Growth or Groans? Prof Kperogi Challenges World Bank Praise of Tinubu’s Economic Policies
Atlanta-based journalism professor, Prof. Farooq Kperogi, has cast a critical spotlight on recent World Bank claims that Nigeria is witnessing its fastest economic growth in a decade under President Bola Tinubu.
The World Bank’s report, which attributes this surge to Tinubu’s “magical economic policies,” has sparked debate among analysts and commentators — and Kperogi isn’t mincing words.
Connecting the dots in a post referencing his June 24, 2023 column titled “Why Tinubu’s Hiring and Firing Frenzy Excites Nigerians,” Kperogi questions the true meaning of economic growth when the masses remain burdened by hardship.
“What shall it profit a country when it pursues policies that cause the economy to ‘grow’ but cause the people to growl? After the economy has ‘grown’ but the people still groan, where is the growth? The most important growth isn’t the rise in abstract, disembodied, World Bank/IMF-created metrics but in the improvement of the quality of life of everyday folks,” he wrote.
While international institutions like the World Bank may celebrate macroeconomic indicators, Kperogi argues that such measurements often ignore the grim realities faced by everyday Nigerians — from surging inflation to rising poverty and insecurity. For him, growth that doesn’t translate into better living conditions is, at best, hollow.
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