The presidency has unveiled that former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration allocated an estimated $1.5 billion monthly to subsidize the exchange rate and defend the naira.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in response to a New York Times report on Nigeria's economic challenges.
Onanuga emphasized that the current economic difficulties were inherited by President Tinubu, who took office in late May 2023, and not the result of his administration’s policies. He criticized the report titled "Nigeria Confronts Its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation" as misleading.
Highlighting past economic policies, Onanuga detailed that Nigeria's longstanding fuel subsidy regime had drained $84.39 billion from 2005 to 2022, leading to significant debts for the state oil firm, NNPC. Furthermore, he noted that by the time President Tinubu assumed office, the national budget had no provisions for fuel subsidies beyond June 2023, with 97 percent of revenue allocated to debt servicing.
Onanuga also pointed out that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had been spending $1.5 billion monthly to maintain a low exchange rate, resulting in a significant gap between official and black-market rates. This, coupled with unmet remittance obligations to foreign businesses, led to a decline in foreign direct investments and disruptions in services like those of Emirates Airlines.
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politics