Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has said that the country is currently recovering from severe economic challenges inherited from the past administration.
Oluremi, during an interview with Fox News Digital, insisted the government was implementing reforms to stabilise the economy.
Oluremi pointed to economic gains, including local refining of petroleum products and exchange rate stabilisation, as evidence of progress.
She also accused critics of exploiting the approaching re-election season to portray the nation negatively to the international community.
According to the First Lady, some criticisms of the government, including claims by US lawmakers of a “Christian genocide” in Nigeria, were politically motivated as the country approaches its re-election period.
She said, “We’re just out of a lot of economic crisis that we inherited, because this is the first time the government of Nigeria will remove fuel subsidy. We were not producing oil, we were not refining them.
“We live in Nigeria, we know that this is a democracy, and we are getting close to re-election, and there will be a lot of potholes of the beliefs they want the outside world to know.
“Now Nigeria, we have refined products, and we’re not importing fuel like before. So our exchange rates are stabilising. The country is moving forward.”
The First Lady also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu had declared a state of emergency on insecurity in November 2025, leading to the recruitment of 50,000 additional police officers, 24,000 soldiers, and the arming of 10,000 forest guards.
She further revealed that 11,566 police officers previously assigned to VIP protection had been recalled and redeployed to security hotspots, including Plateau, Benue, and Taraba states.
Oluremi emphasised that the government was seeking partnerships with countries willing to assist Nigeria’s development, adding that “When Nigeria was in the boom age, we didn’t really invest well. So this is what we’ve inherited now. We have to see what to do.”
