Sanusi says Tinubu govt treats advice as attack, but credits its reforms
- Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said the Tinubu administration treats suggestions it dislikes as attacks and lacks strong spokespersons.
- He still gave the government credit for economic gains, citing 4.48% GDP growth and inflation falling to 14.6%.
- Sanusi warned that ordinary Nigerians are still struggling and that social safety nets remain weak.
The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said President Bola Tinubu's government is too quick to read criticism as hostility and has not put strong communicators in place to explain its policies.
He spoke on Tuesday at the Oxford Global Think Tank conference, convened by Arunma Oteh, a former director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the government does not present its case well. He said it treats any contribution it dislikes as an attack, and that it has not focused on recruiting capable spokespersons.
Yet the monarch, who has been a frequent commentator on national policy, also gave the administration credit. He said the government deserves recognition for pulling the country back from the brink, adding that he is no fan of politicians.
Credit for the numbers, concern for the poor
Sanusi pointed to several economic indicators as signs of progress. He said gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.48 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, well above the average of about 0.9 per cent recorded under former President Muhammadu Buhari, though still below the 6–7 per cent seen under Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
He said inflation had dropped from above 30 per cent to 14.6 per cent, with a further fall to 12.5 per cent projected. GDP per capita in dollar terms, he added, has risen by 47 per cent since 2023 and could return to its 2005 level by the end of next year if the trend holds.
He put external reserves at about $55 billion, but cautioned that a large share comes from foreign portfolio investment, which can leave quickly if global conditions change. He linked part of the inflow to high oil prices tied to the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz and to attractive returns in Nigeria's markets.
On diversification, Sanusi said the Dangote Refinery now accounts for roughly 20 per cent of the country's exports. He said the plant exported about half of its diesel and 85 per cent of its aviation fuel, contributing around $4 billion to exports in the second quarter of 2026.
Still, he warned that top-line figures do not tell the whole story. He asked what is happening to Nigerians at the bottom of the pyramid, listing education, healthcare, maternal mortality, malnutrition and hunger as the measures that matter.
He said poverty is rising in some parts of the country even as it falls in others, and that some Nigerians have been pushed below the poverty line by the reforms. In his view, the government should have foreseen the shock to low-income households and built social safety nets to soften it, and he said that gap remains unaddressed.
"It is a foundation. It is a first step," he said of the stability he sees emerging, while insisting that growth must be much higher and its benefits spread more widely.
