By Musa Bakare.
Democracy thrives on debate, but when it comes to the survival of a nation’s economy, Nigerians must learn to distinguish between genuine expertise and empty noise. In today’s Nigeria, while opposition coalition and social media merchants of confusion are busy shouting, the world’s finest economists are giving credit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his bold and necessary reforms.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization, with decades of experience at the World Bank and in global financial governance and former Minister of Finance has praised the administration for working hard to stabilize the economy, insisting the reforms are in the right direction. Professor Charles Soludo, a First Class economist and reformer who once transformed Nigeria’s banking sector, has gone further, stating clearly that Tinubu rescued the nation from the tipping point and restored public finance to solvency. These are not random voices; they are global authorities whose words command respect from Washington to Geneva.
Now compare this with the so-called critics. Many of them are failed leaders who squandered opportunities when in power, leaving behind debts, unpaid salaries, and economic ruins, grossly lacking genuine economic understanding and indeed contributors to the confusion surrounding the country’s economic situation, others are social media propagandists who cannot differentiate between monetary policy and market gossip, but shout the loudest to mislead the masses. These are not patriots. They are opportunists exploiting the short term pains of reform to push selfish agendas.
President Tinubu has done what lesser leaders feared to do: removing the ruinous fuel subsidy cartel, unifying the exchange rates to end decades of fraud, and enforcing fiscal discipline. These are not easy choices, they are courageous, nation saving policies. True reformers understand that you cannot heal without surgery, and you cannot rebuild without sacrifice.
The pain of today is the seed of tomorrow’s prosperity. The loudest critics thrive only on confusion, but history will never record them as saviors. History remembers those who dared to act, those who stood firm when others wavered.
World-class economists have spoken, and the world is watching. President Tinubu’s reforms are the foundation of a new Nigeria. And when the noise dies down, Nigerians will see clearly who was working for the nation and who was working for themselves.
Come 2027, the good people of Nigeria will again stand with President Tinubu, the reformer, not with the skeptics, dissent and detractors.
– Musa Asiru Bakare is a political analyst and member of APC. He writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
