Former Vice‑President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of presiding over a sharp decline in agricultural export earnings while farmers face insecurity and manufacturers contend with rising production costs.
In a statement issued Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, director of strategic communication for the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku said agricultural trade swung from a ₦740.27 billion surplus in the first half of 2025 to a ₦56.13 billion deficit in the first half of 2026 — a ₦796.40 billion reversal.
“Tinubu cannot call this reform when the people who grow our food and the businesses that should process it are being squeezed from both sides,” Atiku said.
He said agricultural exports fell by 33.3 per cent, while imports also declined, and argued that the government must explain the collapse in export earnings rather than blaming excessive imports. “The country is losing export earnings, and the President owes farmers, workers and businesses more than another speech about prosperity,” he said.
Atiku challenged the administration on measures taken to improve security for farmers, reduce the cost of transporting produce, and make local processing and manufacturing more viable. “What has his administration done to make it safer to farm, cheaper to move produce, easier to keep a processing plant running or more profitable to sell a finished Nigerian product? Farmers cannot cultivate promises. Manufacturers cannot power factories with speeches,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria’s leading agricultural exports remain cashew nuts in shell and cocoa beans, and argued that greater domestic processing would retain more value within the country. “We grow the crop. Someone else does more of the processing, builds a business around it and earns the larger return. Then Tinubu speaks of jobs while Nigerian factories struggle to compete,” Atiku said.
Atiku added that the administration should accept responsibility for the country’s agricultural trade performance. “A trade deficit alone does not explain every problem on our farms. But after more than three years in office, the President owns the decisions that have left farmers exposed and producers burdened,” he said.
On energy policy, Atiku defended his proposed production subsidy for petroleum products refined in Nigeria, saying it would support qualifying products from domestic refineries, including modular refineries, while excluding imports. He said the subsidy would be capped, budgeted and independently audited, with measures to ensure savings reach consumers and businesses.
He also criticised the Tinubu administration’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative as ineffective, arguing that conversion costs and limited availability of conversion kits make the scheme inaccessible to many low‑income Nigerians. “Local refining is about more than the price at the petrol pump. Aviation fuel affects fares. LPG affects the cost of cooking. Petroleum products and feedstocks affect industries and the people they employ,” he said.
Atiku pledged that, if elected, his administration would restore a transparent production subsidy from day one and back farmers and processors to “grow it here, process it here, refine it here, create the jobs here, make life affordable here.”
He accused the government of failing to translate Nigeria’s natural and agricultural resources into affordable products and decent jobs. “Tinubu’s record is becoming painfully clear: Nigeria supplies raw crops and crude oil while Nigerians pay dearly for finished goods. A government that cannot turn our resources into affordable products and decent jobs has failed the people it was elected to serve,” Atiku said.
