By Kingston Magare 22.10.2026
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said there is nothing good about President Bola Tinubu devaluation of the naira stating that it has made Nigerians poorer by 300 percent.
Obasanjo who was President between 2019-2007 and left a legacy off clearing of the nation’s external and internal debts, which has ballooned in 2026, said during the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London, United Kingdom, that Tinubu’s economic policies have pushed Nigeria to be poverty capital of the world.
“We do not live in isolation as a country. We interact with the rest of the world. And overnight, you devalue the currency by 300 percent. The naira went from N500 to a dollar to N1,500 to a dollar,” Obasanjo said.
“What that meant was that every Nigerian is made poor by 300 percent. That made Nigeria become the poverty capital of the world, which means Nigeria has the largest number of poor people in the world.
“You cannot say to me that that is good for Nigeria. You cannot say to me that that is good for us in any sense.”
On his first day in office as President in 2023 Tinubu summarily announced the removal of the petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira; this almost immediately triggered high cost of goods and services.
Inflation peaked at a 19-year high near 34% in mid-2024. However, there has been a reversal of inflationary trends down to 14%–15% range. But Nigerians have no relief and are unable to afford basic food items and energy costs.
Though world monetary bodies the IMF and World Bank have praised Tinubu’s reforms, they maintained that the level of poverty in Nigeria remains all-time high. The naira remains one of the worse performing currencies on the African continent.