Presidency Counters ‘The Economist’: Reforms Justified by Brutal Economic Legacy

By Aminat Damilola, Assistant Editor

The Presidency has pushed back against claims made by The Economist suggesting that economic strain has caused a surge in public alienation toward President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It criticized the publication’s review as patronising and inaccurate, arguing that it failed to recognise the actual impact of the administration’s reforms.

Dr. Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, argued that critics pointing to a “widespread rejection” of the president are ignoring the brutal economic legacy and the structural overhauls launched since May 2023.

Writing in “Beyond the Economist Condescension: Nigeria’s Re-Engineering Under Tinubu is Unstoppable,” the presidential aide accused foreign commentators of oversimplifying Nigeria’s complex realities into sensational narratives of national despair.

“The Economist claims Nigerians dislike their President, but it’s a claim that smells of opposition and is riddled with inconsistencies,” he added.

Four days ago, the Economist predicted that despite the economic woes besetting Nigeria, President Tinubu will win next year’s election.

Dare argued that framing economic reform challenges as a total rejection of the President misreads the country’s actual situation.

“They love to peddle the lazy, hollow fiction that ‘Nigerians hate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,’ packaging localised administrative growing pains into neat, uniform narratives of national rejection. AccessServices

“This is not merely analytical laziness; it is an intellectual fraud,” he added.

Dare noted that the current administration took over a deeply compromised economic system—one weighed down by an unsustainable fuel subsidy regime, fractured foreign exchange markets, immense debt burdens, and chronic underinvestment in critical infrastructure, energy, and security.

He emphasized that President Tinubu opted for decisive action over procrastination, tackling these systemic issues head-on through the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market.

He stated that the reforms strengthened government finances, trade balances, and external reserves while reducing wasteful subsidy payments and currency arbitrage.

To cushion the impact of these changes, Dare highlighted relief measures like the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, local government financial autonomy, a new minimum wage, CNG bus deployments, and agricultural interventions.

“The notion that millions of Nigerians harbour blind hatred for President Tinubu collapses when you meet everyday reality”, he said, adding that students benefiting from education loans, workers receiving improved wages, local governments accessing greater financial autonomy and farmers benefiting from interventions had reasons to support the administration.

Dare, who acknowledged that Nigerians are experiencing economic hardship, insisted that the pain is linked to necessary structural reforms intended to address longstanding weaknesses in the economy.

“These citizens recognise a leader doing the heavy, foundational lifting—someone cleaning up decades of accumulated governance debris. They know that the current reforms are the bitter medicine required to cure a chronic national ailment,” Dare stressed.

The presidential adviser also rejected the endency by foreign publications to view Nigeria solely through economic hardship and security challenges without recognising the broader changes underway across the country.

“Nigeria’s political and economic ecosystem is admittedly complex, shaped by security challenges and global economic headwinds. However, external commentators’ attempt to reduce this complex sovereign nation to a caricature of helpless misery does a disservice to the truth,” he said.

Dare maintained that the administration would not retreat from its economic programme, adding that Presi Tinubu’s policies had placed Nigeria on an “irreversible path toward sustainable growth, fiscal independence, and enduring prosperity.

“The narrative of inevitable rejection is exposed daily as a hollow illusion, dismantled by the tangible fruits of a renewed, resilient republic,” he added.