The Presidency has defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies against criticism by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, insisting that the administration’s reforms are delivering positive results despite initial challenges.
The Presidency also rejected allegations of fiscal recklessness, excessive borrowing and mismanagement of public finances, describing Atiku’s claims as misleading and based on outdated economic data.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated the government’s position in a statement issued on Saturday titled, “Facts, Not Fear: A Point-by-Point Response to Atiku Abubakar on Nigeria’s Reform Journey.”
Onanuga accused the former vice-president of basing his criticism on economic indicators from 2024 without acknowledging developments recorded since then.
“Politics thrives on disagreement. Democracy demands it. But disagreements must be rooted in facts, not frozen snapshots of history,” he said.
“When yesterday’s data are presented as today’s reality, the public deserves context.”
According to him, economies evolve continuously and reforms should be assessed over time rather than judged by conditions at the beginning of their implementation.
“Perhaps the first observation is chronological. It is curious that in the middle of 2026, the opposition’s principal economic argument remains anchored to developments in the 2024 fiscal year. Economies are dynamic. Reforms are processes, not events,” he added.
The presidential spokesman said Nigeria’s economy had improved following the foreign exchange reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.
He claimed that the country’s dollar-denominated Gross Domestic Product increased from about $253 billion after the exchange-rate adjustment to approximately $377 billion, while the naira value of the economy rose from about ₦314 trillion in 2024 to around ₦530 trillion.
Responding to Atiku’s concerns over the country’s debt burden, the Presidency argued that the sustainability of debt was more important than the total amount borrowed.
“On the matter of Nigeria’s debts, it is important to ask a broader question: What is Nigeria’s capacity to sustain her debt? For debt, in itself, is not the defining measure of fiscal health,” Onanuga said.
He maintained that Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio remained at about 40 per cent, describing it as relatively low compared to several African and developed economies.
The Presidency also defended the removal of fuel subsidy, saying the policy had significantly increased allocations to states and local governments.
According to Onanuga, the additional revenue had enabled subnational governments to invest more in infrastructure, education, healthcare and other development projects.
“The visible consequence of subsidy removal has been the sharp improvement in revenues accruing to states and local governments through the Federation Account,” he said.
On tax reforms, the Presidency dismissed claims that the government had imposed heavier taxes on Nigerians.
“The objective of the tax reforms is not merely to increase collections but to create a broader, more equitable tax system,” Onanuga stated.
He explained that the reforms were designed to ease the tax burden on low-income earners and small businesses while improving compliance among wealthier individuals and profitable companies.
The Presidency also disputed Atiku’s assertion that the Federal Government benefited from an alleged ₦7.98 trillion oil windfall.
According to Onanuga, the calculation ignored production costs, the share of crude allocated to oil companies and existing crude sale agreements.
“There is no such windfall of ₦7.98 trillion,” he said.
“The convenient mistake many analysts make is to multiply the oil price by the daily crude production volume to determine revenue to the government.”
He added that crude-backed loan obligations and lower-than-expected production had reduced the actual revenue available to government despite favourable global oil prices.
The Presidency said the administration had also recorded progress in healthcare, education and social intervention programmes, including the upgrade of over 3,000 primary healthcare centres, the retraining of more than 78,000 frontline health workers and the disbursement of over ₦303 billion through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund to more than 1.64 million students across 300 tertiary institutions.
Onanuga maintained that although the reforms had imposed short-term hardships, they were laying the foundation for long-term economic stability.
“History rarely remembers governments for the popularity of their decisions in the moment. It remembers whether those decisions ultimately strengthened or weakened the nation,” he said.
He added that while the economy had not yet reached its desired destination, the Tinubu administration would continue implementing reforms aimed at expanding opportunities, strengthening institutions and improving the living standards of Nigerians.
