Professor Alkasum Abba Blasts Tinubu Over Soaring Hardship, Says Reforms Deepen Nigerians’ Suffering

|By Adejumo Adekunle

A prominent Nigerian scholar, Professor Alkasum Abba, has fiercely criticized President Bola Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of worsening the country’s economic woes despite its reform agenda.

Speaking during an interview on Trust TV, the respected university administrator argued that Tinubu’s policies have left Nigerians grappling with unprecedented hardship, making the economy worse than he met it in 2023.

“President Tinubu said he inherited a terrible economy, but he has made it worse,” Abba declared. “Go to the market—prices of goods have skyrocketed. Transportation has gone up. Pensioners cannot even afford fuel to fill their tanks.”

The professor’s remarks came against the backdrop of Tinubu’s Independence Day broadcast, where the president celebrated a rise in Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio from under 10 percent to 13.5 percent as of September 2025—a development he described as a milestone.

But Abba dismissed the figures as meaningless in the face of widespread hunger and poverty. “You tell us the GDP has gone up—what is the use of GDP when I’m hungry?” he asked. “People are starving. We have never been in this situation since independence.”

He further lambasted the government for prioritizing economic metrics over citizens’ welfare. “You say you are reforming the economy, but how does that help me when I cannot feed myself? What is my business with foreign reserves when I’m hungry? You increase my suffering and tell me you’re stabilizing things—am I to wait until I’m dead to benefit?” he queried.

Abba’s comments reflect growing discontent among Nigerians over rising living costs, inflation, and fuel price hikes that have eroded purchasing power since the administration began implementing its reform policies.