ABUJA, NIGERIA — Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has delivered a scathing assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, labeling the current government an ineffective and incompetent failure.
The former leader raised alarms over Nigeria’s soaring national debt profile, accusing the presidency of indulging in reckless, unchecked expenditures while regular citizens are plunged deeper into economic hardship.
Reckless Fiscal Extravagance
Obasanjo heavily criticized the federal government’s fiscal management, drawing attention to a severe contradiction in state policy. He pointed out that while the country is deeply trapped in a severe debt crisis, the political elite continues to allocate multi-billion naira sums toward luxury acquisitions.
The former president compared the administration’s financial habits to those of a “drunken sailor,” specifically taking issue with the continuous authorization of high-end expenditures—such as new presidential aircraft, fleets of exotic vehicles for lawmakers, and expensive renovations—amidst a biting national standard of living crisis.
He noted that his administration originally fought to secure a historic debt relief package for Nigeria in 2005, only for subsequent administrations to completely reverse those gains by continuously borrowing to service consumption rather than production.
Excuses Instead of Results
In a widely circulated address, Obasanjo stated that poor governance has turned every regular Nigerian and local business owner into a victim. He dismissed the presidency’s routine habit of blaming past administrations for Nigeria’s current economic collapse.
“You came into office because you knew that there were challenges,” Obasanjo remarked. “Instead of achieving results, you are giving us excuses. The first lesson I learned in my military training is never to reinforce failure. What we have right now is failure, and we must never reinforce it.”
He further argued that key economic reforms—including the abrupt removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira—were poorly implemented and entirely lacked structural safety nets, directly triggering skyrocketed inflation and a sharp drop in the purchasing power of the average citizen.
A Growing Security Crisis
Beyond economic mismanagement, the elder statesman lambasted the administration’s inability to secure the country from rampaging banditry and mass abductions. Obasanjo declared that any government failing to fulfill its primary constitutional duty of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens forfeits its fundamental right to exist.
He warned that Nigeria is steadily sinking into the status of a failing state due to pervasive state capture, official corruption, and a total lack of administrative accountability.
The Presidency Reacts
The presidency has moved quickly to dismiss Obasanjo’s criticisms, labeling his remarks as hypocritical. Officials from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defended the administration’s macroeconomic adjustments, asserting that President Tinubu is currently clearing up decades of institutional rot left behind by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), including controversial infrastructure spending dating back to Obasanjo’s tenure.
