The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of accumulating loans without delivering commensurate infrastructure and development, declaring that the only thing his administration has successfully built is hardship.
The campaign council also challenged the President to identify tangible projects his government had delivered with the trillions of naira borrowed since assuming office in 2023.
The ADC-PCC’s reaction followed a statement credited to Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, declaring that “The Question Is What We Build, Not How Much We Borrow.”
In a statement issued in Abuja, the council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the comment as an insult to Nigerians struggling with economic hardship.
Ologbondiyan said it was disturbing that the President’s aide would speak about infrastructure and development when, according to the council, the administration had failed to demonstrate achievements commensurate with its borrowing.
He alleged that the only visible project associated with the government’s concern for electricity was a solar farm installed to guarantee power supply within the Presidential Villa, while millions of Nigerians continued to experience unreliable electricity.
The council said the administration had borrowed extensively without delivering tangible benefits to citizens.
“For three and a half wasted years, TInubu government has borrowed without restraint and built nothing. No value, no legacy, no impact.
“Except for projects inherited from the late President Muhammadu Buhari, many of the projects being advertised by the Tinubu administration are nothing but audio projects. They exist only on paper, as conceptual designs or as announcements on newspaper pages and television screens.
“Under Tinubu, virtually every project exists in a press statement.
“Where is the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway? Audio. Where is the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway? Audio. Where is the Trans-Sahara Superhighway? Audio. Where are the promised electricity grid upgrades? All propaganda, no commensurate progress, just media hype from Bayo Onanuga and his team.
“Even the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway, awarded more than eight years ago, remains a source of concern to motorists. Its prolonged construction and delays tell the story of APC governance.
“Mr President must wake up and confront the reality facing Nigerians, if there is still left between now and January 16.”
The ADC-PCC said Nigerians were experiencing hunger and hardship, while insecurity and deprivation continued to affect communities across the country.
It accused the administration of prioritising propaganda and self-congratulatory statements over addressing the challenges confronting citizens.
“Citizens are hungry and enduring excruciating hardship. People are dying from hunger, insecurity and deprivation, while the government remains preoccupied with propaganda and self-congratulatory statements.
“These are the real signposts of what the Tinubu administration has built in almost four years.
“Today, ministries are barely functioning, agencies are struggling, and critical directorates are failing to deliver. Nigeria is practically comatose.
“The Tinubu Presidency came into power without a convincing blueprint or workable ideas and, after almost four years, has offered Nigerians little beyond failure, hardship, poverty and insecurity.”
The campaign council challenged Tinubu to identify projects his administration had completed with the loans it had accumulated.
“If borrowing is truly for development, let President Tinubu show Nigerians one tangible project his administration has delivered with its trillions of naira in loans, beyond the solar farm in the Presidential Villa.
“The only thing this administration has successfully built is hardship.”
The ADC-PCC also appealed to international donors, development partners and financial institutions to scrutinise Nigeria’s borrowing plans and demand accountability before extending further loans.
It said borrowing was not inherently wrong if the funds improved citizens’ living conditions, but warned against accumulating debts without corresponding benefits.
The council further argued that future generations should not be burdened with loans incurred without demonstrable returns.
It called on the National Assembly to exercise its constitutional responsibility by scrutinising loan requests and preventing what it described as indiscriminate borrowing.
“The National Assembly must rise to its constitutional responsibility and save the country from being mortgaged through indiscriminate borrowings. It must stop acting as a rubber stamp for every loan request and defend the economic future of Nigeria.
“History will not forgive the 10th National Assembly if it stands by while the country is plunged deeper into a cycle of unsustainable indebtedness.”
The statement was signed by Ologbondiyan, Director of Media and Publicity, ADC Presidential Campaign Council.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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