The Presidency has defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reform agenda, accusing members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) of unfairly portraying the administration’s efforts as a failure.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said attempts to dismiss Tinubu’s multi-sector reforms amounted to what he described as an unjust attack on a leader working to rebuild Nigeria after inheriting a struggling economy.
In a statement posted on his official X account, Dare argued that the Tinubu administration inherited a nation facing severe economic and structural challenges in May 2023 and has since embarked on difficult but necessary reforms.
According to him, reducing the administration’s achievements to a narrative of failure ignores the realities the government met on assumption of office.
“For the Bishops to seek to reduce President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s monumental, multi-sectoral transformation agenda to a narrative of failure is not merely an act of intellectual dishonesty; it is a scathingly uncharitable assault on a patriotic leader who inherited a crumbling, bankrupt estate in May 2023 and possessed the rare political courage to rebuild it from the foundation up,” Dare stated.
The presidential aide maintained that the administration has taken bold decisions aimed at stabilising the economy and laying the foundation for long-term national development.
His remarks followed comments by Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, after a recent meeting between President Tinubu and a delegation of Catholic bishops at the Presidential Villa.
During an interview on Arise Television, Onaiyekan revealed that the bishops raised concerns over Nigeria’s economy, insecurity and political environment during the meeting, but said the President rejected their assessment, insisting that his government was making progress.
The Presidency insists that the reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration should be judged within the context of the economic conditions inherited in 2023 rather than through what it described as selective criticism.
