Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has acknowledged that the administration’s economic reforms pushed more Nigerians into poverty.
Bwala, however, said the reforms had also delivered “marked progress” despite the hardship experienced by many citizens.
He spoke during an interview on Channels Television while discussing the impact of the removal of petrol subsidy and the foreign exchange reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.
According to him, the increase in poverty was partly a consequence of the economic restructuring undertaken by the government.
“Please let it be clear even to the opposition, the reason why you have this number of poor people and some of these doomsday analytics that people are giving is because we undertook a reform,” he said.
“There is no part of the world where you start a reform like that there will not be discomfort.
“More people went down to poverty, acknowledged, but since when the reform started to today, we have made marked progress which is what we have spent the last three years talking to Nigerians about,” he added.
Bwala said the government recognised that a significant number of Nigerians remained poor but argued that the situation should be viewed alongside the economic gains recorded since the reforms began.
“So, you cannot discount that even though there are quite a number of our population that are poor which we admit, but we have made progress so far,” he said.
The comments come amid continued debate over the economic consequences of the government’s reforms, particularly the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market.
The World Bank has acknowledged improvements in Nigeria’s macroeconomic position following the reforms, including stronger external balances, improved fiscal conditions and continued economic growth. It has, however, warned that the improvements have yet to translate sufficiently into better living standards for millions of Nigerians.
The International Monetary Fund has also recognised progress in macroeconomic stability while noting that poverty and food insecurity remain major challenges.
The reforms have been accompanied by higher transportation, food and energy costs, with the naira’s depreciation further increasing the cost of goods and services.
Economists have therefore distinguished between improvements in key economic indicators and the immediate impact of the reforms on household incomes and living standards.
Muda Yusuf, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, has said the reforms helped address longstanding economic distortions and restore macroeconomic stability.
He, however, argued that the ultimate measure of their success would be whether they result in higher incomes, more jobs, reduced poverty and improved living standards.
The Federal Government has maintained that the reforms were necessary because of the fiscal and structural challenges inherited by the Tinubu administration in 2023.
President Tinubu has repeatedly defended the removal of the petrol subsidy, arguing that maintaining it would have left the government with fewer resources for infrastructure, social services and other development priorities.
The government has also pointed to increased Federation Account revenues following the removal of the subsidy.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the Federal Government and state governments received increased revenues from subsidy savings between June 2023 and December 2025.
Oyedele, however, acknowledged that reducing poverty remained one of the administration’s major unfinished tasks.
To cushion the effects of the reforms, the government has highlighted its social intervention programmes, student loan scheme, consumer credit initiatives, agricultural support programmes and compressed natural gas (CNG) transportation scheme.
