As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu marked the second anniversary of his administration, his claim that economic reforms are yielding positive results was met with fierce criticism from the opposition, led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
In a national address commemorating the milestone, President Tinubu asserted that his administration's policies under the Renewed Hope Agenda are stabilising the economy and laying the groundwork for long-term growth.
“I proudly affirm that our economic reforms are working,” Tinubu said. “We are on course to building a greater, more economically stable nation.”
He acknowledged the hardships experienced by Nigerians during the reform period but argued that the alternative would have been economic catastrophe.
“The only alternative to the reforms our administration initiated was a fiscal crisis that would have bred runaway inflation, external debt default, crippling fuel shortages, a plunging naira, and an economy in free-fall,” he stated.
Highlighting what he described as tangible progress, Tinubu pointed to easing inflation, citing a recent decline in the price of staple foods such as rice. He noted a 400 per cent increase in oil and gas rig counts since 2021 and over $8 billion in new sectoral investments.
The president also touted a reduction in the fiscal deficit—from 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2023 to 3.0 per cent in 2024—attributed to improved revenue collection and enhanced financial transparency. According to Tinubu, the federal government generated over N6 trillion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025 alone.
He further disclosed that the government had ended Ways and Means financing—short-term borrowing from the Central Bank—long blamed for fuelling inflation. He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), no longer weighed down by costly fuel subsidies, had become a net contributor to the Federation Account. He added that fuel supply stability was being achieved through increased local refining.
On Nigeria’s debt position, Tinubu admitted that foreign exchange revaluation had pushed the debt-to-GDP ratio to 53 per cent. However, he claimed the more critical debt service-to-revenue ratio had dropped to under 40 per cent by 2024, compared to nearly 100 per cent in 2022. He also revealed that Nigeria had repaid its obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and boosted its net external reserves from $4 billion in 2023 to over $23 billion by the end of 2024.
But the opposition is having none of it.
In a blistering statement released Wednesday, the PDP accused the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of plunging Nigeria into unprecedented economic and social distress. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, described the government's policies as “anti-people” and “insensitive to the suffering of Nigerians.”
“Nigerians have gone through hell under the Tinubu-led APC government, which evidently holds no good for the citizens,” the statement read. “The government is impervious to the pain of the people, and its policies have only worsened the country’s woes.”
The PDP painted a grim picture of the nation’s state, citing skyrocketing inflation, surging unemployment, and a deteriorating security environment. It pointed to the massive rise in petrol prices—from N87 per litre under the PDP to over N1,000 today—as evidence of policy failure. The naira, which traded at N167 to the dollar during previous PDP administrations, has now collapsed to over N1,600 to the dollar.
The party also claimed inflation was nearing 40 per cent, while youth unemployment had exceeded 42 per cent. It blamed the Tinubu administration for worsening hunger, citing Nigeria’s slide in global food security rankings. According to the PDP, the country now ranks 18th on the Global Hunger Index and has overtaken Sudan as Africa’s epicentre of child malnutrition.
“Food scarcity, widespread poverty, and social unrest are reaching critical levels,” the party warned, adding that more than 600,000 lives had reportedly been lost to insecurity since May 2023.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar echoed similar sentiments in a separate statement, describing the administration’s economic stewardship as disastrous and calling for urgent policy reversals to prevent further collapse.
As the Tinubu government marks two years in office, the stark contrast between the president’s optimistic outlook and the opposition’s dire warnings underscores a deep national divide over the direction of Nigeria’s economy and governance.
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