Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-political party, claimed state governments can now pay salaries following the withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy which has resulted in a cash windfall. But it maintained that the policy has spurred inflation which has destroyed the real worth of wages.
The Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics LTD/GTE, Dele Oye, has raised concerns over accountability and transparency in the federal government’s $5 billion financing deal with First Abu Dhabi Bank, The Guardian reports. He queried the composition of the reported N20.4 trillion incremental resources and N30.64 trillion extra spending of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
The Yoruba group, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Justice Faloye, has reacted to Tinubu’s comment during his meeting with the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke at the State House, Abuja that his economic policies had made it possible for 27 states to pay salaries of workers and pensioners, which they could not afford before.
The president further condemned the requests for the reinstatement of subsidy as “a product of serious ignorance on governance and the economy.
But Afenifere said the president’s position was “adding insult to economic injury” to Nigerians.
It reads: “If President Tinubu is unaware that states are paying wages because real wages have been grossly devalued by his neoliberal economic policies, then with all due respect, he is the one suffering from serious ignorance of governance and the economy.
Unfortunately he does not know that the withdrawal of $10 billion worth of subsidies and devaluation cost Nigeria approximately $100 billion worth of productive value due to the economic multiplier effects on income and employment.
The organization also lambasted Tinubu’s comments during the arrival of Catholic bishops that there had always been hunger in Nigeria, claiming it showed a lack of grasp of relativity and proportionality.
It said the rate of poverty and hunger climbed from 38 per cent under the government inherited from former President Muhammadu Buhari to 66 per cent.
“Wages, pensions and property values were devalued in real terms as the increase in wages was lower than the increase in naira supply in state government coffers, and especially the increase in inflation and decrease in spending power caused by the twin neoliberal economic policies of subsidy removal and devaluation,” it said.
Afenifere said the president knew the economic reality but was “playing politics of disinformation tied to the Western-imposed neoliberal ideology,” which it said had caused elite apathy to the misery of Nigerians since the late 1970s
OYE said the government’s handling of the Abu Dhabi facility should be more transparent to the public as the deal involves public institutions, sovereign obligations and public collateral.
His position was after Taiwo Oyedele, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, presented the economic reform scorecard of the federal government on August 19, 2026.
The administration did not specify how the monies from the Abu Dhabi facility were being used and would not say why that facility should be handled any differently, Oyedele added, noting that the government’s expenditure was already being reported to the public.
But the Oye stated the explanation did not sufficiently satisfy accountability concerns over the transaction.
He said the government should reveal the material parameters of the facility, including the drawdown timeline, purpose of funds, collateral framework, fees, margin-call provisions, early-termination triggers and quarterly utilisation reports.
He said the facility’s parliamentary clearance did not mean there was ongoing public accountability.
The Alliance took issue with the government’s claim that reforms had yielded about N20.4 trillion in additional federal government resources, apart from the Abu Dhabi facility.
The sum, according to the Ministry’s scorecard, comprised of N5.43 trillion expected Federal Government subsidy savings, N3.12 trillion of other incremental income and N11.85 trillion of incremental borrowing.
Borrowing accounted for nearly 58 per cent of the reported N20.4 trillion, the organization said.
So, Oye, said the sum should not be viewed as N20.4 trillion in internally generated or “free” resources, but a combination of fiscal savings, new revenue and finance.
The report stated that currency-in-circulation grew from N3.325 trillion in 2021 to N5.733 trillion in 2025, a nominal gain of 72.4 per cent in the time.
But the picture altered considerably when adjusted for inflation, with the purchasing power of cash held by Nigerians declining by about 29 per cent between 2021 and 2025, the analysis stated.
The analysis disputed the CBN’s claim that the rise was a sign of improved economic activity. It observed that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 3.87 per cent in 2025 from 3.38 per cent in 2024, but average annual inflation was at 23.01 per cent during the period.
When adjusted for inflation, the analysis found that the real amount of currency in circulation fell by almost 14.3 per cent in 2025, despite a nominal increase in the availability of cash.
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