Taiwo Oyedele, who chairs the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic reforms have started showing positive results.
Speaking at The Platform, an event organised by the Covenant Nation on Saturday, Oyedele strongly supported the government’s decision to end petrol subsidies.
“Removing subsidies is the best decision we made as a country. And we can now say that for once, subsidy is gone. We were living in window-dressed realities. If you look back to about two years ago, naira exchange rate was N450 depending on who you asked. But was our exchange rate really N450? If you wanted to buy petrol, it was under N200 per litre, but was it really under N200 per litre?”
According to The PUNCH, he explained Nigeria’s economic situation using a school fees analogy: “I am a parent and will like to send my kids to school. If I can afford a school of N200 million per term, no problem. But if I cannot, they will do just first term and won’t be able to continue their education. Maybe they should go to a school of N200,000 per term.”
Oyedele revealed that Nigeria had resorted to printing money because it couldn’t borrow internationally. “Ways and Means was high. We were printing money to spend. We couldn’t borrow abroad because they said lending us was risky. We didn’t have cash flow. And the capacity to borrow locally was low. So we were printing money to spend, and that is even dangerous.”
He encouraged Nigerians to stay positive: “There is nothing wrong with Nigeria. But maybe there is something wrong with the people ruling Nigeria. In America, people get killed every day by gunmen. But have you ever heard Americans say ‘May America never happen to you?’ Let’s stop saying ‘May Nigeria never happen to you’. Maybe we can turn it into ‘May Nigeria work for me.’”
“Going by available data, I personally believe that the worst is behind us,” he concluded.
Since President Tinubu took office in May 2023, his administration has made major changes, including removing fuel subsidies and introducing new tax bills. The subsidy removal has led to higher prices for goods and services across the country.
