NewStats: 3,262,280 , 8,176,709 topics. Date: Sunday, 01 June 2025 at 05:29 PM 2f5q3t

Nigeria’s shock therapy

Citizens have yet to feel the benefit of economic reform, but Bola Tinubu should press on

For years, Nigeria has been not so much a sleeping giant as a comatose one. Home to nearly one in five sub-Saharan Africans, its market of 230mn people should be an engine of continental growth. Instead it has been a drag, stuck in an oil-dependent rut, plagued by banditry and run by a political elite bent on self-enrichment. It is hardly surprising that all but a few investors may have missed the fact that Nigeria has turned a corner.

Halfway through the first presidential term of Bola Tinubu, who completes two years in office this Thursday, Nigeria is in better shape than at any time in the past decade. That may come as a surprise — or even sound like a sick joke — to tens of millions of Nigerians who are suffering the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

Yet Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos and the country’s wiliest politician in a generation, has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery. This year, the World Bank expects growth of 3.7 per cent, in what would be Nigeria’s best performance since 2014 save for a post-Covid rebound. Most ordinary Nigerians won’t feel that yet. But it is a decent performance when oil prices are weak. The tiny green shoots have come because Tinubu’s government has tackled — albeit in often haphazard fashion — debilitating structural distortions.

On day one Tinubu removed a ruinously expensive fuel subsidy. More important still, the central bank has restored monetary policy orthodoxy after a shambolic era in which only cronies with access to cheap dollars benefited. After a dangerous overshoot, the naira has stabilised, with the gap between the official and black market rate shrinking to almost nothing.

The central bank has stopped printing money to pay for government profligacy. Politicians still spend too much, often on fripperies like an extravagant presidential jet, but at least the government has begun to increase tax receipts.

Investors do not live in constant fear of a devaluation and can readily access dollars. That may eventually help Nigeria to diversify, but shorter term it is positive that oil production has recovered from a nadir of 1mn barrels a day to nearly 1.5mn last month. Oil theft has been reduced and local companies are squeezing more out of marginal fields.

That so much has been achieved by a government stuffed with cronies — and, to be fair, one or two competent technocrats — shows how much could be achieved if Nigeria really got its act together. There are plenty of ways for Tinubu to build on a promising start.

First, his government has to tackle inflation — still running at 24 per cent — with more urgency. Food is the biggest driver. State governments need to increase supply by providing farm inputs, security and better access to market.

Second, it must build on tax reform by achieving its stated aim of doubling the ratio of tax collected to 18 per cent of GDP. Some of that should be spent on woefully neglected schools and clinics — even more urgent given foreign aid cuts. That will bring benefits of its own but, just as importantly, will also help to establish a social contract, which has been dangerously lacking.

Third, and perhaps most crucial, the government must confront banditry and terrorism with the same single-mindedness as it did distorted monetary policy. The army needs cleaning up as urgently as did the central bank.

As Nigeria’s election cycle edges towards 2027, Tinubu may be tempted to slow the pace of change. That would be a mistake. He should forge ahead, with the overriding aim of making ordinary Nigerians — not just investors — feel the benefits of shock therapy.

https://www.ft.com/content/21c6d9a5-bd45-49af-8708-747417535e81


Photo: President Bola Tinubu has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery © Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty Images

Summary

The Financial Times says that Nigeria's economy has improved due to the current reforms, but the masses have not yet really felt the benefits. It says that President Tinubu might be tempted to slow the pace of his reforms as the 2027 elections approach, but that would be a mistake. Instead it says that the president should forge ahead and increase the reforms till the masses, not just investors, will feel the benefits of the reforms. It then suggests ways in which the president can achieve that.

Food is the biggest driver. State governments need to increase supply by providing farm inputs, security and better access to market.

More money is being spent on propaganda and image laundering than actual governance, but investors look at the numbers, shake their heads and go to other countries.

The best thing after sliced bread that happened to Nigeria is Tinubu.

naptu2:
Summary

The Financial Times says that Nigeria's economy has improved due to the current reforms. It says that President Tinubu might be tempted to slow the pace of his reforms as the 2027 elections approach, but that would be a mistake. Instead it says that the president should forge ahead and increase the reforms till the masses, not just investors, will feel the benefits of the reforms. It then suggests ways in which the president can achieve that.

