Group Urges Tinubu to Sustain Policy Reforms as 2027 Election Cycle Approaches

James Emejoin Abuja

As the 2027 election cycle inches closer, a policy advocacy group, Independent Media and Policy Initiatives (IMPI), yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu to press ahead with ongoing economic reforms, and ensure that Nigerians feel the positive impact of the policy changes.

The group expressed worry that the president could be tempted to slow down on his reform agenda as the election draw closer, warning that this could be a costly mistake for his potential return.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, Chairman, IMPI, Dr. OmoniyiAkinsiju, hailed the reform initiatives of the present administration, adding that “if the succeeding government to the MuhammaduBuhari administration had shied away from confronting the distortions in the national economy, the country was surely heading to bankruptcy”.

He said the group agreed with the position of the Financial Times that, “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 his shock therapy.”

Akinsiju said, “This is also our stance”.

According to him, IMPI  conducted an audit of global and domestic institutional ratings and quantification of the country’s ongoing economic reforms.

He said the outcome indicated that Nigeria was been  increasinglyrecognised as a rising economic force and admired across the globe for the resolve shown by its leader in implementing difficult but necessary reforms.

He said, “However, tangential to this growing positive global and domestic perceptions among communities of investors, we have also observed a strain of incredulity in some quarters of the national political class and the media that continue to belie the profound management of the national economy by the federal administration of President Tinubu.”

He said, “These elements have trenchantly reduced the nation’s economic trajectory to a characterisation of high cost of living, bereft of the ongoing profound manoeuvres to restructure the national economy away from the misalignments and distortions of the past.

Akinsiju said, “After coming to office on 29 May 2023, President Tinubu embarked on a deep economic reform programme, which global, and domestic institutions including individuals of responsible and objective standing have all conceded to be necessary to right the distortions that hitherto hallmarked the public finances of Africa’s most populous country.

“Of course, those measures have come at a cost to many ordinary Nigerians, who are facing an cost-of-living reality on the heels of the implementation of what is now known as the twin policies of petroleum subsidy removal and the harmonization of the foreign exchange’s multiple windows.

“We wish, however, to assert that this does not define the multidimensional impact of the federal administration’s reforms of the last two years.”

He said shortly after the commencement of the implementation of the two flagship reform policies, including market- determined petrol prices which increased  77 per cent and the Naira, which weakened to 42 per cent in 2024 – both contributed to inflation, which stood at 33.2 per cent in 2024, up from 24.7 per cent in 2023.

According to him, “To dampen inflationary pressures, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tightened the policy rate to 27.5 per cent, creating in its wake different pressure points in the economy that include increased price of food, higher cost of movement of goods and people, and ballooning cost of import of raw materials and household items which are basic symptoms of an economy in transition.

“Most impacted were the employed urban poor population, that is, those earning low wages and have to pay for transportation daily to get to work.

“This immediate manifestation of price outburst across consumption items and services had always been expected by all past governments and managers of the nation’s economy.”

He said, “The unspoken word at that time was that the harbinger of any form of reform around petroleum subsidy and multiple exchange rates was condemned to unpopularity by the political class.

“For that reason, all civilian administrations from 1999 merely nibbled at the idea of addressing disconcerting issues arising from subsidy removal and harmonisation of the multiple exchange windows.

“These former leaders took to their heels at the first sign of protestation coming from the opposition political class.”

Continuing, he said, “Yet, the challenges and associated economic constraints consequent upon the sustenance of what had been described as the ruinous policies of fuel subsidy and multiple exchange rate, refused to disappear.

“According to the World Bank, Nigeria’s total revenue had rocketed to $67.9 billion in 2010 from a low of $10.8 billion in 2001, but in an exemplification of unreasoned profligacy, the country spent over $ 85 billion on fuel subsidies between 2001 and 2023.

“This has had a significant impact on funds available for critical infrastructure and other essential sectors such as education, health, and defence.

“According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the country’s public debt stock increased as the government had to borrow N1 trillion to finance fuel subsidy in the year 2022.

“All these are notorious facts and evidenced by data in the public space which we do not need to reiterate here.”