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Onanuga Disputes Adesina’s Assessment of Nigeria’s Economic Progress Since 1960
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga has pushed back against recent remarks by African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina, who claimed that Nigerians are worse off today than they were at independence in 1960.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Onanuga described Adesina’s assessment as inaccurate and based on faulty data. He specifically criticized the former Agriculture Minister’s comparison of Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 and 2025, calling it “misleading.”
“According to Nairametrics, he claimed that Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 was $1,847 and that it is $824 today. The quoted figures are not correct,” Onanuga wrote.
Citing historical economic data, Onanuga said Nigeria’s GDP in 1960 stood at $4.2 billion with a population of 44.9 million, which puts the per capita income at just $93—far lower than what Adesina claimed. He emphasized that Nigeria’s economic expansion only took off in the 1970s due to the oil boom.
“Our GDP rose to $12.55 billion in 1970, $27.7 billion in 1975, and reached $164 billion in 1981. Per capita income stayed below $880 until 1980 and only peaked at $3,200 in 2014 following a GDP rebasing,” he noted.
Onanuga also questioned the credibility of Adesina’s data sources and argued that GDP per capita is not a definitive indicator of a nation’s well-being.
“GDP per capita is a crude metric. It tells you nothing about how wealth is distributed, the size of the informal economy, or improvements in quality of life,” he said.
He pointed to broader advancements in infrastructure and technology to make his case. In 1960, Nigeria had just 18,724 telephone lines serving roughly 45 million people. Today, over 200 million Nigerians have access to mobile and digital communication.
“Does that reality support a narrative of national decline?” Onanuga asked, citing MTN Nigeria’s N1 trillion revenue and 84 million subscribers in Q1 2025 as an example of modern economic transformation.
He further accused Adesina of making politically colored comments, likening his tone to that of opposition politician Peter Obi.
“Dr. Adesina sounded more like a politician than a development economist. He failed to verify the facts before making sweeping generalizations,” Onanuga said.
Concluding his remarks, Onanuga asserted that Nigeria’s economy today bears no resemblance to that of the 1960s.
“Even as we await the National Bureau of Statistics’ recalibration of GDP, it is safe to say the Nigerian economy is now at least 50 to 100 times larger than it was at Independence.”
