The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation has criticised President Bola Tinubu over claims of improvement in the naira’s exchange rate, arguing that the administration should not celebrate a recovery from a crisis its policies allegedly helped create.
In a statement issued by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Nnanna Ihediwa, the organisation said the recent stabilisation of the naira offered little comfort to Nigerians still battling inflation, rising food prices and the high cost of living.
“Mr President, you cannot preside over the destruction of the purchasing power of our national currency and turn around to seek public applause,” Ihediwa stated.
The campaign recalled that when Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, the official exchange rate was approximately ₦461 to the dollar. Following the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of foreign exchange windows, the naira experienced a sharp depreciation, at one point approaching ₦2,000 to the dollar.
It also questioned the President’s description of an exchange rate of around ₦1,340 to the dollar as manageable or “pocketable”, arguing that such figures do not reflect the economic reality facing ordinary Nigerians.
According to the organisation, what matters to citizens is not simply whether the naira has recovered some ground, but whether that improvement has translated into affordable food, medication, transportation and other basic necessities.