The Democratic Front (TDF) has rejected the recent World Bank estimation of 139 million Nigerians living in poverty.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, the group said there was no empirical evidence to back the estimates.
It said: “We are surprised that despite the acknowledgement of positive macroeconomic indicators including an inflation rate that dropped to 20.1%, increased revenue figures, improved GDP growth at 4.7%, rising foreign reserves, the World Bank still estimated the number of Nigerians in poverty at 139 million, out of a population of over 200 million.
“This is clearly neither realistic nor based on any empirical fact.
“As a global financial entity, TDF expects the World Bank to do a thorough evaluation based on empirical analysis of socio-economic reality vis-a-vis policies and interventions put in place by the Federal Government to translate macroeconomic gains to microeconomic benefits for the people, to ensure a more realistic position on the actual poverty rate in the country,” said the group.
It said the Nigerian economy was regaining stability, while responding to the demands of job creation, creating financial support for small businesses to the tune of over N320 billion through SMEDAN and relieving thousands of households of the burdens of financing tertiary education through NELFUND.
”In addition, the government is enhancing access to credit through CREDICORP, and a tax reform that will ultimately grant exemption to about 94% of Nigerian workers, as well as ensuring cash transfers to millions of households, cannot leave an estimated 139 million people in poverty,” it noted.
TDF added that the country had a history of high poverty but insisted that the Tinubu administration had a date with history.
”We do not deny the prevalence of a high rate of poverty in Nigeria over the years, but we equally agree that the Tinubu administration must do everything within its mandate to alleviate poverty in the country.
”As a matter of fact, we admit that Nigeria has been a poverty-afflicted jurisdiction for years as a result of decades of mismanagement of public funds, misapplication and abuse of economic policies and fiscal recklessness, particularly within the oil boom period of the Obasanjo and Jonathan years.
”However, the financial prudence of the Federal Government in the last 10 years, coupled with the introduction of sweeping reforms and the efficient management of the economy by the Tinubu administration, has placed the country on an upward trajectory of growth. Needless to say, the World Bank’s estimation of the poverty rate in Nigeria was not based on current economic trends and realities.
“We also acknowledge the expansion of business activities in Nigeria for the 10th consecutive month in 2025, according to the report by the IBTC and the Central Bank of Nigeria in which the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ballooned to 54.0%, suggesting a gross industrial expansion, triggered by higher customer demands for made in Nigeria products,” continued the group.
It said this implied the creation of multiple jobs in the economic value chains and a confirmation of a significant decline in the rate of poverty.”It is on the strength of these initiatives of the Tinubu administration that the TDF considers the recent World Bank’s estimation of 139 million Nigerians in poverty as unrealistic and unacceptable,” it added.
TDF, however, called on all sub-national governments to utilise the higher fiscal allocations they are receiving from the federation accounts to implement economic empowerment projects to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty