UPDATED: How Tinubu rescued Nigeria’s economy from collapse

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has said President Bola Tinubu’s administration rescued Nigeria from the edge of economic collapse and restored public finance to solvency.

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Speaking on Wednesday at The Platform Nigeria in Lagos, an event organised by The Covenant Nation to mark Democracy Day, Mr Soludo praised Mr Tinubu’s “bold” economic reforms and described the country’s financial state when he took office as dangerously fragile.

This was contained in a statement released Friday by the State House and signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

“In 2023, I had described the state of the economy when this government assumed office as akin to a standing dead horse,” said Mr Soludo, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“Public finance was about to tip from solvency, with potentially catastrophic consequences, including possible mass retrenchment of workers and/or arrears of salaries and pensions.”

He said recent reforms had “rescued the economy from the tipping point,” and noted that “public finance is back on a solvency path, and macro fundamentals are recovering positively.”

Mr Soludo said global institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and international credit rating agencies had rightly endorsed the reforms.

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“The endorsements by the World Bank, IMF, London Financial Times, rating agencies—Fitch, Moody’s—are well deserved,” he said. “On the trajectory of the current economic reforms, the World Bank, etc, are largely right.”

He acknowledged his past criticism of those institutions, saying: “Many people know that I made a living criticising the World Bank and the IMF. As Governor of Anambra, I have even rejected a World Bank loan because of the terms.”

Mr Soludo criticised the selective use of international opinion in local discourse, saying some Nigerians quote these bodies only when they criticise the government, but discredit them when they offer praise.

“Funny enough, when these institutions criticise the government, some people use them to validate their criticisms, but when the same institutions give a positive report, they are derided as ‘neoliberal, out-of-touch institutions’,” he said.

While backing the economic direction of the current administration, Mr Soludo urged commentators to avoid shallow analysis and instead offer evidence-based alternatives.

“Many analysts have interesting ‘opinions’, but I urge them to go deeper: conduct rigorous counterfactual analysis and provide credible alternatives!” he said.

Beyond the economy, Mr Soludo said the country’s long-term progress would depend not just on leadership, but also on the values held by ordinary citizens.

He called for a nationwide ethical rebirth to revive traditional Nigerian values such as hardwork, honesty, and public service.

“We must deliberately create a critical mass of ‘new Nigerians’—who believe in her and are ready, if necessary, to die for her,” he said.

He warned that a culture of celebrating wealth without work was undermining national development.

“The ‘culture’ that celebrates and expects something for nothing or wealth without work must give way to a culture that rewards and celebrates hard work, enterprise and integrity,” he said. “In a society where no one asks or cares about sources of livelihood, transactional governance will always trump transformational leadership.”

Mr Soludo cited initiatives such as the federal government’s NELFUND student loan programme and Anambra’s free education and youth training schemes as signs of progress in giving citizens a stronger stake in the future.

“These programmes excite the youths and students, and could hopefully create ‘stakeholders’ in future projects,” he said.

READ ALSO: Rebuilding the Nigerian Nation, By Chukwuma Charles Soludo

He ended with a call for unity and values-driven politics, saying Nigeria must realign along ideological lines to build a fairer, more responsible society.

“This is a national emergency requiring urgent national conversation,” Mr Soludo said.