Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, made the claim that Nigerians were wealthier in 1960 than they are today, which the presidency has faulted.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga claimed that Adesina “spoke like a politician” without doing proper due diligence, in contrast to Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s candidate for president in 2023.
According to Onanuga, “Adesina spoke like a politician, in the vein of Peter Obi, and did not do due diligence before making his unverifiable statement.”
According to reports, Adesina said that Nigerians today are worse off than they were in 1960 during a keynote address at the Chapel Hill Denham 20th anniversary dinner.
He provided evidence to support his claims, noting that the GDP per capita for Nigeria was $1, 847 in 1960 and is currently $824.
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Onanuga, however, refuted the claim, arguing that the quoted figures were inaccurate and that there were no such things as GDP in Nigeria as of 1960, which stated that there were no GDP per capita for a population of 44.9 million, not only $93.
According to him, “A few days ago, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina made the claim that Nigerians are now in a worse condition than they were in 1960, basing his conclusions on unreliable data.”
He claimed that Nigeria’s GDP per capita was $1, 847 in 1960 and is now $824. The figures are incorrect.
Our country’s GDP was $4.2 billion in 1960, and the per capita income for a population of 44.9 million was $93, or $93, not even $100, according to the data.
“Up until the 1970s, when crude earnings ballooned, our country’s GDP did not increase noticeably.” 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. Per capita income was not greater than $880 up until 1980.
“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”, he added.
CORRECTION: THE FACTS TASTE A DISPUTES AN OTHER STORY OF AKINWUMI ADESINA’S CLAIMS ON NIGERIA’S GDP PER CAPITA
A few days ago, Akinwumi Adesina, the incoming head of the AfDB, made the claim that today’s Nigerians are in worse shape than they were in 1960. His conclusion was based on unfavorable statistics. https://twitter.com/EyS7pHiXVL
Onanuga added that Adesina should take into account that the only factor that influences whether people live better lives now than they did in the past is DDP per capita.
It is indeed a poor method for determining living standards. Its primary purpose is to provide the metrics needed to compare the economic output of a country or a group of countries.
The economy of a nation is “covered in GDP” by a number of activities. It does not account for the informal economy, which experts have described as enormous, nor does it disclose wealth distribution or income inequality. It does not take into account income transfer and farming for subsistence or other family members.
The presidential spokesman said, “GDP per capita is skewed on whether Nigerians in 2025 have better access to healthcare, education, and transportation options than they did in 1960,” according to the presidential spokesman.
“More Schools, Better Infrastructure”
The special adviser to the president added that Nigeria now has better infrastructure and schools than it did in 1960.
“Dr. Adesina should not have come to his conclusions on this premise alone. More primary, secondary, and tertiary education is available in Nigeria today than it did in 1960.
More public and private healthcare facilities are available, and we have more road networks. Phones are accessible to us in a phenomenal way. We had 18 and 724 active phone lines at Independence, according to him, with a population of about 45 million.
We are in better shape today than it was 65 years ago, according to him, because nearly 200 million Nigerians now have access to nearly universal mobile phones and digital services.
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Policymakers in our nation are aware that whatever GDP figure NBS releases may not fully account for the full breadth and depth of our economy if it excludes the informal economy, which some experts believe may be even more significant than the formal economy.
“This demonstrates why Dr. Adesina ought to have taken into account every aspect of our economy before concluding.”
Source: Channels TV
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