Former Governor of Cross River State and presidential candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has declared that Nigeria’s economy will not benefit from the continuation of the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, instead calling for imaginative and strategically designed policies to boost growth, develop the country’s natural resources and reduce poverty.
“The Nigerian economy will not benefit from the continuation of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies,” Duke stated.
He said Nigeria needed a fundamental shift towards an economic model that would convert its vast natural and human resources into productive assets and make the livelihood of Nigerians the central objective of economic management.
“The strength of our economy will be enhanced by imaginative and strategically designed policies that address growth,” Duke said.
Duke said such policies must develop Nigeria’s natural assets while harnessing its human capital to build a productive economy capable of creating jobs, increasing incomes and improving living standards.
“Nigerians deserve a strategically designed administration [with] policies that address growth and alleviate the current crushing level of poverty,” he said.
The PRP candidate also rejected what he described as “complacent debates” on the economy, urging Nigerians to demand informed and growth-oriented policies capable of producing tangible improvements in their lives.
“The nation must move beyond complacent debates and adopt well-informed, growth-oriented policies,” Duke said.
He proposed a different yardstick to measure the performance of the Nigerian economy, saying that government revenue and foreign reserves should not be allowed to overshadow the economic condition of citizens.
“The yardstick for measuring the well-being of our economy should not be based on the manipulated volume of our foreign exchange reserves, but rather on employment rates and per capita income,” he said.
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Duke’s position comes as the economy becomes one of the main battlegrounds in the 2027 presidential race, with the Tinubu administration defending its reforms while opposition candidates seek to make economic hardship and the cost of living central issues in the campaign. The race is increasingly framed around competing assessments of the government’s economic reforms and their effect on households.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi have also criticized the economic direction of the administration, offering alternative arguments on production, investment, public expenditure and the welfare of citizens.
But Duke’s intervention goes beyond political exchanges about individual policies. He argues that the true test of economic management should be whether Nigeria’s resources are being converted into productive capacity and whether citizens are improving.
Duke was particularly critical of the government’s handling of the fuel subsidy issue, arguing that the subsidy agreement that preceded the Tinubu administration had been replaced by what he described as a mismanaged option that benefits government finances while worsening the economic burden on citizens.
“The fuel subsidy scam that preceded the Tinubu administration has been replaced by an even worse managed option that generates more devalued money for governments, impoverishes their citizens and drains the economy,” he said.
His criticism comes as the Tinubu administration continues to defend its economic reforms as necessary measures to correct long-standing distortions and strengthen public finances, while opposition forces argue that the reforms have imposed undue hardship on Nigerians.
Duke, however, said the country needed to move beyond familiar arguments and subject economic policy to what he described as “scrutiny and enlightened growth-oriented policies.”
He said the PRP would place the productive use of Nigeria’s natural resources and human capital at the center of its economic approach.
For Duke, the goal is ultimately simple: an economy that creates jobs, increases incomes, develops Nigerian assets and improves the quality of life of citizens.
“The quality of livelihood of Nigerians will continue to be our focus,” he said.
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