The Presidency has rejected claims by The Economist that Nigerians dislike President Bola Tinubu, describing the publication’s assessment of the country as a distorted account of Nigeria’s economic realities.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, says the assessment fails to account for the economic conditions inherited by the Tinubu administration in May 2023.
Dare said the administration inherited an economy weighed down by fuel subsidy, multiple foreign exchange windows, high debt-service costs and years of underinvestment in critical infrastructure.
He argued that the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy and reform the foreign exchange market was aimed at addressing long-standing structural problems and restoring fiscal stability.
The Presidential aide also highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, financial autonomy for local governments, the new national minimum wage, CNG mass transit initiatives and interventions in agriculture as evidence of the administration’s reforms.
According to him, hundreds of thousands of students have benefited from NELFUND, while workers, farmers and communities are also benefiting from various government interventions.
Dare maintained that the economic reforms have inevitably brought transitional challenges, but argued that they are necessary to address decades of accumulated distortions.
The Presidency says external assessments of Nigeria should take into account the country’s complex economic and security challenges rather than reduce its situation to a narrative of widespread rejection of the President.
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(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
