Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has warned that worsening poverty, insecurity, hunger and unemployment are making life increasingly difficult for Nigerians as the country marks its 66th Independence anniversary.
Obi made the assessment in his Independence Day address on Thursday, criticising the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government over what he described as persistent failures across key areas of national life.
Also read: Nigeria at 66: Ninolowo salutes Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu, calls for hope, unity
The former Anambra State governor said the promises made by the APC during the 2023 election had not translated into the improvements Nigerians expected.
“Despite the promises made by the APC government in 2023, our nation continues to face deepening challenges across virtually every critical sector of national life,” Obi said.
He pointed to poverty, insecurity, food insecurity, education, youth unemployment, maternal and infant mortality and drug abuse as areas requiring urgent national attention.
Obi argued that Nigeria’s difficulties were not primarily the result of a shortage of resources but of the country’s inability to convert those resources into broader human development, productivity, security and shared prosperity.
His most striking assessment came when he described Nigeria as “the worst place to be born”, linking the statement to what he regarded as poor social outcomes and the difficulties confronting young Nigerians.
“Today, Nigeria is the worst place to be born. Our youth unemployment is the highest; over 35 million youths are unemployed, and we have one of the worst drug prevalences globally,” Obi said.
Some of the figures cited by Obi require context.
The World Bank currently estimates that 50.8 per cent of Nigerians, about 123 million people, were living below the extreme poverty line of $3 a day in 2025, while 69.6 per cent were below the lower-middle-income poverty line of $4.20 a day. The bank links the continuing pressure to high inflation and weak real income growth.
Food insecurity remains another serious concern. The Food and Agriculture Organization says about 36.3 million Nigerians were estimated to face severe acute food insecurity during the June to August 2026 lean season, including about 2.1 million people facing Emergency conditions and roughly 10,300 people in Catastrophe conditions in Borno State.
FAO and the World Food Programme had earlier projected about 34.8 million Nigerians could face high levels of acute food insecurity during the same period, placing Nigeria among countries of highest concern for worsening hunger.
Obi’s reference to more than 35 million unemployed young people also needs to be read as a political estimate rather than a directly comparable official unemployment statistic.
The World Bank’s current labour-market data, drawing on ILO statistics, reports youth unemployment as a rate rather than a headline count of 35 million people.
There is also conflicting reporting around the number of out-of-school children cited in accounts of Obi’s address.
Some reports reproduced a figure of more than 80 million, while another report on the same address gave more than 18 million.
Because of that discrepancy, the larger figure cannot be treated as an independently established statistic.
The broader education challenge, however, remains significant, alongside pressures on healthcare and household incomes.
Obi also raised concerns about insecurity, referring to terrorism, banditry and kidnapping and the recent deaths of 37 young Nigerians.
He argued that insecurity was undermining livelihoods and preventing communities from returning to normal economic activity.
His remarks came on the same day President Bola Ahmed Tinubu delivered his own Independence Day address, offering a markedly different assessment of the country’s direction.
Tinubu said Nigeria had moved beyond the difficult phase of economic reforms and was entering what he described as an “age of prosperity”. The President said the government’s economic task had shifted towards building “shared and widespread prosperity”.
“The emergency treatment is over. The foundation has been repaired,” Tinubu said in his national address.
The contrasting messages placed economic hardship and the government’s reform programme at the centre of Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary.
While Obi focused on the immediate social costs of poverty, insecurity and unemployment, Tinubu argued that the government’s reforms had corrected the country’s economic direction and laid the groundwork for stronger growth and broader prosperity.
Obi nevertheless struck a more hopeful note towards the end of his address, saying his message was not intended to leave Nigerians in despair.
“My message today is not one of despair. It is a message of hope, determination and responsibility. I dare to proclaim with full assurance that a new Nigeria is possible,” he said.
The NDC candidate said that, if elected president in 2027, he would prioritise insecurity, education, healthcare and productive enterprise and promised that Nigerians would begin to see tangible changes within his first year in office.
He also pledged to confront insecurity so that farmers could return to their farms, children could return to school and businesses could operate without fear.
For Nigeria at 66, the competing messages from Obi and Tinubu reflect two sharply different readings of the country’s present circumstances: one centred on the hardship still experienced by millions of citizens, and the other on the gains the Federal Government says are emerging from its economic reforms.
Also read: Nigeria at 66: Ninolowo salutes Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu, calls for hope, unity
The debate is likely to remain central to Nigeria’s political conversation as the country moves towards the 2027 general elections.
David Okere is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering business, governance, public affairs, and human-interest stories with a commitment to accuracy, balance, and public interest reporting.
