The Presidency has responded to criticism of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar saying the reforms of the administration are starting to yield positive results after initial challenges.
The Presidency also dismissed claims of fiscal recklessness, excessive borrowing and mismanagement of public finances, describing Atiku’s claims as misleading and based on outdated economic data.
The government’s position was contained in a statement on Saturday, titled, “Facts, Not Fear: A Point-by-Point Response to Atiku Abubakar on Nigeria’s Reform Journey” by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga accused the former vice-president of relying on economic indices of 2024 without taking into account the developments recorded since then.
“Politics is powered by disagreement. Democracy requires it. But he said disagreements must be based on facts, not frozen images of history.”
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“The public is entitled to context when yesterday’s data is presented as today’s reality.
He said economies are in a constant state of evolution and reforms should be evaluated based on the conditions at the end of their implementation and not at the beginning.
“The first observation may be chronological. It is interesting that in the middle of 2026 the main economic argument of the opposition is still built on the developments of the 2024 fiscal year. Economies evolve. Reforms are processes, not events,” he said.
The presidential spokesman said the Tinubu administration’s foreign exchange reforms have resulted in improvement in the country’s economy.
He said the country’s dollar-denominated Gross Domestic Product rose from about $253 billion after the exchange-rate adjustment to approximately $377 billion, while the naira value of the economy increased from about ₦314 trillion in 2024 to around ₦530 trillion.
In reaction to Atiku’s concern over the country’s debt burden, the Presidency argued that the sustainability of debt was more important than the total amount borrowed.
“There is a need to ask a wider question on Nigeria’s debt: What is Nigeria’s capacity to service her debt? For debt in itself is not the measure of fiscal health,” Onanuga said.
Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio was still around 40 per cent, he said, a relatively low figure compared to many African and developed economies.
The presidency also defended removal of fuel subsidy, saying the policy had drastically increased allocations to states and local governments.
Subnational governments had been able to spend more on infrastructure, education, healthcare and other development projects thanks to the extra revenue, Onanuga said.
“The visible effect of subsidy removal is that revenues accruing to states and local governments through the Federation Account have improved significantly,” he said.
The Presidency said claims that the government had increased tax burdens on Nigerians on tax reforms are false.
“The essence of the tax reforms is not only to increase collection, but to build a better and broader tax system,” Onanuga said.
He said the reforms were intended to reduce the tax burden on low-income earners and small businesses, while raising compliance among the wealthy and profitable companies.
The Presidency also dismissed Atiku’s claim that the Federal Government had benefitted from an alleged oil windfall of N7.98 trillion.
Onanuga said the calculation did not consider the cost of production, the share of crude apportioned to oil companies and existing crude sales agreements.
“There is no windfall of N7.98 trillion,” he said.
“The common mistake that a lot of analysts make is multiplying the oil price times the daily crude production volume to arrive at revenue to the government.”
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Crude-backed loan obligations and lower-than-expected production have meant that favourable global oil prices have not translated into higher revenue for government, he said.
The Presidency said the administration also made progress in healthcare, education and social intervention programmes, including the upgrade of over 3,000 primary healthcare centres, retraining of more than 78,000 frontline health workers and disbursement of over N303 billion through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund to more than 1.64 million students across 300 tertiary institutions.
Onanuga said the reforms were creating a foundation for long-term economic stability, despite short-term hardships.
History doesn’t often remember governments for the popularity of their decisions in the moment. “It remembers if those decisions ultimately built up or tore down the nation,” he said.
The economy, he said, was yet to get to the destination it was heading to but the Tinubu administration would continue to implement reforms to expand opportunities, strengthen institutions and improve the living standards of Nigerians.
