On Nigeria’s bold but rudderless attempts at structural economic reforms

President Bola Tinubu’s lack of a focused agenda is blunting the impact of some of his bold reforms while also jeopardizing private sector growth

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I: Tinubu’s attempts at bold reforms are welcome, but they should not be viewed as ends in themselves

Given the many hardships currently buffeting Nigerian households, President Bola Tinubu’s Biya-esque travel to southern France for a few days in a new $100m jet did not make for good optics. His office euphemistically called the trip a “work stay,” which presumably he couldn’t do anywhere in Nigeria.

Even worse than Tinubu’s tone-deafness is the lack focus in his administration’s economic reforms.

To be fair, the administration deserves significant credit for taking on bold reforms — like liberalizing the naira and unifying the official and parallel market exchange rates, taking on the thorny issue of petrol subsidies (arguably the third rail of Nigerian politics), partially removing electricity subsidies, giving the central bank the leew…