₦airaland Forum

RESPONSIBLE CRITIQUE REQUIRES FACT-DRIVEN NARRATIVES: A RESPONSE TO DAILY TRUST EDITORIAL

A recent editorial by Daily Trust paints an exaggerated and unbalanced portrait of Nigeria as a nation overwhelmed by hunger, hardship, and helplessness. We were not surprised by the newspaper's opinion, as the paper has consistently and deliberately misinformed its readers about the government's policy. The Tinubu administration believes in the right of the media to offer constructive criticism, but it must be anchored on facts, not distortion or selective pessimism. The Daily Trust has on several occasions breached this rule by misrepresenting government policies and actions—a trend for which the newspaper has publicly apologised at least twice.

While no one in the Tinubu administration denies that some of our citizens face economic challenges, it is essential to separate honest concern from exaggerated pessimism and generalisation.

The Tinubu administration is not indifferent to the genuine concerns of the people. The irony is that what is often criticised today are, in fact, the policies that will ensure that Nigerians have a more secure, stable, and prosperous future.

Misrepresentations, selective use of projections, and alarmist narratives do not serve the public good; they distract from the genuine progress underway nationwide.

To suggest, as Daily Trust did in its biased editorial, that "Nigerians are hungry" without recognising the government's ongoing interventions perpetuates despair instead of empowering citizens with the truth.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not indifferent to Nigerians' difficulties. On the contrary, he is taking deliberate, targeted steps—many already yielding results—to reset our economy from a legacy of consumption without productivity, opacity without accountability, and policy that served the powerful, not the people.

This is the context that Daily Trust omitted in its jaundiced editorial.

1. UNICEF Projection vs. Cadre Harmonisé Analysis.

The editorial referenced a UNICEF "prediction" from April 2025 stating that 33 million Nigerians, including 16 million children, would face hunger in 2025. This figure has been widely cited but wrongly interpreted.

What was presented was not a UNICEF-specific report but the Cadre Harmonisé Food and Nutrition Insecurity Analysis, jointly prepared by the Federal Government of Nigeria, FAO, WFP, and UNICEF. It is not a current count, but a worst-case projection for the June–August 2025 lean season, assuming no mitigation actions by government or partners.

Here are some of the measures taken by the government to ensure we never get there: Over 42,000 metric tons of grains were released from federal strategic reserves; 117,000 metric tons were under additional procurement; the President activated the Food Security Council; emergency nutrition support was scaled up in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Katsina, Sokoto, and Bauchi States.

Malnutrition is a serious national concern, but let's not localise it as a "Northern Nigeria" crisis. Since 2020, COVID has disrupted the global food system, worsened the Russia-Ukraine war, and is now aggravated by conflict in the Middle East.

According to the World Bank's April 2025 Food Security Update, over 1.4 billion people worldwide are under food stress, a problem that is not unique to Nigeria.

2. The Naira is Not Worthless — It Has Found Its Level and Is Strengthening

The editorial's use of the term "worthless naira" is false and misleading.

Since hitting a low of ₦1,800/$1 in March 2024, the naira has rebounded strongly due to: Increased oil receipts and remittances, Restoration of investor confidence, Unification of the FX window, Reduction of FX backlog by over $4 billion (CBN data, May 2025)

As of August 1, 2025, the naira traded around ₦1,525/$1, a sizable appreciation since its lowest ebb. Nigeria's FX reserves are stabilising, and foreign portfolio inflows are picking up after major reforms in the monetary and fiscal space.

The naira has not collapsed—it has been corrected and is now recovering.

3. Yes, this administration is listening – And Acting on viable Recommendations, not the ones driven by anger and ambition.

We welcome suggestions such as suspending VAT on food, reducing taxes on drugs and medical equipment, and easing the tax burden on MSMEs. The Federal Ministry of Finance and the Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee are working on many of these.

Starting January 2026, the new tax reforms will:

Streamline over 60 overlapping taxes into fewer, manageable channels. Eliminate nuisance taxes that burden small businesses. Create exemptions for essential goods, including some food and medical items. Encourage state-federal tax harmonisation to stop multiple taxation.

Meanwhile, the President works closely with State Governors through the National Economic Council (NEC) to implement immediate local tax reliefs, VAT waivers, and food market stabilisation efforts in each state.

4. Social Protection Measures Are Expanding, Not Fizzling Out

The claim that the school feeding programme has "fizzled out" is inaccurate and false.

The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme serves over 9.8 million children in 53,000 schools across 36 states and the FCT.

