Opinion
By Chinenye Nwaogu
WHEN President Bola Ahmed Tinubu received the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria in July 2026, one statement stood out above every other. Responding to concerns about widespread hardship, he said: “We have no control over the population growth and trajectory.” Again he said, poverty has always been in Nigeria before he was born. He also maintained that his administration had stabilised the economy, rescued it from bankruptcy and that prosperity was on the horizon.
These remarks deserve careful scrutiny because they reveal not merely a policy position but a governing philosophy.
The greatest responsibility of government is not to explain why problems exist. It is to demonstrate that it possesses the institutional capacity to solve them.
Population growth is not a uniquely Nigerian phenomenon. India has over 1.4 billion people. Indonesia has nearly 290 million. Brazil has over 210 million. Yet these countries have achieved far greater reductions in poverty and food insecurity through sustained investments in agriculture, manufacturing, education, infrastructure, public health and job creation. Population does not automatically create hunger; weak governance does.
Nigeria itself possesses over 84 million hectares of arable land, yet only a fraction is cultivated efficiently. The country remains heavily dependent on food imports while insecurity continues to force thousands of farmers away from their farms. Inflation, exchange-rate instability, transport costs and insecurity have combined to make food unaffordable for millions. These are governance challenges, not demographic destiny.
The president’s suggestion that government has little control over population growth is itself incomplete. Governments influence demographic trends every day through investments in female education, healthcare, child survival, family planning, urbanisation, economic opportunities and social protection. Around the world, fertility rates have fallen largely because governments created conditions in which families voluntarily chose smaller family sizes—not because governments simply watched population trends unfold.
Even more concerning is the timing of the statement.
According to the latest multidimensional poverty assessments, well over half of Nigerians experience multiple forms of deprivation, while international agencies continue to warn of severe food insecurity affecting tens of millions of citizens across the country. Food inflation has remained one of the strongest drivers of declining household purchasing power, leaving many families spending the overwhelming majority of their income simply on feeding themselves.
Against this backdrop, telling citizens that population growth is beyond government control risks sounding less like leadership and more like resignation.
Leadership is measured by ownership.
When Singapore lacked land, it built one of the world’s most efficient economies.
When Rwanda emerged from genocide, it rebuilt institutions.
When Vietnam faced food shortages decades ago, it transformed itself into one of the world’s largest rice exporters.
Every successful nation confronted constraints. None accepted them as permanent excuses.
The conversation with the Catholic Bishops also illustrates a recurring weakness in Nigeria’s public communication. Government spokesmen frequently highlight macroeconomic indicators, projected recoveries and future prosperity. Citizens, however, judge governments through lived experience: food prices, electricity, transport costs, security, employment and purchasing power.
Economic statistics matter.
Human experience matters more.
When families skip meals, graduates cannot find work, businesses close under rising operating costs and farmers abandon farmlands because of insecurity, repeated assurances that prosperity is “on the horizon” gradually lose persuasive power unless accompanied by visible improvements in daily life.
This is why public confidence has become one of Nigeria’s biggest governance challenges.
Confidence cannot be manufactured through speeches.
It is earned through measurable outcomes.
Nigeria undoubtedly inherited longstanding structural problems accumulated over decades. No serious analyst disputes this. But electoral mandates are granted precisely because citizens expect governments to overcome inherited difficulties—not merely catalogue them.
History remembers leaders for the problems they solved, not the excuses they documented.
The exchange with the Catholic Bishops therefore offers an important insight into the administration’s policy mindset. Rather than projecting decisive state capacity, portions of the president’s response reflected an acceptance of structural constraints as though they were beyond meaningful governmental influence.
That perception should concern every Nigerian.
A nation battling inflation, unemployment, food insecurity and declining purchasing power requires a government that consistently communicates confidence rooted in practical solutions—not explanations that appear to narrow the boundaries of state responsibility.
Nigeria’s greatest deficit today may not simply be economic resources.
It may be the public’s confidence that those entrusted with power possess both the strategy and the capacity to translate enormous national potential into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary citizens.
Leadership begins where excuses end.
***Chinenye Nwaogu is a policy and development analyst.
A.I
July 31, 2026
Tags: Chinenye Nwaogu President Bola Ahmed Tinubu