World Bank Built The Economic Bomb, And Tinubu Detonated It On Nigeria

By Nnaoke Ufere, PhD

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President Tinubu was once hailed by the World Bank, IMF, and global investors as the man who would save Nigeria’s economy. They anointed him as the “bold reformer” who would unleash a free-market revolution and reverse the damage left behind by Buhari’s years of economic decline.

Buoyed by this international praise, Tinubu wasted no time. Just days after his election victory, insiders report that he met with World Bank officials who pressed him hard on his economic strategy. By the end of that meeting, Tinubu had fully embraced the familiar prescription the bank has sold to previous Nigerian presidents: scrap subsidies, devalue the naira, cut spending, and squeeze more revenue out of taxpayers.

In reality, the blueprint for these reforms had long been drafted in distant offices by World Bank and IMF technocrats, far removed from the daily struggles of ordinary Nigerians, and Tinubu dutifully sold their plan to a weary nation as the cure it desperately needed.

Tinubu ignored the counsel of some of his top economic advisers and instead swallowed the World Bank’s prescription hook, line, and sinker.

This failure of judgment recalls the words of Publilius Syrus, a first-century Latin writer, who said, “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm, but a wise man listens to all advice and chooses the best course.”

Rather than listening carefully and selecting the path that would best serve Nigerians, Tinubu chose the very course that has plunged the country into deeper turmoil.

He tore away fuel subsidies overnight and devalued the currency without building any safety nets to cushion the blow. He borrowed recklessly, pledging future oil revenues as collateral, and spent lavishly on programs that have done nothing to kickstart real growth.

To make matters worse, he has saddled Nigeria with a tax regime so complex and punitive it will strangle enterprise rather than fuel entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Adding insult to injury, this disastrous path is being heavily financed by the World Bank. It has committed a staggering $9.6 billion to fund its blueprint for the Tinubu administration, with more than $6.45 billion already disbursed and another $3.15 billion seemingly approved for 2025, all in the hope that putting lipstick on a pig would somehow transform it into a lady.

But rather than rescuing Nigeria, this has created what looks like a textbook Ponzi scheme. Fresh loans are simply used to service old debts and interest, while ordinary Nigerians see no meaningful improvement in their lives and are left carrying the weight of a deepening crisis.

What the World Bank and Tinubu forgot in their triumphal rush to boost confidence in a poorly managed economy is that blueprints without careful execution are like a loaded gun in the hands of a child: dangerous, reckless, and almost certain to end in disaster.

And disaster is exactly what followed, as our economy plunged into runaway inflation, mass job losses, and a hunger crisis that has pushed millions to the brink of starvation. It is a moral stain not just on these unaccountable global institutions but also on President Tinubu, who sold their poison pill to a nation now paying the price, many have paid with their lives.

Two years later, the results of the destructive economic policies championed by the World Bank and mismanaged by Tinubu are undeniable and disastrous, just as I and many others had predicted. Tinubu’s so-called economic revolution has produced record inflation, mass unemployment, shuttered businesses, and the sharpest collapse in living standards in a generation.

What was sold as a cure has become a poison, leaving millions of Nigerians poorer, hungrier, and angrier. Since he took office, an estimated 1.8 million Nigerians have lost their jobs, with millions more unable to find work, according to data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and NBS.

Everywhere we look, we see the wreckage left by the World Bank–Tinubu mass destruction bomb.

Pensioners and teachers say they can no longer make ends meet. Farmers cannot plant or harvest safely because of rising insecurity, leaving markets empty and food prices skyrocketing.

The high prices of drugs and medical supplies mean that many patients can no longer afford to take full doses. Nigerians are increasingly splitting pills to make prescriptions last longer, and many can no longer afford their medications at all. Pharmacies are reporting that people often walk away without buying needed medications because they simply cannot pay, worsening health conditions for millions.

In rural and poor communities, the high cost of sanitary pads forces young girls and women to wash and reuse disposable pads, often in unsafe and unhygienic conditions. This significantly raises the risk of infections and has led to missed school days and long-term health issues.

In cities and villages across the country, from Abeokuta and Kaduna to Ibadan, Enugu, Umuahia, Uyo, Benin, Jos, Sokoto, and countless others, families are being forced to reduce meal portions, skip meals entirely, and cut back on protein-rich foods like meat, fish, and eggs. As a result, malnutrition is spreading, with children among the hardest hit.

Against this backdrop, rising malnutrition, hunger, and poor sanitation are driving a nationwide public health crisis. Ill-equipped hospitals are overwhelmed, leading to a surge in preventable deaths. Once places of hope, they have become places where many Nigerians go to die, plagued by overcrowding, broken equipment, and empty drug shelves.

