The Presidency has refuted recent claims made by the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, regarding Nigeria’s economic progress and historical GDP per capita figures.
Speaking at an event in Lagos, Adesina expressed concern over Nigeria’s economic trajectory, citing a decline in GDP per capita from $1,847 in 1960 to $824 today, suggesting that Nigerians are economically worse off now than at independence.
However, in a statement issued on Monday, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Strategy and Communication, Bayo Onanuga, strongly disputed the figures, calling them “substantive lies.” He noted that official data from 1960 put Nigeria’s GDP at $4.2 billion with a population of 44.9 million—translating to a per capita income of just $93 at the time.
Onanuga emphasized that Nigeria’s GDP growth began in earnest in the 1970s due to increased crude oil revenues, with per capita income rising above $2,000 only in the early 1980s. He added that by 2014, following a GDP rebasing, Nigeria’s per capita income peaked at $3,200.
He also criticized the overreliance on GDP metrics alone to judge economic progress, pointing to advances in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and business performance—such as MTN Nigeria’s recent Q1 revenue of ₦1 trillion and rising subscription base.
The rebuttal adds to the broader national conversation on how best to measure and compare Nigeria’s economic development over time.