Tanimu Yakubu: Widespread Poverty, Hardship Can’t Be Blamed on Tinubu’s Economic Reforms

Budget Office Director-General Tanimu Yakubu stated that the widespread poverty and hardship facing Nigerians cannot be blamed on President Bola Tinubu's economic reforms. Yakubu emphasized that Nigeria entered the reform period with deep-rooted economic weaknesses, including low productivity, foreign exchange distortions, fiscal leakages, and unreliable power supply.

He argued that the persistence of these issues should not be automatically attributed to the reforms. Yakubu urged a distinction between the conditions that produced Nigeria's poverty crisis and the policies currently being implemented to address them. He cautioned against interpreting World Bank data on poverty as a simple headcount, noting that it also included people vulnerable to economic shocks.

Yakubu pointed out that Nigeria's poverty crisis predated the reforms and should thus be assessed against the inherited economic conditions. Improvements in macroeconomic indicators, such as real GDP growth and international reserves, were cited as evidence that the reforms were addressing some structural problems. However, Yakubu emphasized that improving economic stability alone was insufficient and that the government must ensure that stability translates into higher productivity, increased investment, employment, and household incomes.

He also rejected the notion that declining GDP in US dollars represented a contraction in economic activity, arguing that real GDP, productivity, employment, sectoral output, and real household consumption were better indicators. Yakubu acknowledged that the naira's depreciation had welfare losses but maintained that it should not be confused with a collapse in real production.

He warned that the government should not use improved macroeconomic indicators as an excuse for complacency, stressing the need for tangible improvements in living standards through reliable electricity, infrastructure, security, and social support.