By Marcel Okeke
Barely six months to Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, and a few days to the commencement of campaigns, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and its economic policymakers seem to have entered ‘injury time.’ In football, injury time is added by the referee to compensate for time lost due to substitutions, disciplinary penalties, injuries, arguments with the referee, and other delays during play.
According to the campaign timetable for the 2027 general elections issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), campaigns for the Presidential and National Assembly elections begin on Tuesday, 19 August 2026, and close on 15 January 2027—exactly 24 hours before the elections scheduled for 16 January 2027. Campaigns for governorship and other positions commence in September 2026.
Since the start of this year, politicians and the political leadership have diverted nearly all their attention to political scheming and strategizing ahead of the elections. On the economic front, the authorities have merely clung to and flaunted statistics showcasing macroeconomic stability. Thus, the Nigerian economy has recently been subjected to quick patches under conditions akin to injury time.
The FGN, in injury-time mode, has been setting up various committees, including one to reform the entire economic reforms. Almost every ministry, department, and agency (MDA) is hurriedly putting together initiatives for official launch before political campaigns commence. To manage this injury time, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu replaced Wale Edun with Taiwo Oyedele—a tax expert—as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.
Although critical stakeholders—including the World Bank, the IMF, global rating agencies, and development partners—have credited the FGN for achieving macroeconomic stability, they have repeatedly warned about the resultant impoverishment, hunger, and suffering caused by the reforms. Seemingly at its wits’ end on what else to do to meaningfully improve the people’s lot, the FGN has entered injury-time mode, applying quick patches to the economy.
Oyedele, as head of the Economic Management Team (EMT) and representative of the President, has since assuming office in April been setting up and inaugurating numerous committees on the economy. But as these committees work, the EMT—and indeed the FGN—is running out of time, with full-blown electioneering just days away. What scorecard will the Tinubu administration present to the people during the six-month campaign?
Apparently racing against time, President Tinubu and his arrowhead, Oyedele, seem to have adopted a new ‘trick’: buck-passing—using every opportunity to blame subnational governments for the economy ‘stagnating’ at stability. The economy has attained “growth without development.” Recently, Tinubu, while speaking to traditional rulers from Ibadan, Oyo State, lectured state governors on not using their resources to build ’empty’ flyovers.
Although President Tinubu was addressing a group on a courtesy call, he used the occasion to criticize governors for embarking on elephant projects, stressing that they now receive four to five times what they used to get in revenue allocation under the previous administration. He told his visitors that state governments should take development to the grassroots, not the Federal Government. The President even pointed to states now regularly paying civil servants’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements as evidence of the FGN’s reforms.
As if taking a cue from Tinubu, Oyedele used the same approach at the ‘Delta State Economic and Investment Summit’, stating that “while the Federal Government can deliver macroeconomic stability, the responsibility for translating that stability into economic prosperity rests largely with state and local governments.” Oyedele noted that macroeconomic stability alone cannot guarantee genuine economic transformation, stressing that decisions capable of creating jobs, attracting industries, and stimulating local production must be taken by state governments that understand their comparative advantages.
According to him, “The center secures economic stability; the state converts stability into shared prosperity, and local governments deliver it as the tangible highest standard of living for every family. That division of labor is where true fiscal restructuring takes place.” Echoing President Tinubu, Oyedele said the FGN’s reforms had significantly increased revenues accruing to states and local governments, enabling them to pay salaries, clear pension arrears, and invest more in infrastructure and human development.
But has the FGN’s reforms, aside from the vaunted stability, provided a sufficient enabling environment for persons, households, and businesses to thrive? The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) tight monetary policy, for instance, has in several ways stifled local businesses and entrepreneurship. The high benchmark interest rate—the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)—set by the apex bank for upwards of three years, has hampered the accessibility and affordability of credit for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
The full floatation of the Naira three years ago—to unify exchange rates—practically dealt a death blow to the local currency, leaving it thoroughly undervalued. One net effect has been high imported inflation, as economic agents struggle to maintain their activities. Many businesses have had to either reduce operating capacity, incur huge losses, or shut down and leave Nigeria.
Infrastructural decay in Nigeria remains worrisome: whether roads, railways, seaports, or airports, the story is the same—decrepit facilities. Energy or power supply remains in a worse state, leaving businesses and households to depend almost entirely on their own generating sets. In desperation or frustration, many businesses and organizations have been migrating to renewable energy sources—especially solar—cutting off from the national grid.
The ever-worsening insecurity in Nigeria remains a palpable threat to all persons and businesses. The rising spate of kidnapping, terrorism, banditry, and other social ills is almost rendering the entire country unlivable. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been displaced from their ancestral lands by bandits and terrorists, with many now living in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps across the country.
With all these challenges, is it safe to say that the FGN has provided the enabling environment for state and local governments to cause real development at the grassroots? Apart from the threat of insecurity, prices of petrol (PMS) or diesel, cost of funds, and other operating costs remain prohibitively high for businesses to set up gainfully in suburban and rural communities—and create jobs.
Truly, the onus remains on the FGN to keep reforming its reforms to improve the people’s lot. The current injury-time mode or buck-passing brings no light at the end of the tunnel. The Nigerian economy remains dangerously on the precipice!
· The author, Okeke, a practicing Economist, Business Strategist, Sustainability expert, and ex-Chief Economist of Zenith Bank Plc, lives in Lekki, Lagos. He can be reached via: obioraokeke2000@yahoo.com (08033075697 SMS only)
The author, Okeke, a practicing Economist, Business Strategist, Sustainability expert and ex-Chief Economist of Zenith Bank Plc, lives in Lekki, Lagos. He can be reached via: obioraokeke2000@yahoo.com (08033075697) SMS only
