ABUJA, Nigeria (CHATNEWSTV) — Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on media and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has accused critics of the administration of ignoring the economic challenges Nigeria faced before the president assumed office in May 2023.
Mr. Onanuga made the comments during an interview on Arise TV on Friday, saying many Nigerians “exhibit the problem of lack of memory.”
“Let me start by saying that many of us in this country, many Nigerians, we sometimes exhibit the problem of lack of memory. We have very short memories,” he said. “We forget where we started from and we just start blaming President Tinubu for all the problems that Nigeria is going through.”
The presidential aide pointed to fuel scarcity and subsidy-related debts that, according to him, had already crippled the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) before Mr. Tinubu’s inauguration.
“I remember, for instance, in May 2023, when Tinubu took over the government, there was fuel shortage in this country,” he said. “People forgot that all through the election of that year, there was fuel shortage.”
He said the federal government owed NNPCL over ₦4 trillion in unpaid subsidy claims, and the company had stopped importing fuel, worsening supply shortages.
“So when the president announced on day one, the day he was sworn in, that he was removing fuel subsidy, the immediate reaction from NNPC was to raise the pump price,” Mr. Onanuga explained. “NNPC was no longer willing to import fuel because it was also owing suppliers abroad.”
He said the Tinubu administration had to intervene to revive NNPCL operations to restore fuel availability.
Mr. Onanuga defended the president’s decision to end the fuel subsidy, arguing it was unsustainable and would have jeopardized future generations.
“We were just spending the money that ought to belong to the future generation,” he said. “So the resources are not there. Government just ought to do the right thing. Yes, problems followed what the president did.”
While acknowledging the hardship caused by the policy shift, Mr. Onanuga insisted the administration had implemented relief programmes and was making structural reforms.
He also credited Mr. Tinubu with tackling long-standing issues ignored by previous administrations, including the dual exchange rate system.
“Nigeria should give this president some credit for stopping the arbitrage that characterised the foreign exchange regime under previous administrations, including the PDP,” he said.
“But people are just not willing to give him any credit — some critics,” Mr. Onanuga added. “What he has done is very important, very necessary, and they are for the benefit of our people. The gains are showing, and they are to the benefit of our people.”
