By Seun Ibiyemi
The Presidency has dismissed recent criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, describing his assessment of the administration’s fiscal reforms as outdated, misleading and based on an incomplete reading of Nigeria’s economic realities.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that Atiku’s criticism relied largely on 2024 economic data and failed to acknowledge what he described as the progress recorded under the Tinubu administration since the implementation of key reforms.
According to Onanuga, Nigeria’s economy has evolved significantly since the painful adjustment phase that followed the removal of fuel subsidy and the foreign exchange market reforms.
He said Nigeria’s dollar-denominated Gross Domestic Product had recovered from about $253 billion after the exchange rate adjustment to approximately $377 billion, while the country’s naira GDP had increased from about ₦314 trillion in 2024 to roughly ₦530 trillion.
Responding to allegations of excessive borrowing, the Presidency maintained that Nigeria’s debt profile remained sustainable, arguing that debt should be assessed relative to the country’s economic size, revenue generation and the purpose for which borrowed funds are deployed.
Onanuga said Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio remained below 40 per cent, while the debt service-to-revenue ratio had declined from nearly 100 per cent in December 2022 to less than 60 per cent under the current administration.
He also defended the removal of petrol subsidy, describing it as one of the administration’s boldest reforms that ended decades of fiscal waste and increased allocations to states and local governments through the Federation Account.
According to him, the increased revenues have enabled sub-national governments to invest more in infrastructure, healthcare, education and other social programmes.
The Presidency also rejected claims that the Tinubu administration had imposed additional tax burdens on Nigerians, insisting that the ongoing tax reforms are designed to protect low-income earners and small businesses while improving tax compliance among high-income individuals and profitable companies.
On healthcare, Onanuga said the administration had expanded access to primary healthcare, upgraded tertiary hospitals and introduced programmes providing free caesarean sections for indigent women in more than 100 public health facilities nationwide.
He added that over 3,000 Primary Healthcare Centres had been revitalised and more than 78,000 frontline health workers retrained within the past three years.
Highlighting achievements in education, the Presidency said over 11,000 projects had been implemented through the Universal Basic Education Commission, while the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had supported more than 1.64 million students, disbursing over ₦303 billion to beneficiaries across 300 tertiary institutions.
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The statement further cited ongoing investments in roads, railways, airports, gas infrastructure, electricity transmission and digital connectivity as evidence of the administration’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s productive capacity.
Onanuga also dismissed Atiku’s claim of a ₦7.98 trillion oil windfall, arguing that the calculation ignored production shortfalls, crude oil production costs, forward sales contracts and crude volumes committed to existing obligations.
He maintained that fluctuations in international oil prices do not automatically translate into equivalent government revenues.
While acknowledging that the reforms had imposed short-term hardships on Nigerians, the Presidency insisted that the measures were necessary to address long-standing structural distortions and lay the foundation for sustainable economic growth.
It added that recent intervention programmes, including the NG-CARES, HOPE and SOLID initiatives valued at more than $3 billion, alongside cash transfers to 15 million vulnerable households, were designed to cushion the impact of the reforms on Nigerians.
The Presidency concluded that the Tinubu administration remained focused on expanding economic opportunities, strengthening public institutions and improving living standards, urging critics to assess the reforms based on long-term outcomes rather than the immediate challenges associated with their implementation.
