ABUJA — Special Adviser, Media & Public Communication/Spokesperson to President Bola Tinubu, Sunday Dare, has faulted a recent assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration by The Economist, accusing the international publication of relying on a distorted narrative of Nigeria’s political and economic situation.
Dare stated this in a statement posted on his X platform on Wednesday, titled, “Beyond the Economist Condescension: Nigeria’s Re-engineering Under Tinubu Is Unstoppable.”
He challenged the publication’s claim that Nigerians dislike President Tinubu, describing the assertion as inconsistent with what he called the administration’s ongoing economic and structural reforms.
According to Dare, foreign publications have often assessed Nigeria through what he described as a “cracked, distorted lens,” while focusing on the country’s difficulties without adequately considering the conditions inherited by the Tinubu administration in May 2023.
He said the administration did not inherit what he described as a “functioning, well-oiled state,” but an economy facing severe fiscal and structural challenges.
Dare cited the former fuel subsidy regime, multiple foreign exchange windows and high debt-service-to-revenue ratios among the problems confronting the country before Tinubu assumed office.
He argued that addressing such structural problems could not be achieved without transitional difficulties.
“To suggest that these structural cancers could be excised overnight without transitional pain is economically illiterate,” he said.
Dare said the Tinubu administration had instead taken what he described as difficult but necessary decisions to address longstanding economic distortions.
He cited the removal of fuel subsidy, foreign exchange reforms and the implementation of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, as examples of policies he said were changing the country’s economic and social landscape.
According to him, the removal of the subsidy had stopped the diversion of public resources into what he described as an unsustainable system and allowed more funds to be directed towards infrastructure and other areas of development.
He also said the rationalisation of the foreign exchange market had reduced opportunities for arbitrage, while contributing to improved foreign investment, trade balances and external reserves.
On education, Dare said NELFUND had enabled hundreds of thousands of students to pursue higher education without the immediate burden of tuition fees.
He maintained that the reforms should be assessed against the conditions that preceded them rather than solely on the basis of the short-term hardship associated with their implementation.
Dare said Nigeria was undergoing what he described as a fundamental restructuring under Tinubu and argued that the process remained on course despite criticisms from local and international commentators.
He urged Nigerians and observers to consider the administration’s policies within the broader context of the country’s economic challenges and the long-term objectives of the reforms.
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