Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, alleging that the sharp devaluation of the naira has significantly worsened poverty and reduced Nigerians’ purchasing power.
Obasanjo made the remarks on Wednesday at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London, United Kingdom, where he faulted the currency reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration in 2023.
According to the former president, the naira’s depreciation from about N500 to the dollar to approximately N1,500 amounted to a substantial loss in the currency’s value, leaving Nigerians poorer.
“We do not live in isolation as a country. We interact with the rest of the world. And overnight, you devalue the currency by 300 per cent,” Obasanjo said.
He added, “The naira went from N500 to a dollar to N1,500 to a dollar. What that meant was that every Nigerian is made poor by 300 per cent.”
Obasanjo argued that the impact of the currency’s depreciation had contributed to Nigeria’s worsening poverty situation, describing the country as “the poverty capital of the world” because of the number of people living in poverty.
He challenged the government to justify the reforms, questioning whether the economic consequences were beneficial to Nigerians.
“You cannot say to me that that is good for Nigeria. You cannot say to me that that is good for us in any sense,” he said.
The former president also dismissed calls for Nigerians to give the Tinubu administration more time to deliver on its economic reform agenda, saying he had yet to see convincing signs of improvement in the economy.
While the government has defended its reforms as necessary to address longstanding economic challenges, critics have continued to raise concerns about the immediate burden on households and businesses.
