IMF Praises Tinubu’s Economic Reforms Despite Acknowledging Worsening Poverty in Nigeria
West Africa WeeklyJuly 3, 20252 Mins read159 
In its latest review of Nigeria’s economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again praised the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms, despite openly acknowledging that living conditions for ordinary Nigerians have deteriorated under his watch.
In its 2025 Article IV Consultation report, the IMF acknowledges that poverty, hunger, and inflation persist as widespread issues. Nearly half the population lives in poverty, over 31 million people face food insecurity, and inflation stands at 23.7 per cent. Per capita GDP has dropped to just $836, among the lowest in Africa.
Despite this, the IMF praises Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidies, the liberalisation of the naira, and the end of direct monetary financing by the Central Bank, reforms it says have restored “macroeconomic stability,” improved “investor confidence,” and enabled Nigeria’s re-entry into the Eurobond market. The Fund highlights the country’s $2.2 billion Eurobond issuance and improved credit rating as key achievements, even as the domestic economy struggles.
The report confirms what many Nigerians already know:
The benefits of these reforms have yet to reach the general population.
The cost of living has surged, while wages remain stagnant, and the much-promised cash transfer programme, intended to cushion the impact, has reached fewer than half of its intended beneficiaries.
These policies caused widespread protests across Nigeria in 2024. The removal of subsidies and currency controls led to an increase in fuel and transport prices, triggering national demonstrations. At the time, the U.S. government, by far the IMF’s most powerful stakeholder, deflected criticism by blaming Russian disinformation for the protests. This claim was widely seen as an effort to divert attention from the real source of the anger: IMF-backed austerity.
The IMF’s benchmark for success is clear:
Investor confidence, bond market access, and currency liberalisation.
Nowhere in the report is success defined in terms of declining poverty, improved wages, or affordable living. Even as the Fund urges the government to expand its social programmes, it frames them as necessary to support reforms, not as a goal in their own right.
The IMF’s priorities align with those of global financial markets, not with the needs of ordinary Nigerians. The Fund commends reforms that stabilise balance sheets and attract capital, even when those same reforms deepen inequality and hardship on the ground.
The report also warns that Nigeria’s fiscal outlook remains fragile. With global oil prices below budget projections, the country faces revenue shortfalls and rising debt service costs. Nearly half of federal revenues are spent on interest payments, leaving limited fiscal space for public investment.
Still, the IMF advises further liberalisation, tighter monetary policy, and structural reforms. For many Nigerians, this signals more hardship ahead, not relief.
However, it is worth noting that the 2024 protests were not the product of foreign manipulation.
They were an expression of economic desperation
If success continues to be measured by how well Nigeria pleases global investors, rather than how it serves its citizens, more unrest may follow.
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IMF is a criminal organization set aside to diminish third world country, they have no any good reason for governance for the people and by the people all they care about is what the foreigners benefit from the black Nations.