People complain dollar is N1,700, fuel is N1,000 but it could have been worse if Tinubu’s reforms had not been in place— Doyin Okupe

Former Labour Party’s 2023 presidential campaign spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, has said the naira would have been N17,000 per dollar at foreign exchange and the price of fuel N4000 per litre without President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reforms.

Okupe, who was the spokesperson to ex-presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, disclosed this in a recent Arise Television interview.

This comes as Nigerians buy petrol at between N1060 and N1,115 per litre across filling stations nationwide compared to an average price of N254.06 in May last year before fuel subsidy removal.

Also, the country’s foreign exchange rate rose to N1675.62 per dollar on Monday, 25 November 2024, from N463 on June 13, 2023.

The twin factor of Naira depreciation and fuel price hikes has worsened economic hardship for Nigerians as headline and food inflation increased to 33.88 percent and 39.16 percent, respectively, in October 2024.

Reacting to the development, Okupe insisted that if not for the reforms, the economic situation Nigerians face would have been worse.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu has come with very serious reforms to take the country from the situation it has been in for the last 8 to 10 years.

“I heard people complain that the dollar is N1,700; it could have been worse, it could have been N17,000. That fuel is N1,000; it could have been worse; it could have been N3,000 or N4,000 per litre if these reforms had not been in place”, he stated.