The senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, has attributed the collapse of the naira to what he described as reckless currency printing under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“To understand the root cause of the present cost of living and the exchange rate regime, you must trace it and locate it in terms of the excessive amount of banknotes through so-called ways and means which the past government created and which this government has eliminated,” Oshiomhole said.
The senator, who also served as national chairman of the All Progressives Congress for two years during Mr Buhari’s tenure, made the remarks during the Progressive Governors Forum’s meeting and interactive session in Benin City, Edo State, on Saturday.
Drawing historical parallels, Oshiomhole likened the situation to economic mismanagement seen under former Ugandan President Idi Amin.
“We are coming from a country that was almost like Zimbabwe or Idi Amin’s Uganda, where he asked the Central Bank governor, ‘Go and print more money for us to share to the people.’ And the governor said, ‘if we print more money, Uganda currency will be like a sheet of paper,’” he said.
Oshiomhole criticized the printing of over ₦30 trillion by the Buhari administration under the Ways and Means provision, describing it as a deceptive economic policy aimed at superficially propping up the economy.
“This is what the immediate past CBN governor was doing. In the Senate, we have the record that they printed over ₦31 trillion, which they called Ways and Means. You know, when the government wants to deceive people, they use jargon,” he said.
He further explained, “They called it Ways and Means, but I can tell you what it means: it means a situation in which the government prints banknotes, not based on what we have earned or any resources, just print banknotes to go and share to the people to meet their money illusion. It is the result of that excessive printing of banknotes that led to the collapse of the naira.”
Oshiomhole’s criticism comes nearly two years after Buhari left office. President Bola Tinubu took over on May 29, 2023, immediately removing the fuel subsidy and later implementing exchange rate unification.
These reforms have since led to a significant rise in the cost of living and a further devaluation of the naira. Inflation currently stands at 23.7 per cent, a decrease from 34 per cent following a rebasing of the economy under the Tinubu administration.
In 2024, Nigeria recorded the highest surge in acute food insecurity globally, according to the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises by the Global Network Against Food Crises, in partnership with the Food Security Information Network and UNICEF.
The International Monetary Fund also reported that poverty and food insecurity remain widespread under the Tinubu administration. Similarly, the World Bank’s Africa Pulse report of April 2025 revealed that Nigeria now has the highest number of extremely poor people in the world, warning that the number of Nigerians living in poverty could increase by 2027.