Over 200,000 cooks and local farmers are engaged in the programme, which is being digitised for transparency and efficiency. The Federal Government has not abandoned the programme.[/b]p

On the broader safety net, three million vulnerable households have received ₦75,000 each under the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer, with plans to scale up to 15 million households. As of August 7, over 396,000 students now benefit from NELFUND tuition loans and stipends.

[b]The Presidential MSME Grant Scheme has disbursed funds to over 250,000 businesses in 2025, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises despite the outcry on CBN interest rates.

CNG bus rollout and transport palliatives are reducing urban commuting costs

5. Global Food Prices Are Also Driving Local Pain — But Nigeria Is Responding

The facts:

The FAO Food Price Index (June 2025) shows global food prices remain 22% above 2019 levels.

Countries like Kenya, Ghana, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka also struggle with food price inflation. But Nigeria, under President Tinubu, is actively mitigating this global shock, by rolling out the following measures: State of Emergency on Food Security; Invested ₦200 billion in dry-season and all-year farming; Targeted 500,000 farmers for input support in 2025; Launched the National Commodity Board to regulate food price volatility; Introduced transport subsidies to cut logistics costs for food.

6. The administration is Coordinating With States to Alleviate Hardship.

The President is not acting in isolation. Joint State-FG food distribution plans are being implemented through ongoing engagements with State Governors, LGAs, development partners, and civil society. States have received direct cash support and grants for local market stabilisation.
Coordination is ongoing to scale up nutrition interventions, including micronutrient support for women and children.

We also acknowledge that hardship is uneven across regions. However, Nigeria is one country, one people, and the fight against hunger is a collective effort, not a northern, southern, Christian, or Muslim issue.

A Time for Unity, Not Despair

Let's speak the truth. Yes, Nigerians are belt-tightening, but Nigeria is healing. The economic surgery undertaken by President Tinubu is not without pain, but it is yielding green shoots.

To those who ask, "Where is the hope?" We say hope is in the stabilising naira, in three million families lifted by direct transfers, and about 400,000 students now schooling without fear of paying fees. Hope is in the 500,000 farmers sowing into a new food system. Hope is in a government that is finally treating poverty not as a slogan but as a solvable problem.

Only recently, this administration launched an effort to drive grassroots economic growth and poverty reduction across Nigeria, as President Bola Tinubu approved a ward-level development strategy called the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP).


This initiative, which was endorsed by the National Economic Council (NEC) during its 150th meeting, is part of the President's broader Renewed Hope Agenda, which aims for a $1 trillion economy by 2030
Key aspects of the RHWDP include: Targeting all 8,809 wards in Nigeria: The programme is designed to reach every administrative ward, ensuring that no community is left behind in national development efforts.

Focus on key development areas: It aims to serve as a coordinated intervention framework focused on poverty alleviation, food security, rural infrastructure, power supply, and job creation.

Identifying and supporting local economic actors: The program will identify at least 1,000 economically active individuals in each ward and support them in enhancing local manufacturing and business operations. This will generate double-digit growth in most wards as Nigeria progresses towards its $1 trillion economy target.

Several other interventions abound.

This administration does not ask for silence in the face of hardship. It asks only for fairness and a shared commitment to rebuilding this country, not just exaggerating its pain. This is what President Tinubu expects from all Nigerians and well-wishers of our country.

Sunday Dare
Special Adviser to the President
Media & Public Communications
August 7, 2025

Nigeria is indeed a country with at least 90% of its population living in poverty, sugarcoating is not necessary here, leaders should take responsibility for their actions. In fact, 1 out of 3 Nigerians are living in extreme deadly poverty in 2025. APC caused this.

APC would require more than 40 characters to convince Nigerians that any good can come out of this administration.

That is why Reno Omokiri is the best of critics. He is also the kind of person who changes course as soon as he discovers he made a mistake.

Sensationalism again,the truth is that cost of basic commodities went over the roof…
400 percent increase in the price of basic commodities is something only the rich and elite can survive…
Stop the sensationalism abeg

Handout Government


There are several problems here, and the first is that such monetary overcompensation is at the very heart of the Tinubus’ politics. Whether Mr or Mrs Tinubu or even son Seyi, the family offers cash in a way that suggests they are either atoning for how they made the money or are simply incapable of sustaining relationships not denominated through the cash gifts (or both). For instance, not too long ago, Mrs Tinubu embarked on her now moribund project of encouraging women to engage in backyard farming and announced the Every Home A Garden competition, where first-time women farmers would showcase their gardens to potentially win a N25m prize. She made the same monetary offer when she also launched her now-defunct national Aṣọ Ẹbí design competition. The cash prizes were disproportionate to the activity for which they were intended, making the money seem like the primary goal. Why attach such a humongous sum if not a lack of trust in your ability to inspire a national movement that would take a life of its own? If the contests had any bearing on the reality of the people for whom they were said to have been designed, they would have devolved towards it naturally rather than try to buy their interest. The Tinubu family knows nobody would love them without their money, and so they regularly bribe their way into the hearts of an impoverished populace.

