By Kingston Magare 16-8-2025
The African Democratic Congress has knocked President Bola Tinubu and his minders for selectively picking the World Trade Organization (WTO), director-general Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s message on the state of Nigerian economy.
Last week the former Nigerian twice Minister for Finance between 2003–2006 and 2011–2015 stated that the country’s economy was stable under President Bola Tinubu, but according to the ADC the Tinubu administration ignored the most important part of the message, which called for urgent measures to grow the economy and establish social safety nets for millions of Nigerian families suffering the negative impacts of the government’s reforms.
ADC national publicity secretary Bolaji Abdulahi said in a statement Saturday: “Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s recent comments on President Tinubu and the Nigerian economy have been seized upon by government officials and their media allies.
“They want people to believe their scandalous implementation of hard reforms, which have condemned the majority of Nigerians to absolute poverty and destroyed millions of jobs, had received endorsement by the oracle herself. This is not correct.
“Dr. Okonjo-Iweala knows that a stable economy is one that is growing in real terms, led by jobs and productivity. Therefore, what she’s really saying — which the government has chosen to ignore — is that the economy is not growing, jobs are not being created, and too many people are suffering as a direct consequence of President Tinubu’s ill-conceived and badly implemented reforms. These are the issues she wanted the government to address.
“Like the international stateswoman that she is, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala prefaced her comments with the niceties befitting her stature by commending the administration for “stabilising the economy.”
“But, having done with that courtesy, she immediately highlighted the urgent need for job creation to bring succour to the ever-growing army of unemployed youths and others who lost their jobs as businesses shut down under the crushing weight of the Tinubu-led government. She said the government needs to urgently grow the economy to put money in people’s pockets — which means that whatever “stable economy” the government is celebrating has not translated into real relief for hundreds of millions of Nigerian families, and they need to change course.”
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala...