Nigeria’s economic reforms are becoming an increasingly fierce political battleground. The opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) says millions of Nigerians are facing worsening hardship under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, rejecting the ruling party’s claim that the painful adjustments are necessary steps toward long-term recovery.

The exchange underscores a larger question now shaping public debate: whether the government’s economic reset is stabilising the country or pushing more households into crisis.

The African Democratic Congress has pushed back strongly against the All Progressives Congress (APC) following accusations that opposition parties are inciting public anger against the government.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC argued that the hardship Nigerians are experiencing cannot be dismissed as political rhetoric.
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According to the party, recent data and surveys suggest the economic reforms introduced by the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu have significantly increased financial pressure on households.

Abdullahi said the opposition merely highlighted figures from independent reports showing that poverty and economic hardship have intensified since the removal of petrol subsidy in 2023.

“The ruling party has chosen to attack the opposition rather than address the evidence that more Nigerians are falling into poverty,” he said, insisting the figures reflect the “lived realities” of ordinary citizens.

At the heart of the dispute is the decision by the Tinubu administration to remove petrol subsidy shortly after taking office in May 2023. The move was widely praised by international financial institutions as a necessary reform to reduce government spending.

However, its domestic impact has been severe.

Fuel prices, which averaged around ₦185–₦255 per litre before the reform, have surged dramatically in the following years, in some places reaching over ₦1,000 per litre depending on supply and market conditions.

Higher fuel costs have cascaded across the economy — raising transportation fares, increasing food prices, and squeezing household budgets already strained by inflation.

Opposition parties argue that these ripple effects are evidence the reforms are hurting the most vulnerable Nigerians.

Opposition figures have also pointed to survey data suggesting widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the economy.

Some polls cited by political actors claim large percentages of Nigerians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and report difficulties meeting basic needs such as food, healthcare, and energy.

However, analysts caution that poverty statistics vary widely depending on methodology. Institutions such as the World Bank have previously estimated that more than half of Nigeria’s population was already experiencing multidimensional poverty before the subsidy removal.

That context complicates the political argument. Economic reforms may have intensified short-term hardship, but they were introduced within a system already facing structural weaknesses — including high unemployment, heavy reliance on imports, and fiscal pressure from subsidy spending.