The Presidency has pushed back against criticisms by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms, describing his arguments as anchored outdated 2024 data that fail to reflect Nigeria’s current economic reality.
In a statement titled “Facts, Not Fear: A Point-by-Point Response to Atiku Abubakar on Nigeria’s Reform Journey,” the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, responded to Atiku’s recent accusations of excessive borrowing, subsidy removal, tax reforms, and an alleged N7.98 trillion oil windfall.
Onanuga said Nigeria’s dollar-denominated GDP has grown from about $253 billion after the exchange-rate reset to approximately $377 billion, a rise of roughly 49%, while naira GDP expanded from about $314 trillion in 2024 to around N530 trillion. He argued that judging the reforms solely by their earliest, most painful phase was misleading.
On the debt question, he said Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio remains at about 40%, lower than several peer economies, and that the debt-service-to-revenue ratio has fallen from nearly 100% in December 2022 to under 60% today.
Onanuga also credited the removal of fuel subsidy with boosting statutory allocations to states and local governments, citing World Bank assessments of improved subnational revenues and capital spending.
He described the administration’s tax reforms as designed to ease the burden on low-income earners and small businesses while strengthening compliance among wealthier individuals and corporations.
Highlighting progress in health and education, he pointed to the revitalisation of over 3,000 primary healthcare centres, free caesarean section programmes benefiting thousands of indigent mothers, and the disbursement of over N303 billion in student loans to more than 1.64 million beneficiaries through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
On the alleged oil windfall, Onanuga dismissed the N7.98 trillion figure as unsubstantiated, explaining that a shortfall in daily crude production of about 1.6 million barrels per day, against a forecast of 1.84 million, partly offset gains from higher oil prices.
He noted that inflation, which fell to 14.4% in November 2025 before rising to 15.91% amid disruptions linked to the Middle East war, is now projected to trend towards 12% by year-end.
He also cited the launch of the ward-centric NG-CARES, HOPE and SOLID programmes, valued at over $3 billion, alongside cash transfers to 15 million vulnerable households, as measures cautioning the impact of the reforms.
Onanuga concluded that while the reforms have carried undeniable costs, describing the administration’s fiscal policy as reckless overlooks the broader picture of structural change and microeconomic stabilisation.
Atiku Abubakar camp has yet to respond to the specific points raised in the statement.
