Tinubu’sEconomicPoliciesHurting Nigerians–BabachirLawal
Yusuf Oketola
AformerSecretary totheGovernmentoftheFederaon,Mr.Babachir Lawal,hascricised PresidentBolaTinubu’s policiesonagriculture, whichhesaidhaveunderminedthecountry’s foodsecuritypotenals.
AccordingtoLawal, thereversaloftheban onimportaonoffood itemshasdonemore harmthangoodtothe country’seconomy.
Hestatedthiswhile featuringonChannels Television’sPolicsTodayrecently.
StressingthatNigeriahadachievedalevel offoodsufficiencywith theNo-Food-Import policy,theformerSGF notedthatthechoices ofthepresentadmin-
istraonhaveinflicted morehardshiponthe cizenryratherthan
improvetheirlives.
Acoordinated a empt to eliminate the Naonal Secretary of the African Democra c Congress (ADC), Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been exposed.
A group, ‘The Omoluabi Progressives’, who raisedthealarmsaidrecent events point to a poli cal andphysicalcampaigntosilence the former two-term governorofOsunState.
The group, in a statement by its organising
Badmus secretary, Oluwaseun Abosede,saidinflammatoryremarks, veiled threats, and
state-backed ac ons by somepeoplehaveshown that there is a possible sinister agenda against the immediate past MinisterofInterior.
The statement referenced some recent acvi es, including a social media post on August 2, 2025, in which a journalist, Mayor Akinpelu, wrotethat“nomancould repay good with evil and getawaywithit.”
The Omoluabi Progressives noted that the ar cle,amplifiedbyPresiden al spokesman,Bayo Onanuga, suggested dire consequences for Aregbesola.
The group also said on August 14, 2025, another journalist, Gbonka Ebiri allegedly described Aregbesola as a sell-out and called for him to face the wrathofYorubaland.
The statement stated that, “Taken together, these developments raise genuinefearsthatasinister agendais beingorchestrated to silence him permanently under the guise of poli cs.”
“Yoruba Na on agitator,SundayIgboho,madea declara onatarallyonJuly 23, 2025, interpreted as a
Hiswords,“Istarted cricisingthegovernmentwhenheappointedtheCBNgovernor, andthemanstartedremovingrestriconson certaininputs,whichI consideredimportant tothemassesofthe country.Icannotunderstandwhyhewill removethosepolicies. Nowyoucanimport rice,youcanimport fooditems,whichthe wholeideatomeis againstBuhari’spolicy offoodsecurityand foodsufficiency.
“AtthemeBuhari wasingovernment,we
hadbecomeanetexporterofrice,producingthegrainsthatwe consumeinsomeexcess,whichweexport toWestAfricancountries.Ihadsaidfora longmethatthepolicyofthisgovernment wasgoingtocrashthe farmingindustry,andit did.
“Yougetfoodinflaonwhenyouimport; payfortransportaon, customsduesand otherexpensesassociatedwithimporng. Ifyouproducelocally, youwillremovethose costelements.So,I
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callforviolence.Hereportedly stated in Yoruba, ‘Ilẹ o mú wọn’ meaning ‘the land will consume them’, a phrase the group said was directedatAregbesola.”
The group also alleged, “police opera ves with an Armoured Personnel Carrier disrupted an African Democra c Congress rally in Sagamu, Ogun State on Tuesday.
“The event was scheduledtobeaddressedbyAregbesolainsupportofHon.
Solomon Oluwaseyi Osho, candidate in the House of Representa ves bye-elecon.
“Thevenuewasreportedlyvandalised,equipment seized andAregbesolaprevented from a ending the event.”
The statement described the pa ern of rhetoric and physical obstruc onastheanatomyof
•ThesceneatIbadanNorthFederalConstituencybye-electiononSaturday
assassina on poli cs, callingforurgentac ontoensure the safety of the ADC
na onalsecretary. The group, however, saidit alignedwith the po-
THE African Democra c Congress (ADC) has expressed grave concern over the conduct ofthe by-elec ons held on Saturday, August 16, 2025 across 13 states and 16 cons tuencies of the federa on.
