows that Nigerians are yet to feel meaningful relief from the country’s cost-of-living crisis.
The opposition party said the latest inflation figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed a widening gap between the moderation in headline inflation and the prices of food confronting households across the country.
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said headline inflation declined from 15.91 per cent in June to 15.43 per cent in July, while food inflation increased from 17.52 per cent to 20.31 per cent year-on-year over the same period.
The party also said month-on-month food inflation rose from 3.75 per cent in June to 5.56 per cent in July.
According to the ADC, the figures indicate that staple foods are becoming increasingly unaffordable despite the Federal Government’s claims of economic progress under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The Tinubu government has run out of ideas,” the party declared, arguing that the administration should acknowledge that its current approach had not delivered the relief Nigerians expected.
The ADC also cited what it described as an earlier Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report indicating that millions of Nigerians were facing acute food insecurity, with children among those at risk of malnutrition.
The party questioned the government’s economic narrative, asking why millions of Nigerians continued to struggle to afford basic food items if the administration’s economic reforms were producing the desired results.
“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,” the ADC said.
The party called for food security to be treated as a national security priority and outlined a five-point approach it said would form part of its strategy to address food insecurity if elected.
The first proposal is an integrated national food production and distribution strategy to replace what the party described as scattered agricultural interventions, with priority given to staple foods widely consumed by Nigerians.
The ADC also proposed measures to reduce the cost of agricultural production by addressing the rising prices of fertiliser, seeds, machinery, diesel, transportation and agricultural finance.
On insecurity, the party said the safety of farmers and farm settlements must be prioritised, arguing that farmers could not significantly increase food production if they were unable to safely access their farms, harvest their crops and transport produce to markets.
The party further proposed measures to reduce the cost of transporting food from farms to consumers by addressing poor roads, insecurity, transportation expenses and multiple levies.
Its fifth proposal is the establishment of a transparent national food reserve and strategic buffer system capable of releasing essential commodities into the market during periods of sharp price increases.
The ADC said the system could also purchase agricultural produce from farmers when prices collapse, thereby helping to protect both consumers and farmers from extreme price fluctuations.
“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 party said.
“The responsibility of government is not to explain that contradiction away. It is to fix it,” it added.
The ADC said reducing the cost of living and ensuring that Nigerians can afford basic food remain among its priorities.
The party’s criticism comes amid continued public debate over the impact of the Federal Government’s economic reforms on household purchasing power, food affordability and living standards.