Una go explain tire. All this explanation doesn't change the fact that Nigerians have been impoverished by this government and hunger is the new norm in many household

People that are buying data that's more than some countries budget. Be there pressing phone.

🇳🇬STRONGHOLDS OF 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TOP CONTENDERS

BOLA TINUBU
1 🟣Ondo — 67.1%
2 🟣Ekiti — 65.4%
3 🔴Zamfara — 59.3%
4 🟣Ogun — 58.9%
5 🟠Kwara — 56.1%
6 🟣Oyo — 55.6%
7 ⚫️Borno — 54.2%
8 🟠Kogi — 52.7%

ATIKU ABUBAKAR
1 ⚫️Gombe — 62.6%
2 ⚫️Adamawa — 57.1%
3 ⚫️Yobe — 52.5%
4 🔴Kebbi — 51.0%
5 ⚫️Bauchi — 50.0%

PETER OBI
1 🟢Anambra — 95.2%
2 🟢Enugu — 93.9%
3 🟢Abia — 88.4%
4 🟢Ebonyi — 79.8%
5 🟢Imo — 77.1%
6 🟠FCT — 61.2%
7 🟤Edo — 57.0%
8 🟤Delta — 55.6%

RABIU KWANKWASO
1 🔴Kano

#Statisense
(INEC)

Tinubu administration should lift the ban on foodstuffs like rice, beans, meat etc it will drive down the price of foodstuffs

Talkisneeded:
Sensationalism again,the truth is that cost of basic commodities went over the roof…
400 percent increase in the price of basic commodities is something only the rich and elite can survive…
Stop the sensationalism abeg

Which of the basic commodities rise by 400%? Can you list them out please for us to learn

Hogwash.

In the words of Burna Boy "you go explain explain, no evidence". Invariably meaning that if there was evidence, you wouldn't need to explain too much.

Fact is that majority of Nigeirans are worse off than they were. Tinubus government is a government of tokenism who believes every problem can be solved by throwing money at it.

If the government was going well, there really womt be much need for the long unnecessary epistle. The citizenry will testify to it.

Na statistics we go chop?
Na statistics we go chop?

Reacting to something so glaring to the blinds. Instead of fixing the problem, they are here debating the figures.

Ikaeniyan0:
Which of the basic commodities rise by 400%? Can you list them out please for us to learn

Can we start with Petrol?

What about rice?

Do you really want a list?

Be serious.

TrioVibes:
RESPONSIBLE CRITIQUE REQUIRES FACT-DRIVEN NARRATIVES: A RESPONSE TO DAILY TRUST EDITORIAL

Even the one preaching about 'responsible critiquing backed by facts' belongs to a party that’s one of the biggest lying and fact-twisting machines out there. They distort reality like it’s a sport

Ikaeniyan0:
Which of the basic commodities rise by 400%? Can you list them out please for us to learn

Egg went from 50 naira to 250
De rice of rica went from 400 to 1200
Soft drink from 120 to 500
All in the first 18 month of this administration…
Should I keep listing??

Nigerians are facing the worst form of multi dimensional hunger ever experienced in the nation's history and that's a fact that must be accepted before any credible solution can be formulated and implemented, we haven't even spoken about the security situation yet

papyjaypaul:
Handout Government


There are several problems here, and the first is that such monetary overcompensation is at the very heart of the Tinubus’ politics. Whether Mr or Mrs Tinubu or even son Seyi, the family offers cash in a way that suggests they are either atoning for how they made the money or are simply incapable of sustaining relationships not denominated through the cash gifts (or both). For instance, not too long ago, Mrs Tinubu embarked on her now moribund project of encouraging women to engage in backyard farming and announced the Every Home A Garden competition, where first-time women farmers would showcase their gardens to potentially win a N25m prize. She made the same monetary offer when she also launched her now-defunct national Aṣọ Ẹbí design competition. The cash prizes were disproportionate to the activity for which they were intended, making the money seem like the primary goal. Why attach such a humongous sum if not a lack of trust in your ability to inspire a national movement that would take a life of its own? If the contests had any bearing on the reality of the people for whom they were said to have been designed, they would have devolved towards it naturally rather than try to buy their interest. The Tinubu family knows nobody would love them without their money, and so they regularly bribe their way into the hearts of an impoverished populace.

please you need to make a little adjustment...
It is bribe their way into the stomach not heart of the impoverished people

The truth worries their demons so much. Which fact are they conjuring that will be beyond what our eyes can see?

