Bwala admits Tinubu’s reforms increased poverty, insists Nigeria is making progress

Daniel Bwala, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, has admitted that the administration’s economic reforms pushed more Nigerians into poverty, while insisting that the country has recorded marked progress since the policies began.

Bwala made the remarks on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he defended the government’s economic direction and challenged critics’ assessments of the country’s poverty levels.

He argued that the hardship Nigerians have experienced reflects the discomfort that often accompanies major economic changes.

“Please let it be clear even to the opposition, the reason why you have this number of poor people and some of these doomsday analytics that people are giving is because we undertook a reform,” he said.

Bwala acknowledged that the reforms had driven more people into poverty but maintained that the administration had made progress despite the difficulties.

“There is no part of the world where you start a reform like that there will not be discomfort,” he said.

He added: “More people went down to poverty, acknowledged, but since when the reform started to today, we have made marked progress which is what we have spent the last three years talking to Nigerians about.”

The presidential aide also conceded that poverty remained a serious challenge for a considerable section of the population.

“So, you cannot discount that even though there are quite a number of our population that are poor which we admit, but we have made progress so far,” he said.

Bwala predicts bigger Tinubu victory in 2027

Turning to the 2027 presidential election, Bwala expressed confidence that Tinubu would secure a wider victory than he achieved in 2023.

Tinubu defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by 1.81 million votes in the 2023 election, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) trailed him by 2.69 million votes.

Bwala predicted that the president would increase his winning margin against his challengers in the next presidential contest.

“The margin of gap that President Bola Tinubu will give each and everyone of these candidates will be so much that you won’t believe it,” he said.

Bwala’s comments come as the administration continues to defend its economic policies amid concerns about poverty and the financial pressure facing households across the country.

The remarks also place the government’s claims of economic progress alongside its acknowledgement that many Nigerians continue to struggle.