Tinubu Has Stopped Nigeria’s Economic Freefall, Rebuilt Investor Confidence — Niboro

By Isaac Orkula Shaagee

Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Ima Niboro, has said President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms have halted years of deepening structural problems and laid a stronger foundation for sustainable growth and renewed investor confidence in Nigeria.

Niboro, a former Presidential Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, spoke during an interview on News Central Television at the weekend.

He said successive administrations had largely postponed difficult decisions on fuel subsidy, foreign exchange, and other structural problems, allowing the burden on the economy to accumulate over the years.

According to him, Tinubu chose instead to confront the problems despite the political and social costs associated with the reforms.

“From the Tinubu government going forward, they will have a foundation to stand on because Tinubu has secured that. So, we will end this whole business of digging ourselves deeper and deeper,” Niboro said.

“From the Obasanjo government, we were doing fuel subsidy, we were subsidising the naira. The more we dug ourselves in, the more we sank. When a new government came, this continued.

“Now, Tinubu has stopped this digging — digging ourselves into fuel subsidy debts, digging ourselves into foreign exchange crisis. This was a surgery that was impossible to avoid by any responsible government.”

Niboro said the administration’s fiscal and foreign exchange reforms were beginning to produce results, arguing that the improved external position had helped restore international confidence in the Nigerian economy.

He recalled that there was a period when Nigerians faced severe restrictions using their bank cards outside the country because of foreign exchange constraints, contrasting that situation with what he described as the stronger external position today.

“These are the foundations already built. This is a new nation. The President could have come and continued with the whole mess that was there,” he said.

Niboro also attributed what he described as Nigeria’s recurring cycle of disappointment with successive governments partly to the failure of leaders to confront inherited structural problems.

“You need courage to do that. When President Tinubu removed fuel subsidy, were there no protests? But he stood his ground as President,” he said.

Comparing the Tinubu administration with that of former President Jonathan, Niboro said both leaders operated under significantly different political circumstances.

He described Jonathan as “decent” and “very brilliant,” but said his political base became fragmented, limiting the administration’s ability to pursue some of its objectives.

“President Jonathan was decent, very brilliant, and you cannot get better than him, but his political base was splintered,” he said.

Niboro argued that Tinubu had drawn lessons from previous administrations by building a broader political coalition around his government.

On insecurity, the APC PCC spokesman said the nation’s security forces were receiving substantial support from the administration and expressed confidence that sustained operations and investment in security would progressively reduce the threat across the country.