On 19 August 2026, as campaigning formally began for Nigeria's January 2027 presidential elections, finance minister Taiwo Oyedele held a briefing to deliver the government's economic scorecard. Having pushed through some of the toughest economic reforms in recent Nigerian history since taking office, the administration of President Bola Tinubu is keen to control the narrative ahead of the coming vote.
Oyedele argued that Tinubu's administration had pulled the country back from the brink of a fiscal disaster. At the heart of his argument was the insistence that Tinubu's decision to end decades of fuel subsidies and float the exchange rate has done more good than harm.
Not all Nigerians see it that way. For Africa's most populous country, with more than 220m people, dependent on roads for the movement of goods and people, the sudden threefold surge in fuel prices unleashed by the removal of fuel subsidies sent painful ripples through households.
Critics say that the devaluation of the naira - which has lost two thirds of its value against the US dollar since the advent of Tinubu's government in May 2023 - has fuelled inflation, decimating the purchasing power of the Nigerian working and middle classes. "Those decisions came at a real cost, and we are not here to pretend otherwise," said Oyedele. "Households and businesses felt it, and many still do."
Originally published by African Business.