In a widely circulated statement, Adesina asserted that Nigeria’s GDP per capita had dropped from $1,847 in 1960 to $824 in 2024, painting a grim picture of rising poverty and low human development in Africa’s most populous country.Travel guidesThe Bola Tinubu Presidency has dismissed recent claims by African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, that Nigerians are economically worse off today than they were in 1960 when the country gained independence.In a widely circulated statement, Adesina asserted that Nigeria’s GDP per capita had dropped from $1,847 in 1960 to $824 in 2024, painting a grim picture of rising poverty and low human development in Africa’s most populous country.

But in a rebuttal issued Sunday night by Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidency said that “Adesina spoke like a politician, in the mould of Peter Obi and did not do due diligence before making his unverifiable statement”.It accused the outgoing AfDB President of failing to conduct thorough research and relying on faulty statistics.The Presidency challenged Adesina’s figures, stating that in 1960, Nigeria’s GDP stood at $4.2 billion, with a population of 44.9 million, giving a per capita income of just $93—not the $1,847 cited by the AfDB chief.

population of about 45 million. Over 200 million Nigerians now enjoy near-universal access to mobile phones and digital services, indicating we are better off today than 65 years ago.”“No objective observer can claim that Nigeria has not made progress since 1960. Today, as we await the NBS’s recalibration of our GDP, we can comfortably say without contradiction that it is at least 50 times, if not 100 times, more than it was at Independence,” he said.