On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu put forward a defence of his administration's economic direction, pointing to gains in GDP growth, an uptick in foreign reserves, and higher revenue transfers to state governments, while also citing a World Bank assessment that placed Nigeria on a path of steady economic expansion.

Through a statement released under the name of his information and strategy adviser, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu pointed to the World Bank's October 2026 Nigeria Development Update — carrying the title "Beyond the Federal Purse: How Higher Revenues Reshaped State Priorities" — as documentation that policy choices made from 2023 onward had started to produce measurable outcomes.

Addressing the gathering, Tinubu put forward the position that eliminating the fuel subsidy, unifying the foreign exchange market, and imposing tighter controls on public spending had boosted state income, steadied the broader economy, and freed up budgetary capacity for both federal and state tiers to channel resources toward development — a claim he sought to reinforce by citing findings he characterised as evidence that those three policy adjustments had expanded fiscal room at every level of government.

Figures from the report place Nigeria's output growth at 4.2 per cent across the opening two quarters of 2026, up from the 3.9 per cent recorded over the same stretch in 2025, even as unrest in the Middle East weighed on the broader global environment. Between 2026 and 2028, annual economic expansion was forecast by the World Bank to hold at a floor of 4.4 per cent on average.

Between 2023 and 2025, the federation's income grew by 69 per cent in inflation-adjusted terms, with state-level administrations capturing the largest share of those gains. Those additional funds allowed states to channel a 151 per cent real-terms uplift in capital spending toward roads, transport links, agriculture, energy provision, and housing construction, with the bulk of that growth concentrated in infrastructure.

Findings from the document show that 29 of the 33 states redirected budget allocations toward economic infrastructure, and per-capita outlays on social programmes rose in 32 of those 33 states. Own-source revenue posted real-terms growth across 31 of the 35 states assessed, and over the same four-year span — 2021 through 2025 — 21 of those states brought their debt levels down relative to the size of their economies.

Forecasts place Nigeria's total public debt load at roughly 38.1 per cent of GDP by 2026, easing down from the 40 per cent recorded a year earlier. Inflation, measured at 27.6 per cent when the year opened in January 2025, had eased back to 15.2 per cent by December of that year. Elevated energy costs tied to unrest across the Middle East have weighed on the pace at which inflation retreats, with the World Bank projecting price growth to settle near 12 per cent by 2028.

Over the first six months of 2026, Nigeria's current account surplus expanded to $12 billion — a level representing 7 per cent of GDP — up from the $8.6 billion recorded across the same stretch of 2025. Climbing from $45.5 billion at the close of 2025, the country's gross external reserves reached $53.8 billion by the end of August 2026.

According to World Bank projections, poverty levels held steady for the first time since 2019, with output growth expected to outpace demographic expansion enough to bring those figures down over time.

Tinubu described the report as a positive step and outlined plans to broaden direct cash-transfer programmes — which had by then reached over 10 million households — alongside a push to roll out compressed natural gas infrastructure and lift output in farming, healthcare, and education. He also called on state governments to deploy their increased revenues with greater care, directing funds toward projects that raise living conditions and strengthen public health and schooling for the population.

He told the audience that the Renewed Hope Agenda 2.0 would hasten the delivery of shared prosperity across the country. He pledged that the administration would maintain its reform trajectory while placing greater emphasis on inclusive growth through the Renewed Hope Agenda. Appreciation was extended toward the Economic Management Team, operating under the Finance Minister who also holds the role of Coordinating Minister of the Economy, as well as toward state governors and the broader group of stakeholders whose participation helped carry these reforms forward.

The statement noted that early signs of policy changes taking hold had started to appear, while also acknowledging that translating those gains into tangible improvements — affordable food on household tables and job opportunities for young people — still requires sustained effort, according to the president.

Among the ten countries drawing the largest shares of the $112 billion in private capital that the World Bank Group channelled during the fiscal year ending June 2026, Nigeria secured a place on that roster. Ajay Banga, who leads the World Bank Group, put forward the numbers during a broadcast interview held in the run-up to the joint annual gatherings of the IMF and the World Bank. The ten countries on the roster were Nigeria, Brazil, India, Turkey, Romania, Argentina, South Africa, Bangladesh, Mexico, and Chile.

