Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has sparked a fresh wave of criticism after declaring that domestic and international investors have largely written off Nigeria’s opposition political parties as unserious and are already pricing in a second term for President Bola Tinubu.
Oyedele made the remarks during the closing press briefing of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, according to ARISE News. He said the markets had not factored in the opposition’s proposed return to fuel subsidy because they did not consider it a credible policy direction. “In all the meetings I have had, I came to a conclusion that the markets, including the domestic market, which you can read from the capital market, and the international market, have largely written off the opposition in Nigeria as being unserious,” Oyedele said. He added that investors expected continuity in the administration’s economic reforms and were pricing in the prospect of a second term for the President.
The minister warned that any reversal of the government’s reforms, particularly a return to fuel subsidy, would trigger capital flight and put severe pressure on the naira. He said the currency could crash towards N3,000, N3,500 or even N4,000 to the dollar if the subsidy were restored. “The very fuel people want subsidised would become far more expensive in naira terms,” he warned.
The comments drew sharp condemnation from critics who accused the minister of prioritising the interests of foreign investors over the welfare of Nigerians. A post shared widely on X by user @SenatorT__ described Oyedele’s statement as “treasonous” and accused him of working for the Bretton Woods institutions rather than for Nigerians. “I have monitored your statements and press releases. You are not working for Nigerians rather you are working for the Bretton Woods institutions. It is a shame,” the post read.
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The controversy was further fuelled by separate claims and analyses that have dominated public discourse in recent days. Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde alleged that the Federal Government was withholding N250 billion in Nigeria LNG dividends meant for each of the 36 states until after the 2027 elections. The Presidency has denied the claim, with presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga describing it as false and stating that a one-off distribution of N250 billion to each state would amount to N9 trillion, which he said defied basic logic given NLNG’s total dividend history.
In a separate development, former Fidelity Bank Chairman Mustafa Chike-Obi argued that maintaining Nigeria’s foreign reserves of between $52 billion and $53 billion costs the country more than $10 billion annually. He explained that the reserves earn about 3 per cent in returns while the naira used to finance them carries a cost of about 20 per cent, creating an annual opportunity cost of roughly 17 percentage points.
Oyedele, however, defended the administration’s record, stating that private investment had increased twentyfold from about $300 million in 2023 to $6 billion in 2026, while net foreign reserves had risen from barely $3 billion to more than $45 billion.
The minister’s remarks have deepened the divide between the government’s narrative of economic recovery and the lived reality of many Nigerians who continue to grapple with high food prices, a weakened currency and rising costs of living. For critics, Oyedele’s statement that the markets have written off the opposition is not a testament to the government’s success but a confirmation that the administration is more attuned to the expectations of foreign investors than to the needs of the citizens it was elected to serve.
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