The Presidency has disputed a recent statement by the outgoing President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who claimed that Nigerians were economically better off in 1960 at independence than they are today.
In a response posted on his verified X account, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, labeled Adesina’s assertion as misleading and based on inaccurate economic data.
Dr. Adesina had reportedly stated that Nigeria’s GDP per capita had fallen from $1,847 in 1960 to $824 in 2024, suggesting a decline in the living standards of Nigerians.
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However, Onanuga countered these figures, citing credible historical data that placed Nigeria’s GDP per capita in 1960 at only $93, significantly lower than Adesina’s claim.
“According to available data, our country’s GDP was $4.2 billion in 1960, and per capita income for a population of 44.9 million was $93 — ninety-three, not even one hundred dollars,” Onanuga stated.
He argued that Nigeria’s economy began to experience substantial growth in the 1970s, primarily due to oil revenues, reaching a peak GDP per capita of $3,200 in 2014 after rebasing.
Onanuga emphasized that GDP per capita alone does not provide a complete picture of societal progress, as it doesn’t account for income inequality, wealth distribution, the informal economy, or improvements in quality of life such as access to education, healthcare, and telecommunications. “GDP masks many activities in a country’s economy. It neither discloses wealth distribution or income inequality nor accounts for the informal economy, which experts have said is enormous,” he explained.
Highlighting tangible progress since 1960, Onanuga pointed to advancements in infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
He noted the significant increase in the number of schools and medical facilities, as well as the near-universal access to mobile and digital services today, compared to fewer than 20,000 telephone lines at independence.
Onanuga used the example of MTN’s success in the Nigerian market, with N1 trillion in revenue and 84 million subscribers in Q1 2025, to illustrate Nigeria’s economic growth since independence, contradicting earlier consultant advice against entering the market based on lower GDP figures.
“No objective observer can claim that Nigeria has not made progress since 1960,” Onanuga asserted. “Today, as we await the NBS’s recalibration of our GDP, we can comfortably say without contradiction that it is at least 50 times, if not 100 times, more than it was at Independence.”
While acknowledging Dr. Adesina’s expertise in development, the Presidency maintained that his recent comments did not accurately reflect the broader socioeconomic transformation Nigeria has undergone over the past six decades.
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