What is this

Is this really a rebuttal

There's no sense in this article at all

Just jumble words together highlighting programs that are not even measurable or verifiable in any form

Take the pCNGi for example. How many Nigerians are aware of its existence not to mention feeling its impact

Starting from January they will be 5% increase in pms as a result of VAT for fuel and diesel .

See how clear that is .

Juxtaposed it with the nonsense unclear achievement this mad man have listed


Please don't make racist and tribalistic comments on this section

Defending the indefensible :#1525 per dollar is a strong currency not worthless according to Tinubu government.
This terrible looters want us to believe that Nigerians are not hungry when a plate of food is above #1000 and minimum wage is #70000: meaning an average Nigerian spends above #100.000 for feeding in month meanwhile our president buys a new jet because he doesn't want to die and Governors spend billions on feeding and fumigation in just 6 months
Please stop this rationalization and pay living wage to Nigerians so that they can afford the basic needs for survival. Nigerians are dieing of hunger except you are out of touch with the realty
Report of the Newspaper is even an understatement

5starMan:
please you need to make a little adjustment...
It is bribe their way into the stomach not heart of the impoverished people

It's not my words but quoted from Punch. I thought Fayose was joking when he talked about stomach infrastructure. I didn't know APC was taking notes

Oga shut up! I'm am a Nigerian and am very hungry! My income cannot afford 3 meals per day for me and my family. Is this not hunger?! As of today, I'm currently on 1-0-0 and you here writing rubbish write up! You and Tinupoo should get out!

Ol’boy! Tinubu get mind oo. What gave this man the courage to run a pan Yoruba government in a diverse country like Nigeria? Let them pray that it ends well because the nepotism, corruption and incompetence are simply too much.

There never in touch with current realities. They must defend their employer.

DeepSight:
Can we start with Petrol?

What about rice?

Do you really want a list?

Be serious.

Don't mind the zomboid

The same clown was claiming that he now enjoys 20hrs light since Tinubu took over. Has the price of a unit of electricity not risen by more than 400% for those enjoying the so-called band A? Dude is just deceiving himself jare

papyjaypaul:
Handout Government


There are several problems here, and the first is that such monetary overcompensation is at the very heart of the Tinubus’ politics. Whether Mr or Mrs Tinubu or even son Seyi, the family offers cash in a way that suggests they are either atoning for how they made the money or are simply incapable of sustaining relationships not denominated through the cash gifts (or both). For instance, not too long ago, Mrs Tinubu embarked on her now moribund project of encouraging women to engage in backyard farming and announced the Every Home A Garden competition, where first-time women farmers would showcase their gardens to potentially win a N25m prize. She made the same monetary offer when she also launched her now-defunct national Aṣọ Ẹbí design competition. The cash prizes were disproportionate to the activity for which they were intended, making the money seem like the primary goal. Why attach such a humongous sum if not a lack of trust in your ability to inspire a national movement that would take a life of its own? If the contests had any bearing on the reality of the people for whom they were said to have been designed, they would have devolved towards it naturally rather than try to buy their interest. The Tinubu family knows nobody would love them without their money, and so they regularly bribe their way into the hearts of an impoverished populace.

You are absolutely spot on. Nothing but the truth stated here

Ikaeniyan0:
Tinubu administration should lift the ban on foodstuffs like rice, beans, meat etc it will drive down the price of foodstuffs

Was there ever a ban on the items you mentioned?

Who put the ban?

Was it the ban that is responsible for their high prices since 2023?

author=AK481 post=136379596]Starting from January they will be 5% increase in pms as a result of VAT for fuel and diesel .

See how clear that is .

Juxtaposed it with the nonsense unclear achievement this mad man have listed

Please don't make racist and tribalistic comments on this section[/quote]Calling someone a mad man

Ikaeniyan0:
Tinubu administration should lift the ban on foodstuffs like rice, beans, meat etc it will drive down the price of foodstuffs

President Tinubu did not place any ban on foodstuffs