The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has claimed that Nigeria’s inflation could have reached 1,000 per cent without the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Oyedele made the claim on Tuesday at the 56th Annual Accountants’ Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in Abuja, where he defended the removal of petrol subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange market.
He said Nigeria was approaching a severe economic crisis before the reforms, citing foreign exchange shortages, excessive monetary financing and the use of future crude oil production to fund petrol subsidies.
“If this reform had not happened, ladies and gentlemen, today, you would be talking about inflation in a thousand per cent,” he said.
The minister attributed part of the country’s current inflationary pressures to the printing of about N30tn, which he said had contributed to rising prices of essential commodities.
“We printed plenty of naira. Plenty trillion naira was printed. The inflation we are dealing with today, the reason why your bread is more expensive, is the N30tn showing up,” Oyedele stated.
Acknowledging the rising cost of living, he said the Federal Government was focusing on increasing household incomes faster than inflation rather than artificially suppressing prices.
He also disclosed that the government had spent twice the amount saved from petrol subsidy removal on salary adjustments and wage awards, although he did not provide specific expenditure figures.
On cash transfers, Oyedele said the government had improved the identification of beneficiaries through the National Identification Number system, adding that the World Bank had acknowledged progress in reaching vulnerable households.
He, however, rejected calls to publish beneficiaries’ personal details, arguing that such disclosure could undermine their dignity.
The minister further disclosed that the Federal Government had recently completed the audit of its 2022 financial statements, promising to bring outstanding accounts up to date by the first quarter of 2027.
He added that subsequent audited accounts would be published within six months of the end of each financial year.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, expressed support for the Federal Government’s economic reforms, saying the removal of petrol subsidy and unification of exchange rates had strengthened public finances despite their painful effects.
Sanwo-Olu cited official figures showing that Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, while inflation declined to 14.63 per cent in September.
He added that the country’s gross external reserves stood at $54.93bn at the end of September, while the non-oil economy expanded by 4.31 per cent.
According to the governor, Federation Account distributions rose from N10tn in 2023 to N21.9tn in 2025, with more than N20tn distributed in the first nine months of 2026.
He also disclosed that revenue collections reached N21.6tn in the first half of 2026, representing a 49 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2025.
On Lagos State’s finances, Sanwo-Olu said internally generated revenue reached approximately N1.2tn in the first half of 2026, compared with N816bn for the whole of 2023 and N1.26tn in 2024.