We will not be distracted or misled....

The president will do what he feels is right.

The reforms are taking shape and some are underway while others are being studied. While all of that is being done. There's need to stay focus for a reelection since there are forces that are waking up to tarnish the president's efforts.

It's definitely going to be
4 + 4

Lol

Every other persons and entities are “seeing” Nigeria move forward. Nigerians in ground are saying otherwise. Till we see price of items in the market drop or price of petrol drop or even immediate stop in the white elephant projects they’re using to siphon money, I don’t think we’re moving forward. Even Buhari made headlines like this. But we know it wasn’t anything truthful. God please help Nigeria

#MyOpinion

Haters can go hang themselves, Tinubu still 2031,

..

This was a well balanced editorial with the Government given the knocks where necessary, praised for its bold and historical efforts for attempting to turn Nigeria fortunes around and advised on the next step towards robust economic recovery.

Apart from unrepentant cynics, even the international community knows that our President is trying and leading Nigeria out of the woods .

I love the fact that the greedy State Governors are singled out - “ First, his government has to tackle inflation — still running at 24 per cent — with more urgency. Food is the biggest driver. State governments need to increase supply by providing farm inputs, security and better access to market ”.

The Governors had sold all the lands to real estate people instead of ing the President in its drive to jolt the economy. It’s a sorry case. Nigerians blame the President only for their woes while excusing the Governors for their incompetence. Pretty sad and ill informed.

Anybody wey wan cry, make e cry, Tinubu is matching forward

Propaganda can only go far to satisfy a bloated ego. But the people will always .

Some people will argue that Financial Times was bribed to launder the image of the government.

There are many of them who'd never see anything good with their own country. The celebrate failure and lack of progress. But they openly celebrate a glaring failure who cannot even manage internal party crisis.

We were here in 2015 where things were gruseomely bad. We were here when states were insolvent. We were here when subsidy scam was exposed and many people were implicated. We were here when former President Buhari bailed out states. We were also here when money was borrowed to pay salaries.

Today, we are seeing glimmers of hope:

1. More than 54 billion naira was ploughed from EFCC recoveries to student loan funds. No one has come out to say student loans were a bad idea.

2. There are now development commissions for the geopolitical zones. That is to bring development to the people. No one has successfully faulted them.

3. Nigeria fulfilled the debt repayment obligations to IMF for the Covid-19 funds. Even those who celebrate negativity had nothing to say.

4. We cannot deny that security has improved. I only ask that decisive actions be taken against those funding insecurity and their soldiers.

5. We also cannot deny that Nigeria ramped up oil production.

6. Increased revenues have accrued to states. Some naysayers argue that the dollar equivalent is actually a drop in revenue allocation. Except you import from abroad, you have no business with dollar rate.

7. After 8 years of a comatose FCT minister, no one can deny that the FCT istration is now more active than ever. President Tinubu made a good call in appointing Wike to lead the FCT.

8. The most important accomplishment is that Nigeria is still one indivisible country. We can see that what is causing crises in the opposition parties include disunity and selfishness. Without unity, there can be no progress.

9. Another important accomplishment is freedom. The freedom we enjoy in Nigeria cannot be granted to anyone in other democracies.

As for those who are angling for power, they have not told us what they'd do differently. They simply cannot articulate ideas of development. We have asked them to explain to us their strategic plans. All they want is to send Tinubu back to Lagos.

Please, who among them is actually better than Tinubu based on track records?

People dey collect left right center and all around under Pharaoh Tinubu 🤦

It will favor my family and I gangs have been seeing raw thunder 🤐

Paid online tinubu army are already on the thread

PAID article

What money cannot do doesn’t exist.

It is obvious that BAT's reforms are to enrich himself and cronies.

Every single action of bat is designed to funnel funds to his pocket and those of his underlings...

He creates positions so that his boys can eat. His appointments are made to satisfy political interests.

Even the crumbs that is meant for the masses is still siphoned by his cronies. And they all laugh and mock the masses...

2027 will be the year when Nigerians will put a stop to this nonsense.

naptu2:


https://www.ft.com/content/21c6d9a5-bd45-49af-8708-747417535e81


Photo: President Bola Tinubu has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery © Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty Images

Nigeria is in better shape now than any time in the past decade, eh?

