‘Intellectual fraud’: Presidency blasts Economist over report on Tinubu’s popularity

The Presidency has rejected a report by The Economist suggesting that President Bola Tinubu faces widespread public discontent ahead of the 2027 presidential election, describing the publication’s assessment as “lazy” and “intellectual fraud.”.

Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, criticised the report in a statement on Wednesday, saying its conclusions were inconsistent with the realities of Nigeria under the Tinubu administration.

The Economist, in a report published on October 1 titled “Nigerians dislike their president, but may re-elect him anyway”, argued that Tinubu could secure another term despite public dissatisfaction with his administration.

The publication pointed to the country’s security challenges, the impact of the administration’s economic reforms and the emergence of political challengers as factors that could affect Tinubu’s re-election prospects.

It also suggested that the president’s confidence about returning to office was not necessarily an indication of widespread approval of his government, but could be linked to the advantages enjoyed by incumbents in Nigeria’s electoral system.

Responding, Dare accused the foreign publication of reducing complex national issues to what he described as simplistic narratives of failure and public rejection.

He said the claim that Nigerians “hate” Tinubu ignored what he described as the difficult economic and institutional challenges inherited by the administration in May 2023.

According to Dare, Tinubu inherited an economy weighed down by fuel subsidy costs, multiple foreign exchange windows, high debt-service obligations and years of inadequate investment in infrastructure and other critical sectors.

He said the decision to remove the petrol subsidy at the beginning of Tinubu’s administration was necessary to address what the government considered a major drain on public finances.

Dare also highlighted the administration’s education and wage reforms, citing the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), increased salaries for public servants and greater financial autonomy for local governments among measures he said were benefiting Nigerians.

He argued that citizens who had benefited from the reforms recognised the government’s efforts to address longstanding structural problems.

“These citizens recognise a leader doing the heavy, foundational lifting, someone cleaning up decades of accumulated governance debris,” Dare said.

He maintained that the government’s reforms should be viewed within the context of the challenges confronting the country when Tinubu assumed office, rather than through what he described as isolated examples of hardship.

Dare accused The Economist of relying on “sensationalist half-truths” and said its portrayal of widespread rejection of the president failed to adequately reflect the administration’s economic and institutional reforms.