Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, has questioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration's economic performance.

He urged senior economic officials to publicly explain their record, claiming that Nigeria's economy is more worse than it was under prior administrations.


In a Channels Television interview, Olawepo-Hashim discussed the future of Nigeria's economy and the place of young Nigerians in the global economy.

Under Obasanjo, the GDP was almost $267 billion. In nominal terms, it increased to more over $574 billion under Jonathan. It has already dropped to almost $230 billion under Tinubu. For a country with abundant natural and human resources, this is a startling setback, he said.

He said that Nigeria's population growth and development requirements have not been met by the All Progressives Congress's (APC) fiscal and monetary management over the last ten years.

Recent economic patterns, he said, indicate systemic flaws that call for an immediate review of policies.

The PDP candidate also voiced alarm about the naira's ongoing depreciation.

He claimed that the exchange rate has exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis and deterred investment because it is below levels backed by the nation's economic foundation.

"Let their best representatives, the finance minister and the governor of the CBN, come out for a live public debate on the economy with me; it's an open challenge," he continued.

Olawepo-Hashim maintained that improvements in oil production, which he said had risen from about 900,000 barrels per day to roughly 1.8 million barrels, along with reduced fuel importation due to increased local refining, should ordinarily strengthen the currency rather than lead to further depreciation.

He also questioned the development record often attributed to Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State.

He made a negative comparison between it and initiatives carried out during previous President Ibrahim Babangida's military rule.

Because he constructed the Third Mainland Bridge, IBB made a greater contribution to the growth of Lagos. What remains if the bridge is taken down today? "What IBB built is far superior to Tinubu's smaller tolled bridge in Lekki," he said.

Regarding opposition politics, the PDP candidate rejected the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) as a strong contender.

He said that a large number of its members were connected to the nation's present security and economic issues.

"Many people in the ADC are primarily Buharists who are accused of being part of the current problem, with the exception of Peter Obi and most likely Atiku Abubakar," he stated.