Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, claiming that the sharp devaluation of the naira has made Nigerians significantly poorer.
Obasanjo spoke on Wednesday at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London, United Kingdom, where he argued that the currency’s depreciation had worsened the country’s economic hardship.
He said the naira had fallen from about N500 to the dollar to N1,500 following the reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration in 2023.
“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 argued that the development had eroded Nigerians’ purchasing power, adding that the country had become “the poverty capital of the world” because of the large number of people living in poverty.
“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 more time for Tinubu’s administration to deliver on its economic reforms, insisting that he had yet to see meaningful 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.
Obasanjo maintained that the policies introduced by the Tinubu administration were not in the best interest of Nigerians.
On petrol subsidy removal, he acknowledged the importance of fuel to virtually every aspect of the economy but argued that corruption accounted for much of what Nigeria described as subsidy.
He urged the government to prioritise tackling corruption, waste and unnecessary luxury while boosting domestic production to address the country’s economic challenges.
