Nigeria’s economic overhaul launched in 2023 has stabilized public finances and averted a broader collapse, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said on Tuesday. The reforms, which included scrapping costly fuel subsidies and devaluing the naira, generated 15.8 trillion naira ($11.71 billion) in savings between June 2023 and December 2025, according to Oyedele.
The savings helped boost total federal resources by 20.4 trillion naira, enabling additional spending of 30.64 trillion naira. Of that, 9.39 trillion naira was allocated to wage increases, 9.37 trillion naira to service external debt, and 6.5 trillion naira to infrastructure projects. Oyedele noted that the reforms lifted foreign reserves, attracted investment, and resolved a situation where 27 states previously struggled to pay salaries.
The gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates narrowed to under 5%, down from more than 60% prior to the reforms. Nigeria’s year-on-year economic growth reached 3.89% in the first quarter, compared with 4.07% in the final quarter of 2025. Oyedele acknowledged that while the measures have gained support from investors and international lenders, they have imposed short-term hardship on ordinary Nigerians amid a cost-of-living crisis.
The government also addressed its Ways and Means debt, which totaled roughly 30 trillion naira—funds borrowed directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria to cover temporary budget shortfalls. The reforms were initiated under President Bola Tinubu’s administration in 2023, with the currency conversion rate cited at $1 to 1,349.8400 naira.