According to the party, the exercise once again exposed how far Nigeria’s electoral process has deteriorated under President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The ADC’s Na onal PublicitySecretary,Mallam BolajiAbdullahi,in a statement on Sunday, said the country’s main opposi on party noted that the elecons were riddled with widely reported violence, vote buying, manipula on, and other administra ve lapses.
TheADCnotedthatthe party did not field candidatesfor most oftheposions contested in the byelec on.Therefore,withall its flaws and irregulari es, this elec on should not be seen as a measure of the strength or capacity of the Opposi on Coali on, but rather as a sad reflec on of how far the system has beencorruptedagainstthe willofthepeople.
The statement read: “WhatNigerianswitnessed in yesterday’s by-elec ons is yet another reminder that under the current administra on, democracy itself,justliketheeconomy and our na onal security, con nues to decline under President Bola Ahmed TinubuandtheAPC.
“When elec ons are marred by widespread violence, when ballots are
openly and brazenly exchanged for money, when opposi on candidates are excluded without explanaon,andwhentheveryins tu onsentrustedtosafeguard democracy become complicit, then the vote of the ordinary Nigerian ceasestohavemeaning.
“In some states, nearly 300thugsarmedwithrifles, knives, and cutlasses were arrested on elec on day. Is this democracy—orbanditrydisguisedasvo ng?
“In some states, whole pollingunitswerecancelled duetoballotboxsnatching and the open in mida on of voters. If ci zens cannot gotothepollswithoutfear of assault, then the most basic covenant between thestateanditspeoplehas alreadybrokendown.
“In one state, a votebuyer was caught with N25.9 million intended to procure and corrupt the willofthepeople.Inanother, elec on officials were themselves implicated in similar inducements. This is no longer isolated malprac ce;itisfastbecoming the poli cal culture of our electoralprocessunderthe APC.
“A er so many years, the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accredita on System
(BVAS) in some states has onceagainraisedques ons about the Commission’s competence, sincerity, and perhaps, complicity. Nigerians deserve elec ons thatcommandstheimplicit confidence of every ci zen and respect of the rest of the world. INEC must not beallowedto turnexcuses toacodeofconduct.
“Thebiggerpicturethat we must all remember is that for be er or worse, these by-elec ons represent the clearest indicaon of a dress rehearsal for 2027. If violence, vote buying, candidate in mida on and exclusion, and collusion between security forces and compromised elec on officials become thenewnormal,thenNigerians and the interna onal community must brace themselves.
“TheADCtherefore callsonPresidentBola AhmedTinubutorise abovehisparsaninterest andforonce,demonstrate genuineleadershipbyensuringthatNigerianscan casttheirvotesfreelyand safely.
“ThePresidentmust recognisethatnogovernmentcanclaimlegimacy ifitconsistentlypresides overeleconsthatci-
zensandtheinternaonal communityperceiveas fraudulent.
“Wecalloninecnigeriatoimmediatelyinvesgatethebrazenand recklessirregularies thathavebeenrevealed andreported,sancon allcompromisedofficials, andtaketheurgentand necessarystepstorestore publicconfidenceinour naon’selectoralprocess. IfINECcannotguaranteetheintegrityofabyelecon,thenNigerians arerighttoquesonits instuonalcapacityand all-roundreadinessfora generalelecon.
“Inasimilarregard, theADCcallsontheinternaonalcommunity, especiallyNigeria’sdemocracpartnersandeleconobservers,nottolook away.Silenceintheface ofsuchbrazensubversion ofdemocracnormswill onlyemboldenthosewho profitfromthischaos.Nigeriaistooimportantto Africaandtheworldto allowitsdemocracytocollapseundertheweightof complicitimpunity.
