Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, arguing that the devaluation of the naira has 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 questioned the impact of the administration’s policies on the living conditions of citizens.
He said the naira’s depreciation from about ₦500 to ₦1,500 to the dollar had significantly weakened Nigerians’ purchasing power, arguing that the development had made citizens 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. The naira went from ₦500 to a dollar to ₦1,500 to a dollar. What that meant was that every Nigerian is made poor by 300 per cent,” he said.
The former President described Nigeria as “the poverty capital of the world,” citing the number of people living in poverty.
Obasanjo also rejected arguments that the Tinubu administration needed more time to implement its reforms, saying he had yet to see significant improvements in the economy.
“For the economy, I don’t see anything getting better. What policies are you seeing through? You impoverish your people, and you want to see impoverishment through?” he asked.
He further argued that the programmes introduced by the Tinubu administration were not in the best interest of Nigerians.
On petrol subsidy removal, Obasanjo acknowledged the importance of fuel to economic activities but maintained that corruption associated with the subsidy system should have been addressed first.
He urged the government to tackle corruption, wastefulness and unnecessary luxury while prioritising domestic production to improve the economy.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria unified the foreign exchange market windows on June 14, 2023, as part of its efforts to reform the currency market. The official exchange rate stood at about ₦460.8 to the dollar before the policy.
The naira subsequently depreciated against the dollar, with the official rate reaching about ₦1,333.54 on October 19. It had earlier fallen to approximately ₦1,607.05 in early May 2025, according to figures in the original report.
The National Bureau of Statistics reported that headline inflation stood at 14.63 per cent in September, compared with 20.98 per cent a year earlier. Food inflation, however, remained at 19.59 per cent, while the economy recorded real gross domestic product growth of 4.43 per cent in the second quarter.
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The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, had said petrol subsidy removal saved the government ₦15.8 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
Efforts to obtain the Presidency’s reaction to Obasanjo’s comments were unsuccessful, as the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, could not be reached.
