Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has claimed that Nigeria’s economy under former President Muhammadu Buhari was based on illusion and unsustainable borrowing, which President Bola Tinubu is now correcting through hard but necessary reforms.
Speaking on Channels Television, Omokri said Nigerians had been living beyond their means during the Buhari administration, relying on borrowed funds to finance consumption and maintain an artificial sense of prosperity.
“We were living in a fool’s paradise,” Omokri asserted. “Tinubu has removed that illusion. We are now beginning to live within our means.”
He accused the former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, of borrowing ₦28 trillion without legislative approval, using the funds to falsely stabilize the naira and delay economic reforms. Emefiele is currently facing trial for alleged financial misconduct.
“They used borrowed money to inflate the value of the naira and give Nigerians a false sense of economic strength. We cannot continue borrowing just to feed people. We must focus on production,” Omokri said.
According to him, Tinubu’s current economic measures—though painful—are setting the stage for long-term recovery, with exports increasing and imports declining.
He added that Tinubu’s policies align with what opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi proposed during the 2023 presidential campaigns.
“Everything Tinubu is doing now ending subsidies, tightening fiscal policy are policies Atiku and Obi also advocated. The difference is that Tinubu is actually implementing them,” he said.
Omokri also pointed to a decline in Nigeria’s debt profile under the current administration, stating that “as of 2015, Nigeria’s debt stood at $63 billion. Buhari left it at $113 billion. Today under Tinubu, it’s down to $97 billion. That’s a $14 billion drop. That’s progress.”
While acknowledging the current economic hardship faced by many Nigerians, Omokri urged the public to focus on long-term gains rather than short-term discomforts, arguing that Tinubu is steering
