Uber: Nigeria now graveyard for businesses – ADC    

 
By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
 
 
 
the exit of the e-hailing company Uber alongside the shutdown of several multinational companies from Nigeria has been described by The African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a vote of no confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies.
 
 
 
The party said the development says that the country’s business environment had become increasingly hostile under the Tinubu administration, describing Nigeria as a “graveyard of businesses.”
 
 
 
In a statement on Thursday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the growing number of companies shutting down, reducing their operations or leaving the country had exposed what he described as a widening gap between the government’s claims of economic progress and the reality facing businesses and ordinary Nigerians.
 
 
 
The party questioned the decision of the Federal Government to celebrate a marginal 0.2 percentage-point improvement in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at a time when businesses were struggling, jobs were being lost and millions of Nigerians were facing worsening economic hardship.
 
 
 
“Certainly, a 0.2% growth does not justify the extreme hardship that Nigerians are suffering,” the ADC said.
 
 
 
The opposition party claimed that Nigeria’s poverty rate had risen to 63 per cent, affecting an estimated 140 million Nigerians, and challenged the President and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to demonstrate how the reported economic growth had translated into improved living conditions.
 
 
 
The party asked Tinubu to explain the significance of the reported 0.2 per cent GDP growth to Nigerians who, according to it, had been pushed into poverty since the administration came to power.
 
 
 
It also asked the government to explain the benefit of the growth to workers whose salaries had lost purchasing power, businesses burdened by rising energy costs and families forced to reduce the quantity and quality of food they consume.
 
 
 
“When the President and his party say things are getting better, we expect them to tell us what has improved in the lives of Nigerians. They should tell us how much food their ‘GDP growth’ has put on the tables. They should tell us which bill it has paid,” the party said.
 
 
 
The ADC added: “If 0.2% is a mark of success in their books, President Tinubu and APC should tell us what they consider as failure.”
 
 
 
On Uber’s exit after 12 years of operations in Nigeria, the party linked the development to rising operating costs, particularly energy and transportation expenses.
 
 
 
It argued that the removal of the petrol subsidy and naira devaluation had contributed significantly to the increase in the cost of doing business, claiming that fuel prices had risen by as much as 1,700 per cent.
 
 
 
The party said the development vindicated the position of its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who, it said, had proposed the restoration of a targeted fuel subsidy.