{"id":32904,"date":"2026-03-30T01:41:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=32904"},"modified":"2026-03-30T01:41:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:41:29","slug":"stop-insulting-nigerians-an-economy-that-works-only-in-government-speeches-is-a-fraud-by-chief-akinwumi-akinfenwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=32904","title":{"rendered":"*STOP INSULTING NIGERIANS: An Economy That Works Only in Government Speeches Is a Fraud* By Chief Akinwumi Akinfenwa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nLet us stop pretending.<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s economic crisis is no longer about policy mistakes or reform pains. It is about official dishonesty \u2014 the deliberate promotion of a success story that millions of starving citizens know to be false.<\/p>\n

This government is not merely out of touch.
\nIt is talking down to a suffering population.<\/p>\n

*THE BIG CON: WHEN STATISTICS BECOME A WEAPON*<\/p>\n

Nigerians are told the economy is improving.<\/p>\n

Who exactly is improving?<\/p>\n

Certainly not the trader who can no longer restock goods.
\nNot the civil servant whose salary is dead on arrival.
\nNot the graduate roaming the streets jobless.
\nNot the family skipping meals.<\/p>\n

Yet, government spokespersons speak with confidence \u2014 GDP growth, easing inflation, fiscal discipline \u2014 as if numbers alone can cancel hunger.<\/p>\n

This is not leadership.
\nIt is economic propaganda.<\/p>\n

*LET US BE CLEAR: POVERTY IS EXPLODING*<\/p>\n

The World Bank estimates that over 130 million Nigerians now live in poverty. That is more people than the population of many African countries combined.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s response?
\nDenial. Dismissal. Deflection.<\/p>\n

Instead of emergency action, Nigerians are given excuses.<\/p>\n

Instead of accountability, they are given lectures about patience.<\/p>\n

This is moral failure at scale.<\/p>\n

*REFORMS WITHOUT RELIEF ARE REFORMS AGAINST THE PEOPLE*<\/p>\n

Fuel subsidy removal.
\nCurrency float.
\nNew taxes.<\/p>\n

All implemented with brutal speed \u2014 without safety nets, without wage protection, without food security.<\/p>\n

The result?<\/p>\n

Transport costs exploded<\/p>\n

Food prices went out of control<\/p>\n

Small businesses collapsed<\/p>\n

Purchasing power evaporated<\/p>\n

Yet government officials still have the audacity to say \u201cthe worst is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over for who?<\/p>\n

For politicians on allowances?
\nFor contractors paid in dollars?
\nFor elites insulated from market prices?<\/p>\n

*TAXING POVERTY IS NOT GOVERNANCE \u2014 IT IS VIOLENCE*<\/p>\n

Only a government detached from reality would increase tax pressure in an economy where:<\/p>\n

Real incomes are falling<\/p>\n

Unemployment is endemic<\/p>\n

Informal businesses are barely breathing<\/p>\n

Taxation without prosperity is state-sanctioned extortion.<\/p>\n

No serious nation taxes its way out of mass poverty.
\nYou grow production.
\nYou create jobs.
\nYou protect citizens.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is doing the opposite.<\/p>\n

*THE MOST DANGEROUS LIE: \u201cSUFFERING IS NECESSARY\u201d*<\/p>\n

Nigerians are told suffering is inevitable \u2014 that pain today guarantees prosperity tomorrow.<\/p>\n

History disagrees.<\/p>\n

There is no economic law that says reforms must destroy lives. There is no justification for policy brutality. There is no excuse for indifference to hunger.<\/p>\n

When leaders ask citizens to suffer while they remain comfortable, the social contract is broken.<\/p>\n

And broken contracts do not heal with speeches.<\/p>\n

*THIS IS WHY PEOPLE ARE ANGRY*<\/p>\n

Not because Nigerians \u201cdon\u2019t understand economics.\u201d<\/p>\n

But because they understand injustice.<\/p>\n

They understand when:<\/p>\n

Markets say one thing<\/p>\n

Kitchens say another<\/p>\n

Government insists everyone is wrong except itself<\/p>\n

Anger grows when truth is denied.<\/p>\n

Silence should not be mistaken for acceptance.<\/p>\n

*A WARNING, NOT A THREAT*<\/p>\n

No society survives indefinitely on denial and deprivation.<\/p>\n

When governments ignore hunger, hunger eventually speaks. When leaders dismiss pain, pain eventually organizes. When legitimacy collapses, statistics cannot save it.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is approaching that edge.<\/p>\n

*THE BOTTOM LINE*<\/p>\n

An economy that looks good only in official narratives is not recovering.
\nA government that argues with poverty data instead of fighting poverty has lost moral authority.
\nA leadership that demands sacrifice without protection is unfit for trust.<\/p>\n

Nigerians are not asking for miracles.
\nThey are asking for honesty, empathy, and relief.<\/p>\n

Until then, every talk of \u201cturnaround\u201d is an insult \u2014
\nand Nigerians are no longer in the mood to be insulted.<\/p>\n

*\u00a9\ufe0f Chief Akinwumi Akinfenwa*
\n*07062986613*
\n*Political Scientist, Public Policy Analyst, Social Commentator, and Advocate for Constitutional Decency lives in Ibadan*<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n