The Presidency has launched a blistering counterattack against The Economist, rejecting the British magazine’s assessment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s popularity and economic record, and insisting that Nigeria’s ongoing transformation under the administration is “unstoppable.”
In a strongly worded statement issued by the State House, the Presidency accused the publication of viewing Nigeria through a distorted lens and reducing the country’s complex economic and political realities to what it described as a simplistic narrative of widespread rejection of Tinubu.
The statement came in response to The Economist’s recent assessment of Nigeria and its political climate, with the Presidency taking particular exception to the publication’s assertion that Nigerians dislike the President.
According to the State House, such a conclusion fails to adequately account for the difficult economic conditions Tinubu inherited when he assumed office in May 2023.
The Presidency argued that Tinubu did not inherit a “functioning, well-oiled state,” but an economy weighed down by years of structural weaknesses, including the fuel subsidy regime, foreign-exchange distortions, heavy debt-service obligations and inadequate investment in infrastructure.
It said the administration therefore inherited an economy requiring fundamental restructuring rather than incremental adjustments.
Presidency Defends Subsidy Removal, FX Reforms
Central to the Presidency’s defence is Tinubu’s decision to remove the petrol subsidy immediately after assuming office.
The State House described the subsidy regime as an unsustainable drain on public finances, arguing that its removal has enabled government to redirect resources towards other priorities and improve fiscal sustainability.
The Presidency also pointed to the unification of the foreign-exchange market as another major reform, arguing that the move has reduced opportunities for arbitrage and helped strengthen Nigeria’s external position.
It cited the country’s improved trade position and rising foreign-exchange reserves as evidence that the reforms are beginning to produce measurable results.
Recent official data have shown a substantial improvement in Nigeria’s external reserves, while the country has also recorded trade surpluses in recent quarters.
NELFUND Takes Centre Stage
The Presidency also highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), describing the initiative as a major intervention in expanding access to higher education.
It said the programme has enabled hundreds of thousands of Nigerian students to pursue tertiary education with financial support, presenting it as one of the administration’s flagship social interventions.
The State House argued that such programmes should form part of any assessment of the administration rather than focusing exclusively on the economic pain associated with its reforms.
‘Nigeria Was Already In Deep Trouble’
The Presidency maintained that the hardship accompanying the reforms must be viewed against the economic conditions that preceded them.
It argued that years of underinvestment had left critical infrastructure, energy systems and other national assets in poor condition, while fiscal pressures severely constrained government’s capacity to respond.
The State House consequently dismissed the suggestion that such structural problems could be resolved without significant transitional costs.
According to the Presidency, Tinubu opted to confront the underlying distortions instead of postponing difficult decisions.
‘Tinubu’s Re-engineering Is Unstoppable’
The Presidency said the administration’s policies had fundamentally altered the direction of the Nigerian economy, portraying Tinubu as a leader willing to take politically difficult decisions in pursuit of long-term economic stability.
It insisted that the President’s reform agenda had placed Nigeria on a path towards greater fiscal independence, sustainable growth and improved economic resilience.
The State House also rejected what it described as the portrayal of Nigerians as uniformly hostile to the President, arguing that such a narrative ignored the country’s political diversity and the differing reactions to the administration’s policies across the federation.
It said The Economist should look beyond “external commentary” and consider what it described as tangible changes taking place across Nigeria.
The Presidency concluded that the claim of inevitable popular rejection was being undermined by what it characterised as the “tangible fruits” of the administration’s economic and social interventions.
It maintained that Tinubu’s reform programme remains firmly on course, insisting that the President’s decision to tackle long-standing structural distortions rather than defer them had set Nigeria on an “irreversible path” towards sustainable growth and prosperity.
