The presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, Architect Peter Agada, has criticised the All Progressives Congress, APC, administration’s 90-day action plan to ease the cost of living, describing it as a campaign strategy that does not reflect Nigeria’s economic realities.
Agada told reporters in Abuja that the government had introduced several economic interventions without achieving the desired results.
The criticism followed the announcement by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, that the National Economic Council, NEC, had approved a 90-day plan to address the rising cost of living.
Agada argued that the government should consider a Labour-direct ward-to-ward development strategy, which he said could reach Nigerians within 60 days.
“Labour-direct the ward-to-ward strategy remains an option that can capture all Nigerians within 60 days of implementation. We said 60 days; about 20 days are gone before the elections,” he said.
He urged the government to engage individuals with practical solutions to improve the economy, particularly at the grassroots level.
According to him, the government should incorporate the Labour Direct Information Network into its proposed monitoring dashboard to track projects, employment, production, feedstock, outputs, taxes and revenue through a single application.
Agada also questioned the effectiveness of previous government measures, including subsidy interventions, fuel price reduction proposals and the removal of illegal levies.
“I think that I align with those who opined that the economic team of Mr. President has failed to address Nigeria’s numerous economic challenges,” he said.
He added that the government’s repeated announcements had raised doubts about the effectiveness of its economic management.
“All his intervention plans, including the reduction of pump price, which did not go in line with NNPC and CNG, and he also talked about the removal of illegal levies, and nothing was done,” Agada said.
The YPP candidate questioned the timing of the 90-day plan, arguing that its implementation period extended beyond the forthcoming election.
“These promises back and forth are for Nigerians to believe and vote them back into office,” he said.
“If you believe in the rules of the game they are playing, there are just 85 days to the election, and you are saying a 90-day timeline to cushion the cost of living. So after the election, what happens?”
Agada further alleged that previous interventions announced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration had failed to deliver the expected relief to Nigerians.
He cited proposed funding for manufacturing, micro, small and medium enterprises, conditional grants, grain and fertiliser distribution, agricultural production and rice farmers as examples of earlier measures.
He also questioned the decision to remove tariffs on food imports, arguing that the policy had failed to bring food inflation under control.
The YPP candidate noted that other announced measures included funding for compressed natural gas, CNG, infrastructure development and an increase in the minimum wage.
Agada urged Nigerians to scrutinise the government’s latest economic proposals and demand accountability for previous commitments.
He said the proposed monitoring dashboard should include monthly employment figures to establish whether government interventions were creating jobs.
“Let us look at these things critically: if he says he is looking at a raft of measures now to be able to change what he has cost in the past three years, how feasible is it going to be? And that is why we are saying that Nigerians need to be circumspect; we need to hold government to account,” he said.
He maintained that without measurable results, the 90-day action plan could amount to a political strategy ahead of the 2027 general election.
High cost of living: 'It will yield no result' - YPP’s Agada faults Tinubu