*The Federal Government of Nigeria discredits the conclusion by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, outgoing President of the African Development Bank, stating the erudite African banking President 鈥榮hould know that GDP per capita is not the only criterion used to determine whether people live better lives now than in the past. Indeed, it is a poor tool for assessing living standards鈥�

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

The Federal Government of Nigeria has discredited the recent conclusion by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), indicating that Nigerians are now worse off than in 1960, basing his claim on 鈥渇igures that do not align with available data.鈥�

Dr. Adesina, the outgoing President of AfDB, based in Abidjan, Cote d鈥橧voire, according to Nairametrics, had claimed that Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 was $1847 and that it is $824 today.

The Nigerian Government, however, said 鈥渢he quoted figures are not correct.鈥�

Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who noted this in a statement said the available data showed that the West African country’s GDP was $4.2 billion in 1960, and per capita income for a population of 44.9 million was $93, not even one hundred dollars.

Onanuga stated: 鈥淥ur country’s GDP did not rise remarkably until the 1970s, when crude earnings ballooned. 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. Up until 1980, per capita income did not exceed $880.

鈥淚t rose to $2187 in 1981 and dropped to $1844 in 1982. In 2014, after rebasing, it reached an all-time high of $3,200.

鈥淭hese facts raise questions about the source of Dr. Adesina’s figures.鈥�

He also said: 鈥淏ut my mission in this response is not to pike holes in the erudite African banking President’s figures. The more substantive issue lies in Dr. Adesina’s conclusion, based on these numbers.

鈥淒r. Adesina should know that GDP per capita is not the only criterion used to determine whether people live better lives now than in the past. Indeed, it is a poor tool for assessing living standards.鈥�

GDP and metrics to compare economic output

The statement noted that the primary usefulness of GDP is in giving us the metrics to compare economic output in a country or between countries.

The government said the GDP 鈥渕asks many activities in a country’s economy. It neither discloses wealth distribution or income inequality nor accounts for the informal economy, which experts have said is enormous.鈥�

It further stated: 鈥淚t does not account for subsistence farming or income transfer from one family member to another.

鈥淕DP per capita is silent on whether Nigerians in 2025 enjoy better access to healthcare, education, and transportation, such as rail and air transport, than in 1960.鈥�

The Presidential aide argued that this premise alone suggests 鈥渨hy Dr. Adesina should not have arrived at his conclusion.

鈥淐ompared with 1960, Nigeria today has more primary, secondary, and tertiary schools. We have more road networks and more medical facilities, private and public.鈥�

The statement said: 鈥淲e have phenomenal access to telephones. At Independence, we had 18,724 operational phone lines for a population of about 45 million.

鈥淥ver 200 million Nigerians now enjoy near-universal access to mobile phones and digital services, indicating we are better off today than 65 years ago. 鈥�

The government explained: 鈥淚n our country, policymakers know that whatever GDP figure NBS publishes may not capture our economy’s full depth and breadth if it fails to include the informal economy, which some pundits have said may even be more significant than the formal economy.

鈥淭his underscores why Dr. Adesina should have considered all aspects of our economy before concluding.鈥�

According to the statement, when Vodacom, a telecommunications company, considered entering the Nigerian market in 1999 or 2000, its consultants, using the available GDP metrics, advised against it.

It stated: 鈥淭hey believed that Nigerians were too poor to afford GSM services. However, MTN and other companies that entered the market later proved them wrong, demonstrating that GDP figures alone do not provide a complete picture of a country’s economic potential or the living standards of its people.

鈥淢TN and other adventurers came later, and they laughed all the way to the bank. More than 20 years later, they are still laughing despite some setbacks in 2023 and 2024.

鈥淚n its first-quarter results this year, MTN declared revenue of N1 trillion and an increase of 8.2 percent in subscriptions, which took the number of its voice and data users to 84 million.鈥�

The Federal Government asked: 鈥淒oes this MTN experience correlate with a country worse off than in 1960, when we had analogue telephones and the number of lines was fewer than 20,000?

鈥淣o 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.鈥�

The statement added: 鈥淎desina spoke like a politician, in the mould of Peter Obi, and did not do due diligence before making his unverifiable statement.鈥�

Kindly Share This Story