Did you notice that this is exactly 2015-2025?

10 years of APC misrule?

Sure, the writer is a paid goon, but she couldn't bring herself to tell an outright lie.

Let us keep on praying to Allah for more blessings

Your life will be exactly the way Nigeria is right now.

IJN.

Pls say Amen.

JASONjnr:


We will not be distracted or misled....

The president will do what he feels is right.

The reforms are taking shape and some are underway while others are being studied. While all of that is being done. There's need to stay focus for a reelection since there are forces that are waking up to tarnish the president's efforts.

It's defining to be
4 + 4

Bring the price of Petrol down to 500 naira and see inflation drop

naptu2:

Nigeria’s shock therapy

Citizens have yet to feel the benefit of economic reform, but Bola Tinubu should press on

For years, Nigeria has been not so much a sleeping giant as a comatose one. Home to nearly one in five sub-Saharan Africans, its market of 230mn people should be an engine of continental growth. Instead it has been a drag, stuck in an oil-dependent rut, plagued by banditry and run by a political elite bent on self-enrichment. It is hardly surprising that all but a few investors may have missed the fact that Nigeria has turned a corner.

Halfway through the first presidential term of Bola Tinubu, who completes two years in office this Thursday, Nigeria is in better shape than at any time in the past decade. That may come as a surprise — or even sound like a sick joke — to tens of millions of Nigerians who are suffering the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

Yet Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos and the country’s wiliest politician in a generation, has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery. This year, the World Bank expects growth of 3.7 per cent, in what would be Nigeria’s best performance since 2014 save for a post-Covid rebound. Most ordinary Nigerians won’t feel that yet. But it is a decent performance when oil prices are weak. The tiny green shoots have come because Tinubu’s government has tackled — albeit in often haphazard fashion — debilitating structural distortions.

On day one Tinubu removed a ruinously expensive fuel subsidy. More important still, the central bank has restored monetary policy orthodoxy after a shambolic era in which only cronies with access to cheap dollars benefited. After a dangerous overshoot, the naira has stabilised, with the gap between the official and black market rate shrinking to almost nothing.

The central bank has stopped printing money to pay for government profligacy. Politicians still spend too much, often on fripperies like an extravagant presidential jet, but at least the government has begun to increase tax receipts.

Investors do not live in constant fear of a devaluation and can readily access dollars. That may eventually help Nigeria to diversify, but shorter term it is positive that oil production has recovered from a nadir of 1mn barrels a day to nearly 1.5mn last month. Oil theft has been reduced and local companies are squeezing more out of marginal fields.

That so much has been achieved by a government stuffed with cronies — and, to be fair, one or two competent technocrats — shows how much could be achieved if Nigeria really got its act together. There are plenty of ways for Tinubu to build on a promising start.

First, his government has to tackle inflation — still running at 24 per cent — with more urgency. Food is the biggest driver. State governments need to increase supply by providing farm inputs, security and better access to market.

Second, it must build on tax reform by achieving its stated aim of doubling the ratio of tax collected to 18 per cent of GDP. Some of that should be spent on woefully neglected schools and clinics — even more urgent given foreign aid cuts. That will bring benefits of its own but, just as importantly, will also help to establish a social contract, which has been dangerously lacking.

Third, and perhaps most crucial, the government must confront banditry and terrorism with the same single-mindedness as it did distorted monetary policy. The army needs cleaning up as urgently as did the central bank.

As Nigeria’s election cycle edges towards 2027, Tinubu may be tempted to slow the pace of change. That would be a mistake. He should forge ahead, with the overriding aim of making ordinary Nigerians — not just investors — feel the benefits of shock therapy.

https://www.ft.com/content/21c6d9a5-bd45-49af-8708-747417535e81


Photo: President Bola Tinubu has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery © Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty
https://www.ft.com/content/21c6d9a5-bd45-49af-8708-747417535e81


Photo: President Bola Tinubu has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery © Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty Images

Pls can somebody explain this master strategy for me:
Pay off $3.4b, borrow $21.5b.
Tinubu the master strategist😂😅😂😅



NIGERIA’s Foreign Loan Obligations:
* AfDB debt is $2.1 billion
* WB debt is $16.46 billion.
* China Exim debt is N5.06 billion.
* Eurobond market debt is $17.32b.

E shock u?