The Presidency has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, insisting that the administration’s reforms are beginning to yield measurable results and should not be judged solely by the challenges experienced during their early implementation.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused Atiku of relying on outdated economic data from 2024 to criticise reforms whose impacts have become more evident in 2026.
According to Onanuga, “Politics thrives on disagreement. Democracy demands it. But disagreements must be rooted in facts, not frozen snapshots of history. When yesterday’s data are presented as today’s reality, the public deserves context.”
He argued that “a debate anchored in 2024 cannot explain Nigeria in 2026,” stressing that economies are dynamic and reforms should be evaluated over time rather than at their most difficult phase.
“Judging a reform programme solely by its earliest and most painful phase is like judging chemotherapy by the nausea it induces while ignoring the remission it seeks to achieve,” he said.
The presidential aide said the Nigerian economy had recovered significantly following the exchange-rate adjustment, noting that the country’s dollar-denominated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had risen from about $253 billion after the currency realignment to approximately $377 billion, while naira GDP increased from about ₦314 trillion in 2024 to around ₦530 trillion.
He maintained that “the economy did not remain frozen at its most difficult moment,” adding that “the reforms were never advertised as painless. They were presented as necessary structural adjustments intended to correct long-standing distortions.”
Responding to allegations of excessive borrowing, Onanuga argued that debt should be assessed alongside the country’s economic capacity rather than in isolation.
“What is Nigeria’s capacity to sustain her debt? For debt, in itself, is not the defining measure of fiscal health,” he said.
According to him, “Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio remains relatively modest at barely 40 per cent,” while the debt service-to-revenue ratio had fallen “from a high of nearly 100 per cent in December 2022 to less than 60 per cent today.”
He described the reduction as “a remarkable achievement that shows that Nigeria’s revenue efficiency has improved, while debt management remains conservative and astute.”
Defending the removal of fuel subsidy, Onanuga said successive governments had failed to end what he described as a fiscally damaging policy despite acknowledging its shortcomings.
“The current administration deserves commendation for being able to get rid of something that has become a lodestone around the neck of our collective patrimony,” he said.
He added that the policy had translated into “the sharp improvement in revenues accruing to states and local governments through the Federation Account,” enabling higher spending on roads, schools, hospitals, salaries, pensions and social programmes.
On Atiku’s criticism of the tax reforms, the presidential spokesman described the allegation as misleading.
“The objective of the tax reforms is not merely to increase collections but to create a broader, more equitable tax system,” he said.
He explained that “those with greater capacity should bear a larger share of the tax burden, while micro-enterprises and vulnerable households receive greater protection.”
According to Onanuga, the reforms are intended to reduce the tax burden on people earning ₦1 million annually or less and businesses with annual turnovers below ₦100 million.
Highlighting achievements in the health sector, he said over 3,000 primary healthcare centres had been revitalised as of April 2026, while more than 78,000 frontline health workers had been retrained in three years.
He added that “over 100 facilities across Nigeria provide free caesarean operations for indigent mothers,” while “three world-class cancer centres are operational in Kubwa, Enugu and Katsina.”
On education, Onanuga said more than 11,000 projects had been undertaken through the Universal Basic Education Commission in collaboration with state governments, while the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had supported over 1.64 million students with more than ₦303 billion in loans.
He described the student loan initiative as “another unprecedented initiative touching lives positively,” adding that “President Tinubu has seen to an end to strikes by university lecturers, such that a four-year programme does not go beyond four years.”
The Presidency also defended ongoing investments in transport, energy, housing, power, airports and digital infrastructure, saying they were designed to reduce logistics costs and support private-sector growth.
Responding to Atiku’s claim of a ₦7.98 trillion oil windfall, Onanuga dismissed the figure as inaccurate.
“There is no such windfall of ₦7.98 trillion,” he said, explaining that higher oil prices had been offset by lower-than-projected production and existing crude oil obligations tied to past loans.
He further argued that “the convenient mistake many analysts make is to multiply the oil price by the daily crude production volume to determine revenue to the government,” without accounting for production costs, production-sharing arrangements and forward sale contracts.
Calling for a more balanced assessment of the administration’s policies, Onanuga said “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 acknowledged that the reforms had imposed short-term hardships but maintained that they were laying the foundation for long-term economic stability.
“Nigeria’s economy is not yet where it aspires to be. But neither is it where it stood at the height of its structural distortions,” he said.
The presidential spokesman added that the Federal Government had introduced intervention programmes, including the ward-centric NG-CARES, HOPE and SOLID initiatives worth more than $3 billion, alongside cash transfers to 15 million vulnerable households.
He concluded that “the fundamental reforms will continue to expand opportunity, strengthen institutions, and deliver tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians. That is the focus of President Tinubu.”