Nigeria’s reform gamble: Austerity without anesthesia

For decades, Nigeria’s economic orthodoxy has rested on a familiar promise: embrace tough reforms today, and prosperity will arrive tomorrow.

“Short-term pain for long-term gain,” goes the mantra. But as millions of Nigerians sink deeper into poverty, one must ask: what if the pain is all too real, and the gain too elusive?

In 2023, President Bola Tinubu’s administration launched a bold set of economic reforms lauded by international financial institutions and local technocrats.

The two flagships: removal of the fuel subsidy and the fl

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