Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised fresh concerns over Nigeria’s worsening cost-of-living crisis, linking rising food, fuel and transportation costs to the growing difficulty many families face in providing nutritious meals for their children.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Thursday, September 17, 2026, said recent nutrition figures showing that 41.1 per cent of Nigerian children under five are stunted should serve as a major warning to policymakers.
Afrilensnews reports that the statement also cited a 58.2 per cent stunting rate in the North-West and claimed that nearly two million children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with only about two in every ten receiving treatment.
Atiku described child malnutrition as one of the most painful consequences of the country’s economic difficulties, arguing that the impact of inflation is being felt directly in Nigerian homes.
“This is the most heartbreaking face of the cost-of-living crisis. Behind every statistic is a Nigerian mother struggling to decide what her children can eat, how much they can eat and how often they can eat.
“A child does not understand inflation figures. A child only knows whether there is food on the table.
“When nutritious food moves beyond the reach of millions of families, the consequences eventually appear in the bodies of our children. Today, the country is being confronted with figures that should shock the conscience of every leader.”
The former vice president pointed to food inflation and other rising household expenses, saying the pressure on families has accumulated over recent years. He also cited the National Bureau of Statistics’ current food inflation figure of 19.57 per cent.
Atiku argued that fuel prices have consequences far beyond motorists, noting that higher energy and transportation costs can affect the movement of agricultural produce, manufacturing, trading and other everyday economic activities.
“When fuel becomes expensive, transporting tomatoes from the farm becomes expensive. Taking rice to the market becomes expensive. Moving children to school becomes expensive. Running the neighbourhood grinding machine becomes expensive. Powering the small shop becomes expensive.
“And eventually, the additional cost arrives at the dinner table.
“That is why I refuse to accept an economic philosophy in which government simply watches prices rise and tells struggling citizens to endure.”
Atiku also restated his proposal for what he described as a production subsidy for petroleum products refined locally, insisting that the proposal is different from the previous system of subsidising imported petrol.
Under his proposal, he said, targeted support would be tied to crude oil refined domestically, with the intervention capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited.
“My position is straightforward: support what Nigeria produces and refines, lower domestic production costs, and ensure that the benefit reaches the Nigerian consumer.
“This is not an import subsidy. If you do not refine in Nigeria, you do not qualify.
“The subsidy follows the barrel refined in Nigeria.
“Produce here. Refine here. Create jobs here. Pay less here.”
Atiku said lowering energy costs would have wider implications for Nigerian households because fuel and transportation expenses are embedded in the prices of food and other goods.
“My production-subsidy proposal is therefore not simply a petrol policy. It is part of a broader affordability programme.
“I want the farmer to spend less getting produce to market. I want the trader to spend less transporting goods. I want the bus driver to spend less on fuel. I want parents to have more money left after transportation so that they can put better food on the table.
“Economic policy must ultimately answer a very simple question: Can the ordinary Nigerian afford to live?”
He further called for greater intervention in child and maternal nutrition, including expanded treatment for severely malnourished children and stronger programmes targeted at vulnerable communities.
“We cannot build a strong country on the bodies of hungry children.
“We cannot celebrate economic statistics while mothers are cutting meals and children are denied the nutrition they require to grow.
“My objective is clear: lower the cost of energy, lower transportation and production costs, strengthen Nigerian production, restore purchasing power and give families breathing room again.
“I will make life affordable again.”
The statement comes amid continuing political debate over the direction of Nigeria’s economic reforms and the impact of higher energy and transportation costs on household purchasing power.
Atiku, who was vice president from 1999 to 2007 and is identified in the statement as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, has increasingly placed affordability, domestic production and household purchasing power at the centre of his economic messaging.
The figures cited in the statement could further intensify debate over food security, child nutrition and the wider social consequences of Nigeria’s economic pressures.
For families already struggling with food and transportation expenses, persistent high prices could mean reduced meal quality, fewer meals and difficulty meeting other basic household needs.
Atiku’s comments also put renewed focus on the competing policy arguments surrounding fuel pricing, domestic refining and government intervention in the petroleum sector, with the broader question being whether lower production and transportation costs can translate into meaningful relief for ordinary Nigerians.
.
