Former education minister Oby Ezekwesili has said President Bola Tinubu’s administration has made progress mainly on macroeconomic stability, though the benefits have yet to reach ordinary Nigerians.
Speaking in an interview with News Central TV, Ezekwesili credited the government with reducing foreign exchange volatility by allowing market forces greater influence over the naira’s value.
“The only thing that, as I said at the beginning, we can give to them is they are getting a handle on macroeconomic stability,” she said.
She cautioned against equating improved indicators with better living standards, noting that the cost of living remains high for most citizens despite official inflation figures.
“Then you look at inflation. Inflation, even though they use the methodology to crash it in terms of the numbers, but the real thing is that the cost of living for the average citizen is still pretty high,” Ezekwesili said.
She argued that the sharp spike in inflation was avoidable and resulted from poor coordination of policies.
Ezekwesili also pointed to low productivity as a core obstacle to sustainable growth and global competitiveness.
“What do you have? You have a complete lack of productivity in yours compared to the others. So without productivity, you can’t even be competitive globally,” she said.
She criticised overlapping budget cycles as evidence of weak fiscal management and stressed the need for stronger institutions, higher productivity and improved security to convert stability into broader prosperity.