Taken together, those two funding streams — $112 billion drawn from external commitments and a further $123 billion contributed directly from the World Bank Group's own balance sheet — produced a combined financing total of $235 billion. Private capital flows into the four regions varied widely: roughly $19.2 billion reached South Asia, $21.3 billion went to Europe and Central Asia, Africa drew in $22 billion, and Latin America together with the Caribbean pulled in the largest share at $36.3 billion.

Potential aid packages for between 30 and 40 nations were under active discussion at the World Bank, Banga indicated, as climbing costs for energy and fertiliser put mounting strain on those countries' economies. At the outset, $25 billion had been put on the table by the bank, with Banga noting that the figure could climb as high as $100 billion should conditions worsen.

Forgoing more than N3.3 trillion in fuel-related taxes and duties formed part of what the president described as a broader effort to ease pressure on petrol costs, with an expansion of compressed natural gas transport also put forward as a measure aimed at bringing down everyday expenses. Three measures formed the core of what Tinubu laid out: a waiver on fuel levies and import duties totalling more than N3.3 trillion, a 30-day suspension of profit margins by NNPC Retail with priority access directed toward public transport operators, and an effort to hold wholesale petrol supply costs to a ceiling of N1,350 per litre as a buffer against price swings.

Aso Rock characterised NNPC Retail's move to absorb its own profit margin as a tool for stabilising pump prices rather than a revival of off-budget government subsidies, while pointing to the disappearance of fuel queues and a narrowing of the gap between the official and black-market exchange rates as evidence of the policy's effect.

Testimonials compiled under a government-backed push to highlight the CNG transport initiative indicated that petrol expenses fell for both private commuters and commercial operators after the switch. The fare for the Masaka–Berger route in the Federal Capital Territory, Tinubu noted, had dropped to N500 from a previous level of N1,500. Passengers making the Enugu-to-Nsukka journey were reported to be paying N1,600 per trip, down from the previous N4,000 fare, according to the same source.

Kabir, who drives a taxi, found that spending N10,000 on CNG fuel stretched far enough to complete three more return journeys than fellow drivers who relied on petrol. Travellers in Borno were reported to be paying fares as low as N50 per journey on CNG and electric vehicles, while an official noted that those varied experiences reflected what the investment in CNG transportation had been designed to deliver.

Tinubu argued that reduced expenses for drivers would flow through to lower ticket prices for commuters, giving households greater financial flexibility for day-to-day spending. Coordination between the federal government, state administrations through the Nigeria Governors' Forum, and private-sector investors formed part of the approach outlined to broaden access under the National Affordable CNG Transportation Programme, according to the president.

Fifteen buses went to Ekiti, twenty to Lagos, and Akwa Ibom took delivery of fifty vehicles cleared for deployment. Thirty CNG hybrid buses and 200 electric tricycles were deployed across Katsina, whereas Kano took delivery of a separate fleet comprising 30 CNG buses alongside five fully electric bus units. By the time the Kaduna fleet of 100 CNG buses reached the three-million-passenger mark, a network of more than 400 certified conversion centres had already processed upward of 120,000 vehicles across the state.

Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress candidate for the January 2027 presidential contest and a former Vice President, put forward a fuel production subsidy proposal that the presidency has since characterised as not grounded in practical reality. The presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, told reporters that the crude oil volumes available to Nigeria fall well short of what Atiku Abubakar's proposed fuel production subsidy would require to function.

Pointing to televised comments by Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele, Dare noted that Nigeria pumps around 1.8 million barrels of crude each day for a population of more than 200 million people, yet joint venture agreements and production-sharing contracts absorb enough of that output to leave the state with under 700,000 barrels per day it can allocate without restriction — a structural gap that, in the presidency's view, makes a blanket crude production subsidy fiscally untenable, since insufficient freely available volumes to anchor such a programme would recreate the conditions of opacity, round-tripping, and budget losses seen in the country's subsidy arrangements of earlier years.

Tinubu went on to say that any pledge put forward must rest on a viable plan and remain sustainable over time, adding that accountability filters through the full range of choices made at every tier of government.