Abuja, Nigeria – May 2025
The Nigerian Presidency has issued a sharp rebuttal to recent comments made by the outgoing President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who claimed that Nigerians are economically worse off today than they were at the time of independence in 1960.
Reacting via a formal statement on Sunday night, Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga criticized Adesina’s assessment, describing it as based on flawed data and an overly simplistic interpretation of Nigeria’s economic journey.
Adesina had reportedly cited a GDP per capita comparison sourced from Nairametrics, claiming the figure stood at $1,847 in 1960 versus $824 today. Onanuga rejected this as inaccurate, asserting instead that historical records show Nigeria’s GDP in 1960 was $4.2 billion, with a per capita income of $93, for a population of 44.9 million.
“GDP didn’t rise significantly until the 1970s, driven by oil exports,” Onanuga noted, providing a timeline of Nigeria’s GDP growth:
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$12.55 billion in 1970
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$27.7 billion in 1975
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$64.2 billion in 1980
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$164 billion in 1981
He added that per capita income didn’t exceed $880 until 1980, eventually peaking at $3,200 in 2014, following a GDP rebasing.
The Presidency stressed that GDP per capita is a limited metric and fails to account for quality-of-life indicators like education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Onanuga argued that modern Nigeria enjoys better access to schools, hospitals, roads, and digital services compared to 1960.
“At independence, Nigeria had only 18,724 telephone lines. Today, over 200 million Nigerians have access to mobile phones and internet services,” he stated.
Citing the success of telecom firms like MTN, Onanuga highlighted Nigeria’s strong consumer market. MTN alone recorded ₦1 trillion in revenue in Q1 2025, serving over 84 million users.
“These figures challenge the narrative that Nigeria has regressed economically,” Onanuga argued, asserting that Nigeria’s current GDP is at least 50 to 100 times greater than in 1960.