“Weurgecivilsociety, themedia,faithleaders, andindeedeveryNigerian whobelievesinfreedom toresisttheslideintoelectoralbanditry.Ifwedonot defendthesanctyofthe ballottoday,theremaybe nothingletodefendtomorrow.
“TheADCnotesthe recentdeclaraonofboth thePDPandtheAPCas terroristorganisaonsby aCanadiancourt.This musthavecomeasgreat embarrassmenttoallcizens.Butevidenceofthis by-eleconmakesitdifficulttopleadtheircase.”
the threats through its chairman, Dayo Ogunlana whosaidthat,“Yorubapolics must not descend into in mida onandviolence.”
Thestatement stressed that Aregbesola had commi ed no offence in pursuing an independent poli cal path and that his cons tu onal rights must be respected, calling on securityagenciestoactdecisively.
“Thesafety,dignity,and poli cal rights of Yoruba leaders must not be sacrificedonthealtarofopportunism.
“Any further escala on of threats could endanger Aregbesolaandundermine
peace in Yorubaland,” the statementconcluded.
OSUN DEFENDER reports that the ADC Naonal Secretary in 2022, narrowly escaped assassina on when his convoy was a acked at the Osun statecapital,Osogbo.
Aregbesola, who was the Minister of Interior then, had a ended a federal cons tuency mee ng of the All Progressive Congress in the Obokun/Oriade Federal Cons tuency headquarters,Ijebu-Jesa.
A er the mee ng, Aregbesola decided to visit the state capital to assess the levelof damageto the Oranmiyan House, his old campaignoffice,whichhad earlier come under similar a acksby yet-to-be-idenfiedgunmen.
Aregbesola, who had following him, a huge crowd ofOsogboresidents who were chan ng and running a er his convoy, had acknowledged cheers from the residents in the statecapital.
Amidst the cheers and hailing of huge crowd of Osogbo residents who were chan ng and runninga erhisconvoy,some gunshotsweresaidtohave been heard from a far distance.
The gunshots became moreintenseastheconvoy proceeded, and it was the teamofpolicemen,Na onal Security, Civil Defence Corps, and the Directorate ofStateIntelligenceoperaveswho were in theconvoythatledeffortstorepel thea ack.
•Continuedfromfrontpagefoodwewereeang.
don’tseeanythingright withthatdecision.
“Thathasalways beentheissue.Itisnot becauseBolaisnottall likemeorsomething; itistheeconomy.Itis hurngmeandhurtingeverybodyIcome across.
“AsIhavejusttold you,bythemethey tookover,wewereselfsufficientwithfood.We hadreachedalevelof sufficiencywithfood. Wewereexporngrice becauseoftheagricprogrammesofthatgovernment(Buhari).Wewere producingmostofthe
“Ifthepoliciesthat thisgovernmentareputnginplacearegood andaregoingtoyield fruitsintwentytothirty years,thechildmight havebeenstarvedto death.Orofwhatuseare thosepoliciestothechild then?”Lawalstressed.
si on of the Coali on of Oodua Self-Determina on Groups, which condemned
Yusuf Oketola
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netswereconstructedtoact asashockabsorber.
Noamountofspincan disguiseaglearingfact-Nigerianshaveneverhaditso punishing!.Ifyouseektoappreciatethepunivenature ofthedevaluaon,justlook aroundyou.Noamountof spinandthecreaonofalternaverealitycanmaskthe riseinmalnutrion,theupwardtrendinpupilsinwithdrawnfromschoolbecause ofnotonlytheschoolfees butalsothecostoftransportingthemtoschoolandback. Therearevirtually,nomore schoolbussesinthestate. Thisishedious!Wenow havethegorysiteofschool childrenskippingbusstops inordertobeabletogetto schoolandback.Theretenoncapacityasaresultmust beverylowandisreflected inschooltestresults.
