The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly rejected claims by Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hassim that Nigeria’s economy performed better under former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan than under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing the assertions as misleading and historically inaccurate.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the party said such conclusions reflect either a poor understanding of public sector economic management or a deliberate attempt to distort facts for political relevance.
According to the Lagos APC, the Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations governed during periods of historic oil windfalls, buoyant external reserves, and significantly lower population pressure. Despite earning hundreds of billions of dollars from crude oil sales, the party noted that those governments failed to build sustainable economic buffers, diversify the economy, reform the power sector, or end Nigeria’s dependence on fuel subsidy and multiple exchange rates.
The party further stated that instead of addressing structural weaknesses, the administrations entrenched a rent-seeking culture, expanded consumption without corresponding productivity, and left behind an economy ill-prepared for external shocks.
The Lagos APC recalled that the Jonathan administration handed over an economy marked by a struggling power sector despite heavy spending, excessive import dependence, a corruption-ridden fuel subsidy regime, and early signs of a currency crisis before the 2015 transition.
“These are facts on record, not matters of opinion,” the statement emphasized.
The party said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited an economy weighed down by unsustainable subsidies, foreign exchange arbitrage that favoured a few, and a fragile fiscal structure unfit for a nation of over 200 million people.
It added that the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market under the Tinubu administration were necessary corrective measures long delayed by previous governments more focused on political optics than long-term outcomes.
The Lagos APC cautioned Nigerians against what it described as “shallow nostalgia and revisionist narratives,” stressing that Nigeria’s economic challenges require serious, informed engagement rather than opportunistic commentary.
The party concluded that history would reflect that President Tinubu took difficult but necessary decisions in the interest of national economic survival, while critics relied on selective memory.
The statement was signed by the Lagos APC Spokesman, Mogaji (Hon.) Seye Oladejo, and dated February 6, 2026.
