'Nigeria Was on The Brink of Bankruptcy When I Assumed Office, My Reforms Necessary, Already Yielding Results' Says Tinubu
Olufemi Orunsola
President Bola Tinubu has stated that he took over a country on the brink of financial collapse after the tenure of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, noting that his administration’s early economic reforms have saved Nigeria from plunging into bankruptcy.
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) reports that President Tinubu made the remarks on Thursday while addressing a delegation of his former National Assembly colleagues from the aborted Third Republic at the State House in Abuja.
According to him, “Nigeria would have been bankrupt if we had not taken the actions that we took, and we had to prevent the economy’s collapse."
Tinubu's assertion is coming amid widespread criticisms of his administration over what some people have described as pain-inflicting economic policies, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies, which has contributed to inflation and soaring costs of consumer goods.
Discountenancing the prevalent economic hardships and hunger in the land, Tinubu insisted that his policies were necessary to ensure a stable future for the country.
Tinubu explained that, “For 50 years, Nigeria was spending money of generations yet unborn and servicing the West Coast of our subregion with fuel. It was getting difficult to plan for our children’s future."
Despite the criticisms that have attended to his administration since he took office in May 2023, Tinubu maintained that his economic decisions, including the unification of exchange rates, are gradually setting the country on the path to recovery.
He further observed that hat the inflation in Nigeria had gradually started to decrease while food prices, that had earlier skyrocketed, had equally staryed to stabilize.
“Today, we are sitting pretty on a good foundation. We have reversed the problem; the exchange rate is stabilising. Food prices are coming down, especially during Ramadan. We will have light at the end of the tunnel,” the president said.
Although there are speculations that Tinubu’s remarks about inheriting a struggling economy from his predecessor, Buhari raises political questions, given that both leaders remain key allies within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), OTN News recalls that former President Buhari, who served from 2015 to 2023, had always insisted that he left Nigeria in a better state than he met it.
While Tinubu's statement could be perceived as a veiled criticism of his predecessor's administration, Buhari, who recently relocated to Kaduna, has not publicly responded to the claim by Tinubu.
OTN News however observes that there are speculations about Buhari’s loyalty to the APC ahead of the 2027 elections but the former president had issued a statement earlier in the day, reaffirming his support for Tinubu and dismissing claims that he was considering aligning with the opposition parties ahead of 2027.
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