Therealityinthemarkets andinthefarmsisstark.The devaluaonhasreckedpurchasingpower.Becauseofthe inadequacyinstoringfacilies,farmersandtradersare facewithglaringloses.What oughttohavebeendoneif therehadbeenacohesive ameliorangcounteraack isthattheshippingcontainerswhichlaterthelandscape shouldhavebeenconverted underagovernmentprivatesectorpartnershipinto
“Thedevaluationis
punitiveasanyone payingrents,school feesandbearing transportationcosts willtestify.Thepainfullessonhereis thatadevaluationof anationalcurrency, particularlyincountrieswithvirtuallyno safetynetsshould havedonevirtually inluckstepwiththe buildingupofsocial safetynets”
solarpaneledcoldstorage facilies.Thiswillhaveunleashedagreeneconomy createdthousandsofnew jobsandrebuilttechnical capacity.Thisshouldbe donenow.
Thedevaluaonispuniveasanyonepayingrents, schoolfeesandbearing transportaoncostswill tesfy.Thepainfullesson hereisthatadevaluaonof anaonalcurrency,parcularlyincountrieswithvirtuallynosafetynetsshould havedonevirtuallyinluck stepwiththebuildingupof socialsafetynets.Agood examplehereiscomesfrom
Chile.WhentheLanAmericancountryembarkedonthe phasing-outof“subsidies”.It wasdoneovereightyears duringwhichanexportdrive wastriggeredoffandSocial safetynetsconstructedand reinforced.Theexampleof Chileismorethanwhata look.
OSUNDEFENDER
Whatwehavenowisa catanistcsituaon.Thisis reflectedforexampleinthe verylowvoterturnwhichaccompaniedtheby-elecons onSaturday.Inacountry suchasGermanywhereconstuonalthereareminimal voterturnoutinacountry suchasGerman whereconstuonallyyouhave toachieveaminimalvoterturnout thresholdelecon willnothavebeen safiedandyouwill wouldhavehadto startalloveragain athorrendouscosts tothetreasury.
Theelectorateis alsoinwhatsociologistcallaState ofAnomiewhich impliesacomplete lostofinterest.This
cannotbegoodforthestabilityofanydemocracylet aloneonethatissllfragile. Thefragilityisreflectedin theviolencewhichoccurred inmanyconstuencies.
Themehascomeinview ofthesocialconsequences toreappraisetheeffecton livingstandardsandaswell astheerosionofsocialstabilitycausedbytheblind pursueofthediscredited descriponsoftheBreon Woodsinstuons.The governmentshouldreturn tothecommitmentwith whichitwouldtheelectorateinits2023manifesto whereacommitmentwas madefortheconstruconof a“SocialMarket”economy. Asocialmarketeconomy isbasedonthepursuitof macroeconomicstabilityas wayofachievingsocialjusce.Thisconstutedthe backboneofthethoughtof tanicfiguresuchasChief ObafemiAwolowo,Dr.MichealOpara,LateefJakande, SamMbakwe,Abubakar Rimi,BalarabeMusaandCo. Togetoutofthisawfulpredicament,wemustnowgo backtoaneconomicsystem basedonlesseningtheeconomicdispariesaswellas ensuringanindeeddeepeningthetenetsofourdemocracy.
•Current price reference from Financial Derivatives Company
THESenatehasapproved PresidentBolaAhmed Tinubu’srequestforan externalborrowingplanof over$21billionforthe2025–2026fiscalcycle.
Thiswasasequeltothe consideraonandadoponof areportoftheSenateCommieeonLocalandForeign Debt,presentedbyitsChairman,SenatorAliyuWamakko (SokotoNorth).Thecomprehensiveborrowingpackage includes$21.19bnindirect foreignloans,€4bn,¥15bn, a$65mgrant,anddomesc borrowingthroughgovernmentbonds.Alsoincluded wasaprovisiontoraiseupto $2billionthroughaforeigncurrency-denominatedinstrumentinthedomescmarket.
