Opposition figures have challenged President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day claim that Nigeria has entered an “age of prosperity”, arguing that cost-of-living pressures, insecurity and weak household purchasing power contradict official growth narratives after the 1 October address.

In responses reported on Thursday and Friday, former vice-president and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, the Makinde/Daura presidential campaign and the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Nigerians needed tangible household gains rather than macroeconomic assurances. The criticisms follow Tinubu’s 66th Independence anniversary speech, titled From Reform to Prosperity, which Pen Agency News covered separately on Thursday morning.

Atiku questions subsidy benefits and cost of living

According to The Guardian Nigeria and Independent Nigeria, Atiku used a state-of-the-nation address to accuse the administration of worsening the cost-of-living crisis and placing more weight on statistics than on everyday experience. He said millions of families were struggling to afford food, healthcare and transport.

He criticised the removal of the petrol subsidy, arguing that pump prices, transport fares and food costs had risen without credible protection for households, and asked where the promised benefits had gone. “Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy with one announcement and no credible protection in place for the families who would bear the shock,” he said, as quoted by The Guardian. “Three years later, the pain has an address in every home. Bola, where is the benefit?”

Atiku also challenged the prosperity claim directly. “Bola, where is this prosperity?” he asked, arguing that lower inflation meant prices were rising more slowly rather than becoming affordable, and that growth and exports should improve living conditions. On security, he said armed groups had killed thousands and displaced communities, adding: “A government that cannot make life affordable and cannot protect life has failed the two tests that matter most to its people.”

To illustrate household pressure, he compared wages and pump prices, saying a N30,000 minimum wage could buy about 118 litres of petrol in April 2023, while the N70,000 wage could buy about 50 litres at the time of his comparison. He also cited egg and bread price rises between April 2023 and May 2026. Those figures are Atiku’s own comparisons, as reported by The Guardian and Independent, and have not been independently verified by Pen Agency News for this article.

He proposed what he called a capped, budgeted production subsidy tied to verified petrol refined in Nigeria, including from modular refineries but excluding imports, with published costs and independent audits. “The principle is simple: produce here, refine here, create jobs here and pay less here,” he said.

Makinde campaign demands measurable economy and security commitments

The Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation, in a statement by its director of strategic communications, Richard Ihediwa, described the Independence address as a rhetorical exercise that lacked specific, measurable and binding commitments on the economy and security.

“It is indeed disappointing that the President’s address failed to present specific, measurable and binding economy and security policy commitments for which Nigerians can hold him accountable,” the statement said, according to The Guardian, Nigerian Tribune and Independent. The campaign challenged Tinubu’s assertion that reforms had not weakened the economy, arguing that subsidy removal and the floating of the naira had raised living costs and reduced purchasing power. It urged voters to support Allied Peoples Movement presidential candidate Seyi Makinde in 2027.

Lagos PDP cites World Bank poverty figures

Lagos PDP publicity secretary Christopher Odianarewo said the speech offered lengthy economic promises while households still faced high living costs, insecurity and unemployment. The party asked when ordinary Nigerians would feel improvement in their pockets and communities.

In its statement, as reported by The Guardian, Lagos PDP cited World Bank assessments that Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, yet about 69.6 per cent of people lived below the $4.20-a-day lower-middle-income poverty line in 2025, with 50.8 per cent in extreme poverty. Those World Bank figures are presented here as cited by the party; Pen Agency News has not independently verified the underlying World Bank release for this report.

“Prosperity cannot remain a speech. It must become measurable improvement in the lives of citizens,” the Lagos PDP said. It demanded timelines and targets for jobs and for lower food and transport costs, and a clearer plan against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.

Security expert urges a performance scorecard

Separately, security analyst Kabir Adamu, managing director of Beacon Security and Innovations Limited, called for a quarterly and yearly National Security Performance Scorecard so that spending and recruitment can be judged against outcomes such as safer communities, reduced kidnapping and terrorism, and farmers’ return to insecure areas. His proposal, reported by The Guardian, argued that prosperity and security reinforce each other and that citizens approaching 2027 will seek evidence of impact.

At the time of writing, Pen Agency News had not seen a fresh Presidency or All Progressives Congress rebuttal specifically answering Friday’s opposition package beyond the original Independence Day text. Coverage of Tinubu’s speech remains available on this site.

Featured image: Federal Secretariat building, Abuja (file photo, 2021). Photo: OtuNwachinemere / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.