Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson to President Bola Tinubu, has explained why Tinubu had to take tough economic decisions when he took office in 2023. Onanuga said that when Tinubu became president, the country was in a worse financial state than many people believed.
In an interview with Arise TV from 16:10, Onanuga said the former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had claimed that Nigeria had around 32 billion dollars in reserves. He said when Tinubu’s government checked, they discovered that only about 4 billion dollars was actually available. He said the country could not even pay 800 million dollars owed to international airlines.
Onanuga said that because of this situation, President Tinubu had no choice but to take bold steps. He said Tinubu removed fuel subsidy and unified the exchange rates to stabilize Nigeria’s economy
In Onanuga’s words: “In 2023 when Tinubu took over, this country that Emefiele claimed had about $32bn in reserve could not even pay $800m owed to airlines. The money was not there as we found out later that we only had about $4 billion dollars, not 32 billion dollars. So President Tinubu had no option than to stop two cancers affecting this country”
