ActionAid Nigeria has pushed back against comments by presidential information adviser Bayo Onanuga, accusing the presidency of brushing aside the hardship that millions of citizens live with daily.

The group took issue with Onanuga’s suggestion that, judging by his own observations, he could not see the hunger Nigerians describe. Such a stance, it said, was careless, evidence free and badly out of step with conditions across the country.

It noted that even as he played down hunger, Onanuga conceded that food had become markedly more expensive. By way of illustration, ActionAid said a crate of eggs once sold for around N600 now fetches between N6,000 and N8,500, a sign of how steep the cost of living crisis had grown.

Drawing on National Bureau of Statistics figures, the organization said food inflation edged up to 16.96 per cent year on year in May 2026, propelled by costlier staples such as onions, maize, yam, cassava and tomatoes, while a weaker naira had hollowed out household spending power.

ActionAid also disputed official optimism on security, citing a monitoring project that logged 12,954 violent deaths in 2025 and a jump in kidnapping related fatalities from 425 the year before to 747. Country Director Andrew Mamedu recounted the case of a Lekki boy who collapsed and died while trekking a long way to school, saying it laid bare a system failing its children.