The Presidency has strongly defended the economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, dismissing allegations by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that the government is pursuing reckless fiscal policies and insisting that Nigeria’s reform programme is already delivering measurable economic gains.
In a statement titled “Facts, Not Fear: A Point-by-Point Response to Atiku Abubakar on Nigeria’s Reform Journey,” Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that the opposition’s criticisms were based on outdated economic data and failed to reflect the country’s progress since the difficult reforms of 2024.
The Presidency said it was misleading to assess the administration’s performance using figures from the immediate aftermath of the reforms, describing economic restructuring as a continuous process rather than a single event.
According to the statement, Nigeria’s dollar-denominated Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which fell to about $253 billion following the exchange-rate adjustment in 2024, has since recovered to approximately $377 billion, representing an estimated 49 per cent increase. It also said the country’s nominal GDP in naira had risen from about ₦314 trillion in 2024 to roughly ₦530 trillion, reflecting increased economic activity and price adjustments.
Responding to concerns over public debt, the Presidency maintained that Nigeria’s borrowing should be assessed alongside the country’s economic capacity, revenue generation and the productive use of borrowed funds rather than the size of the debt alone.
It stated that Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio remains below 40 per cent—lower than that of several comparable economies—while the debt service-to-revenue ratio has declined from nearly 100 per cent in December 2022 to less than 60 per cent under the current administration, attributing the improvement to stronger revenue mobilisation and prudent debt management.
On the removal of petrol subsidy, the Presidency argued that the policy had significantly increased revenues available to state and local governments through the Federation Account, enabling greater investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare, salaries, pensions and social welfare programmes.
It added that international institutions, including the World Bank, had acknowledged improvements in public revenues and sub-national capital expenditure following the reforms.
The statement also rejected claims that the administration’s tax reforms were designed to impose additional burdens on Nigerians, insisting that the measures were intended to broaden the tax base while protecting low-income earners and small businesses.
According to the Presidency, individuals earning ₦1 million annually or less and businesses with annual turnover below ₦100 million stand to benefit from the reforms, while higher-income earners and profitable enterprises are expected to contribute a greater share of tax revenues.
Highlighting achievements in the health sector, the Presidency said the Federal Government had revitalised more than 3,000 primary healthcare centres, retrained over 78,000 frontline health workers and expanded access to maternal healthcare through free caesarean section services for indigent women in more than 100 health facilities nationwide.
It also noted that three world-class cancer centres are now operational in Kubwa, Enugu and Katsina, while cancer treatment facilities have been expanded in 13 states.
In education, the government said more than 11,000 school projects had been undertaken through the Universal Basic Education Commission in collaboration with state governments, while the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had enabled over 1.64 million students to access tuition and upkeep loans amounting to more than ₦303 billion across 300 tertiary institutions.
The Presidency further highlighted ongoing investments in roads, railways, airports, power infrastructure, gas projects, housing and digital connectivity, arguing that increased public investment and stronger fiscal inflows were laying the foundation for sustained private sector growth.
Rejecting Atiku’s claim of a ₦7.98 trillion oil revenue windfall, the Presidency described the allegation as analytically flawed, explaining that higher global oil prices had been partly offset by lower-than-projected crude oil production and existing crude-backed loan obligations.
It noted that government oil revenue cannot be determined simply by multiplying crude prices by production volumes because such calculations ignore production costs, contractual obligations and the share of crude allocated to oil-producing companies.
While acknowledging that the reforms had imposed short-term hardships, the Presidency maintained that they were necessary to correct longstanding structural distortions in the economy.
It said the Federal Government had introduced several intervention programmes, including the ward-based NG-CARES, HOPE and SOLID initiatives valued at over $3 billion, alongside cash transfers to 15 million vulnerable households, to cushion the impact of the reforms.
The statement concluded that although Nigeria’s economy has not yet reached its desired destination, the reforms are strengthening institutions, improving macroeconomic stability and creating a foundation for sustainable growth, insisting that the administration remains committed to expanding opportunities and improving the living standards of Nigerians.