“Nigeria’snaonaldebt posessignificantriskstoits economy,potenallyhinderinggrowthanddevelopment.”
Nigeriaisgrapplingwitha concerningcombinaonof risingpublicdebtandincreasingpoverty.Thissituaonis characterisedbyagrowing debtburden,parcularlyin theformofdomescandexternaldebt,whichisstraining thenaon’sfinancesandpotenallyhinderinglong-term development.Thesituaonis furthercomplicatedbydwindlingrevenue,whichlimitsthe government’sabilitytoinvest incrucialsectorsandaddress povertyeffecvely.
Nigeria’sdebtstockhasincreasedconsiderablyoverthe pastfiveyears—atrendgenerallyconnectedwithexpansioninthesizeofgovernment expenditures.Thereisoen dangerassociatedwithrepaymentandservicingofthese debts,whichoenresultin diversionofproducvefunds
By
INWALOMHE DONALD
towardsdebtrepayments, therebylimingthegovernment’sabilitytoprovidebasicinfrastructuresthatbenefitthepoor.Efficientuseof debtcouldleadtoimproved economicgrowthandabetterstandardoflivingforthe populace.However,resources fromdebthavenotbeenmanagedeffecvelyinNigeriato generatesufficientresources
toserviceandrepaysuchdebt atmaturity.Consequently, Nigeriahastocontendwith mounngpublicdebtand debtservicepaymentsamid deterioranggrowthandrisingpovertylevels.
Nigeria’snaonaldebt posessignificantriskstoits economy,potenallyhinderinggrowthanddevelopment. Highdebtlevelscanleadto
increaseddebtservicingcosts, divernggovernmentrevenue fromessenalinvestmentsin infrastructure,educaon,and healthcare.Thiscan,inturn, sfleeconomicgrowth,increasepoverty,andlimitthe government’sabilitytorespondtoeconomicshocks.A largeporonofNigeria’srevenueisusedtopayoffdebt, leavinglessforcrucialpublic servicesandinvestments.
Nigeria’sdebtcanleadtoa cyclewherethegovernment borrowsmoretoserviceexisngdebt,exacerbangthe problem.Highdebtlevelsrestrictthegovernment’sabilitytoinvestininfrastructure, educaon,andhealthcare, whichareessenalforlongtermeconomicdevelopment. Nigeria’sdebthasledtoa declineinthequalityoflife forcizensandhinderedeconomicgrowth.Nigeria’sexcessivedebthasdiscouragedboth domescandforeigninvestment,asinvestorsbecome waryoflendingtoahighlyindebtednaon.Nigeria’sdebt hasledtoslowereconomic growth,increasedunemployment,anddecreasedcompetiveness.IfNigeria’sdebtbecomesunsustainable,itcould leadtoadebtcrisis,where thecountrystrugglestomeet itsdebtobligaons.Thiscould triggerafinancialcrisisand furtherdamagetheeconomy. Reducedgovernment spendingonsocialservicesdue todebtservicingcanleadtoincreasedpoverty,poorhealthcare,andinadequateeducaon,impacnghumancapital development.Highdebtlevels makeNigeriamorevulnerable toeconomicshocks,suchas fluctuaonsinglobaloilprices orchangesininterestrates. Thisisparcularlyconcerning forNigeria,whichreliesheavilyonoilrevenue.
Highlevelsofdomesc debtcan“crowdout”private sectorinvestmentbyincreasinginterestratesandmaking itmoreexpensiveforbusinessestoborrow.
Inconclusion,whileborrowingcanbeatoolfordevelopment,Nigeria’scurrentdebt situaonposessignificant riskstoitseconomicstability andfuturegrowth.Effecve debtmanagement,diversificaonofrevenuesources,and investmentinproducvesectorsarecrucialtomigang thesedangersandensuring sustainableeconomicdevelopment.
OSUN
•Tinubu