Remember, Tinubu vowed to deliver abundant power supply and cheaper transportation within two years. Instead, electricity bills have skyrocketed, the lights still flicker, and transport costs have soared, leaving households and businesses feeling betrayed and struggling to survive each day.

While this national nightmare continues, have you noticed that the same World Bank that designed the poison pills for Tinubu, selling them as policies and a path to prosperity, has now fallen silent, leaving Nigerians to suffer and die under the weight of a man-made disaster packaged as salvation?

If only Tinubu had read economic history texts, he might have known that taking economic advice from the World Bank or IMF or surrendering national economic strategy to these distant institutions was a blueprint for disaster.

History is littered with examples, from Latin America’s debt crises to Africa’s structural adjustment scars. The pattern is tragically familiar: austerity dressed up as reform, pain marketed as progress, and entire nations left weaker, poorer, and angrier.

Worse still, these policies trap nations in a cycle of dependency, forcing governments to borrow just to stay afloat while public services collapse and citizens shoulder the pain through soaring prices, job losses, and falling living standards. That is exactly where Tinubu’s Nigeria is today, addicted to the World Bank drug and unable to break free from its grip.

Yet despite these lessons, Tinubu was hell-bent on following his master’s orders. Instead of charting a bold, independent course for Nigeria’s economy, he chose to double down on the very policies that have failed elsewhere. This was not a reluctant compromise or a measured reform; it was a wholesale embrace of the World Bank’s prescription, no matter the cost to ordinary Nigerians.

And this is where I must be clear: the many challenges you face today are not simply the product of bad luck, random misfortune, or complicated social forces beyond anyone’s control. They are being deliberately driven by the puppet master, the World Bank, and by those carrying out its agenda here at home, dismantling our economy and deepening the suffering of millions in the process.

To be fair, this economic nightmare did not begin with Tinubu. It is the result of decades of mismanagement, corruption, and elite complacency that hollowed out our productive base and left the country dangerously exposed to shocks.

However, instead of breaking with that failed past or devolving power to states and local governments to spur real growth, Tinubu is expanding the federal bureaucracy and spending borrowed money on projects that are unlikely to be completed and will almost certainly be abandoned once funds are diverted into private pockets.

Friends and compatriots, Tinubu is not the leader Nigeria needs in this time of crisis. Those who placed their trust in him in 2023 were deceived, and now the illusion has shattered. The emperor has no clothes, and everyone can see it. We cannot afford to make the same mistake again. The 2027 election must mark the end of his rule. Together, we must rise, stand firm, and send him packing.

But here’s the good news: we don’t need to take on some impossible task to change things. All we need to do is refuse vote-buying schemes in 2027 and vote President Tinubu and his enablers out of office.

Make no mistake: any attempt to rig or manipulate that election will be met with fierce resistance. We will not allow the votes of millions to be stolen through fraud, coercion, or abuse of power by any candidate or party. The eyes of the nation and the world will be watching.

And to the World Bank, IMF, and vulture investors who propped up Tinubu’s disastrous policies, hear this loud and clear: Nigerians will no longer be guinea pigs for failed economic experiments.

We will not accept loans and austerity measures that starve our children, shutter our schools, and bankrupt our future while lining the pockets of a corrupt elite.

The days of mortgaging our destiny to foreign creditors are numbered. If you continue to back policies that deepen suffering, expect Nigerians to rise, resist, and reclaim their economic sovereignty.

My fellow Nigerians, 29 May 2027 will no longer be just another inauguration date on the political calendar. It is the day we must claim as Nigeria’s real Independence Day, the moment we free ourselves from failed economic experiments and the leaders who imposed them.

It is the date Tinubu must depart the presidency and a new leader must emerge who will put people at the center of economic policy, restore dignity to our lives, create jobs, and chart a path to shared prosperity.

Our nation needs a smart, pragmatic leader who will drive the final nail into the coffins of Buharinomics and Tinubunomics, the failed economic experiments of two unsuccessful presidents, and send the World Bank packing.

*About the Author

Nnaoke Ufere is a leading voice in African public thought and policy. He writes a weekly opinion column for the African Mind Journal, where his work shapes national conversations on leadership, governance, and reform. He is the author of Covenant With Nigerians: Reversing Our Country’s Decline. Nnaoke graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a first class honors degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering in 1981. A Harvard MBA alumnus and PhD holder in Strategic Management from Case Western Reserve University, Ufere is an influential author, public intellectual, and global development analyst whose insights on U.S.-Africa relations and institutional accountability continue to challenge the status quo and inspire change.