Former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has revealed the only achievement of President Bola Tinubu’s administration so far, saying Nigerians are yet to fully feel the impact of the government’s economic reforms.
Ezekwesili made the assessment in an interview with News Central TV at the weekend.
She acknowledged that the government had made progress in stabilising the foreign exchange market by adhering to market principles, but said the improvement had yet to translate into better living conditions for ordinary Nigerians.
According to her, Nigeria could not be said to be “out of the woods” as poverty remained widespread and the cost of living continued to rise.
“The only thing that, as I said at the beginning, we can give to them is that they are getting a handle on macroeconomic stability. So, for example, the volatility we have with foreign exchange rate is quieter because they are abiding by market principles for foreign exchange policy.
“Then you look at inflation. Inflation, even though they use the methodology to crash it in terms of the numbers, but the real thing is that the cost of living for the average citizen is still pretty high,” she said.
Ezekwesili also criticised the handling of inflation under Tinubu’s government, arguing that the sharp increase in prices was avoidable and resulted from a combination of policy decisions.
“The inflation that spiked did not have to happen. It was a poor management of a combination of policies that led to that runaway kind of inflation that we had,” she said.
The former minister said macroeconomic indicators should not be viewed in isolation from the structural challenges affecting Nigeria’s economy.
She identified low productivity as one of the major constraints to economic growth, job creation and improved household incomes.
“What do you have? You have a complete lack of productivity in yours compared to the others. So without productivity, you can’t even be competitive globally,” she said.
Ezekwesili further argued that Nigeria’s economic challenges were linked to structural misalignments arising from policy choices that had failed to adequately address the constraints to productivity and economic opportunity.
She also criticised the Federal Government’s approach to budgeting, describing the operation of multiple budgets at the same time as a sign of weak fiscal management.
“The other thing is you look at the budget. You see that there is a problem. You have budgets within budgets,” she said.
Comparing Nigeria’s budget implementation with China’s, Ezekwesili said the Asian country typically passes an annual budget and focuses on executing it before moving to the next fiscal cycle.
“In our own case, I think there was a time they said 2024 is still open, 2025 is still open, 2026 is on,” she said, describing the situation as “recklessness in terms of fiscal choices and decisions.”
She also faulted the administration for what she described as inadequate disclosure of its performance records, saying citizens should have access to information that would enable them to properly assess the government’s achievements.
“And also this is a government that does not give you performance record. It’s almost like the young ones keep screaming about publishing the performance record before something gets done,” she said.
Ezekwesili urged the Federal Government to be more transparent about the challenges facing the economy and acknowledge that significant problems remained unresolved despite the progress recorded in some areas.
