Duke: Nigeria’s Economy Won’t Benefit From Continuation Of Tinubu’s Policies

Former Cross River State governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has said Nigeria’s economy will not benefit from a continuation of the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Duke, who called for a fundamental shift in the country’s economic direction, said Nigeria needed imaginative and strategically designed policies capable of driving growth, developing its natural resources and reducing poverty.

“The Nigerian economy will not benefit from the continuation of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria needs an economic model that would transform its vast natural and human resources into productive assets while making the livelihood of citizens the central objective of economic management.

“The strength of our economy will be reinforced by imaginative, strategically-designed policies that address growth,” Duke said.

He said such policies should focus on developing the country’s natural assets and harnessing its human capital to build a productive economy capable of creating jobs, raising incomes and improving living standards.

“Nigerians deserve an administration strategically-designed [with] policies that address growth and alleviate the current crushing level of poverty,” he said.

The PRP presidential candidate also criticised what he described as “pandering debates” over the economy, urging Nigerians to demand informed and growth-oriented policies that would deliver tangible improvements in their lives.

“The nation must move beyond pandering debates to adopting well-informed and growth-oriented policies,” Duke said.

He said the performance of the Nigerian economy should not be measured primarily by government revenue or foreign reserves, but by indicators that reflect the welfare of citizens.

“The yardstick of measuring the wellbeing of our economy shall not be based on the manipulated volume of our foreign reserves, but rather on employment indices and income per capita,” he said.

Duke’s position comes as the economy remains a major issue in the 2027 presidential contest, with the Tinubu administration defending its reforms as necessary to correct longstanding distortions and strengthen public finances, while opposition figures continue to criticise the impact of the policies on households.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi have also criticised aspects of the administration’s economic policies, presenting alternative positions on production, investment, public spending and citizens’ welfare.

Duke, however, argued that the central test of economic management should be whether Nigeria’s resources are being converted into productive capacity and whether citizens are becoming better off.

He was particularly critical of the government’s handling of the fuel subsidy issue, arguing that the subsidy arrangement that preceded the Tinubu administration had been replaced with what he described as a poorly managed alternative that benefits government finances at the expense of citizens.

“The fuel subsidy scam which preceded the Tinubu administration has been replaced by an even more poorly-managed option which makes more devalued money for the governments, impoverishes its citizens and depletes the economy,” he said.

Duke said Nigeria needed to move beyond familiar political arguments and subject economic policies to scrutiny, with greater emphasis on growth and productive investment.

He said the PRP would place the productive use of Nigeria’s natural resources and human capital at the centre of its economic approach.

According to him, the ultimate objective should be an economy that creates jobs, raises incomes, develops Nigerian assets and improves the quality of life of citizens.

“Quality of the livelihood of Nigerians shall remain our goal,” he said.