IMPI Credits Nigerians’ Resilience for Sustaining Tinubu’s Economic Reforms
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IMPI Credits Nigerians’ Resilience for Sustaining Tinubu’s Economic Reforms
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The Independent Media and Policy Initiative, IMPI has attributed the survival of President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms to the resilience and endurance of Nigerians, saying the administration’s reform agenda would have collapsed without citizens’ willingness to bear the burden of the policy adjustments.
The think tank said Nigerians had become the “actual executors” of the reforms by enduring the economic hardship that followed the removal of petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira, while also demanding greater accountability in the management of public resources.
In a statement titled, “Nigerians as Actual Executors of Tinubu’s Reforms as Economy Transits from Consumption to Productivity,” released in Abuja, the Chairman of IMPI, Dr. Omoniyi Akinsiju, said the long-term success of the reforms depended largely on the Nigerian people.
READ ALSO: IMPI Says Nigerians Driving Tinubu’s Economic Reforms Despite Hardship
According to him, Nigerians have functioned as “the primary shock absorbers, the ultimate arbiters of accountability, and the engine of behavioural realignment required for a market-driven economy.”
He said households and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs had borne the brunt of rising transportation, food and energy costs since the implementation of key economic reforms, adding that their resilience prevented widespread economic collapse during the peak inflationary period of 2024 and 2025.
Akinsiju argued that by enduring the short-term hardship, Nigerians had provided the fiscal space needed by the Federal Government to stabilise the economy, rebuild external reserves and avert what he described as a potential sovereign default.
The policy analyst also stressed that public participation remained critical to the success of government intervention programmes, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, compressed natural gas transport initiatives and direct cash transfer schemes.
He said civil society organisations, the media and ordinary citizens had continued to pressure government to ensure that savings from subsidy removal were invested in infrastructure, healthcare and human capital development rather than wasted through corruption.
Akinsiju further maintained that sustainable economic growth would require a shift in consumption patterns, urging Nigerians to support locally manufactured goods, agriculture and indigenous technology firms as a way of reducing the country’s dependence on imports and exposure to foreign exchange volatility.
He added that businesses moving into the formal sector would also strengthen government revenue by expanding the tax base and reducing reliance on crude oil earnings.
The IMPI chairman criticised previous administrations for relying on fuel subsidies, currency controls and multiple exchange rate regimes, which he said discouraged domestic production and made the economy vulnerable to external shocks.
He, however, argued that the Tinubu administration had adopted difficult but necessary reforms by unifying the foreign exchange market and eliminating petrol subsidy, measures he said had improved investors’ perception of Nigeria.
According to Akinsiju, the current administration’s economic philosophy is centred on increasing domestic production, encouraging value addition and positioning Nigeria for long-term industrial growth.
