Tinubu’s Spokesmen Very Dull, His Economic Performance Below Jonathan’s, Says Emir Sanusi
The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has taken President Bola Tinubu’s administration to the cleaners for treating suggestions and constructive contributions as attacks, accusing the government of failing to appoint competent spokespersons to communicate policies effectively.
Sanusi said the administration had developed an attitude of interpreting criticism as hostility rather than engaging with concerns raised by Nigerians, warning that its poor communication strategy was undermining public understanding of its economic reforms.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking at the Oxford Global Think Tank conference convened by former Director General of Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh.
“The government itself does not express itself properly. It sees every suggestion, every contribution that it does not like as an attack on the government and it frankly has not focused on getting very good spokespersons,” Sanusi said.
He, however, acknowledged some improvements in Nigeria’s economic indicators under Tinubu, arguing that the administration deserved credit for what he described as bringing the country back from the brink.
Sanusi cited Nigeria’s second-quarter 2026 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 4.48 per cent, saying it represented progress compared with the country’s economic performance during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He noted that although the current growth rate remained below the 6–7 per cent recorded during the administrations of former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, it was higher than the average growth recorded under Buhari.
According to him, Nigeria’s economy grew by an average of 0.9 per cent during Buhari’s tenure, increasing to 1.8 per cent when the COVID-19 pandemic years were excluded.
“Today, it’s at 4.5 per cent. So we have to accept that as progress,” he said.
The Kano monarch also highlighted the decline in inflation to 14.6 per cent from over 30 per cent in previous years, projecting that the rate could fall further to 12.5 per cent next year.
He acknowledged that the government’s monetary tightening policies have been severe but maintained that the decline in inflation was a positive development.
Sanusi further said Nigeria’s GDP per capita, measured in dollar terms, had increased by 47 per cent since 2023, attributing the development to economic growth and the strengthening of the naira.
He projected that if the trend continued, Nigeria’s GDP per capita could return to its 2005 level by the end of 2027.
On foreign reserves, he said Nigeria’s reserves had reached approximately $55 billion but cautioned that a significant portion of the increase was driven by foreign portfolio investments, which could quickly reverse following geopolitical or economic shocks
He attributed the inflow of foreign investments partly to high oil prices amid the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz and the attractive returns available in Nigeria’s financial markets.
Sanusi also pointed to the contribution of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to Nigeria’s export earnings, claiming that the facility accounted for approximately 20 per cent of the country’s exports.
He said the refinery exported about 50 per cent of its diesel production and 85 per cent of its aviation fuel, contributing approximately $4 billion to Nigeria’s exports in the second quarter of 2026.
According to him, these developments show that the country is gradually laying the foundation for economic stability and diversification.
“There are, in terms of the top-line figures, clearly a foundation being laid for stability. And I always say that it is not the end. It is a foundation. It is a first step,” he said.
Despite acknowledging the improvements, Sanusi warned that the government’s economic achievements should not be assessed solely through macroeconomic indicators while millions of Nigerians continued to struggle with poverty, hunger and the rising cost of living.
He argued that the real impact of the reforms should be measured by their effects on ordinary citizens, particularly those at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to look at the human beings at the bottom of the pyramid. What’s happening to human beings? What’s happening to education? What’s happening to healthcare? What’s happening to maternal mortality? What’s happening to malnutrition? What is happening to hunger?” he asked.
He warned that poverty was increasing in some parts of the country even as it declined in others, adding that some Nigerians had been pushed below the poverty line by the economic reforms.
The former CBN Governor particularly faulted the administration for failing to establish adequate social safety nets to cushion the effects of its policies on vulnerable households.
According to him, the government should have anticipated the hardship that would follow the implementation of the reforms and designed intervention programmes to protect low-income Nigerians.
“Obviously, when we started these reforms, we should have known that there was going to be an impact on people at the bottom of the pyramid. We should have designed policies that will try to minimise those shocks,” he said.
Sanusi maintained that although the administration had made some progress in stabilising the economy, the failure to protect vulnerable citizens remained a major weakness of its reform programme.
“That is a problem that we’ve not done, and we still have not done,” he said.
He added that Nigeria needs significantly higher economic growth and sustained stability, while the government must pay greater attention to how the benefits and burdens of its economic policies were distributed among citizens: “I’m not a fan of politicians, but we’ve got to give credit to the administration for bringing us back from the brink.”
