By Jeffrey Agbo
Founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, saying they have improved the financial fortunes of wealthy Nigerians while worsening the living conditions of millions of low-income earners.
Peterside said on Monday during an interview with Arise TV that although affluent Nigerians had recorded gains in their investments and incomes over the past three years, poorer citizens were struggling to afford basic necessities.
He said the reforms had failed to address the economic challenges facing the majority of Nigerians, particularly those without savings or stable sources of income.
“If you’re upper middle class, I can probably show on the blackboard investments in the stock exchange and all that stuff,” he said.
“I can show on the blackboard that you’re probably better off in the last three years. If you’re a low income worker, like somebody without much savings and struggling to eat —what 100 million Nigerians have to do, to eat two meals a day and struggling to pay your bills, I can show you that you’re a lot worse off.”
He faulted the government for failing to put adequate social safety nets in place to cushion the impact of its economic policies on vulnerable Nigerians.
He identified poverty as a major challenge in the North-West, North-East, North-Central and South-South regions, describing it as a problem concentrated in specific geographical zones.
“High poverty in Nigeria is largely a zonal problem. It is a problem of the north-west, of the north-east, of the north-central, and of the south-south,” he said.
Peterside said only about 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory have poverty rates below 50 per cent.
According to him, most of the states with poverty rates below the threshold are in the South-West, alongside Anambra in the South-East and Edo and Delta in the South-South.
He noted that the uneven distribution of poverty across the country could shape how Nigerians perceive the impact of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies.
Peterside also suggested that policymakers might not fully understand the severity of poverty in some communities because they do not regularly visit the affected areas.
He maintained that the absence of adequate social protection measures for poor Nigerians remained one of the major shortcomings in the implementation of the government’s economic reforms.
