Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, accusing his administration of worsening poverty in Nigeria through the sharp devaluation of the naira.

Obasanjo said the depreciation of the local currency had significantly eroded Nigerians’ purchasing power, describing the country as “the poverty capital of the world.”

The former president made the remarks on Wednesday at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London, United Kingdom, where he expressed concern over the impact of the government’s economic policies on citizens.

He argued that the naira’s decline from about ₦500 to the dollar to approximately ₦1,500 had substantially reduced the value of Nigerians’ incomes and savings.

“We do not live in isolation as a country. We interact with the rest of the world. And overnight, you devalue the currency by 300 per cent. The naira went from N500 to a dollar to N1,500 to a dollar. What that meant was that every Nigerian is made poor by 300 per cent,” he said.

Obasanjo maintained that the consequences of the currency depreciation had deepened the country’s poverty crisis, questioning the benefits of the reforms to ordinary Nigerians.

“You cannot say to me that that is good for Nigeria. You cannot say to me that that is good for us in any sense,” he added.

The former president also rejected calls for Nigerians to give the Tinubu administration more time to implement its economic policies, insisting that he had yet to see convincing signs of improvement.

“For the economy, I don’t see anything getting better. What policies are you seeing through? You impoverish your people, and you want to see impoverishment through?” he asked.

He further argued that the policies introduced by the administration were not in the best interest of Nigerians.

“Not in the best interest of Nigerians. Nobody can deny that,” Obasanjo said.

On petrol subsidy removal, the former president acknowledged the importance of fuel prices to virtually every aspect of the economy but argued that corruption accounted for a substantial part of what the country had previously described as subsidy expenditure.

He urged the government to tackle corruption, eliminate wasteful spending, cut unnecessary luxury and increase domestic production to address the country’s economic difficulties.

“A country in a very bad economic situation must curb corruption, wastefulness and unnecessary luxury and produce,” he said.

The Tinubu administration introduced major economic changes in 2023, including foreign-exchange market reforms and the removal of the petrol subsidy, as part of efforts to restructure the economy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria unified the foreign-exchange windows in June 2023, following which the naira experienced significant fluctuations in value. Before the reform, the official exchange rate stood at approximately ₦460.8 to the dollar.

The reforms have remained a subject of intense public debate, particularly over their effects on inflation, fuel prices, purchasing power and the cost of living.

Obasanjo’s latest remarks add to growing scrutiny of the government’s economic direction, with questions continuing over how quickly the reforms will translate into improved living conditions for Nigerians.