Drink water and mind your business

New York Times did a report on Nigeria’s failing economy and the president isn’t a fan

Jun 18, 2024

Good morning, Big Brains. I hope this email finds you in your pyjamas… again. I can’t believe the holiday ends today, working folks really can’t have anything. Speaking of working, the presidency doesn’t take breaks from defending the Tinubu-led administration. Catch all the deets in the newsletter!

- Margaret

Word count: ~1,000
Reading time ~3 mins

Let’s get into today’s edition:

Presidency confronts New York Times over economic hardship report
Guinness dismisses rumours of leaving Nigeria
Senegal celebrates historic first oil production

The Big Deal

Presidency confronts New York Times over economic hardship report

The New York Times released a report titled “Nigeria confronts its worst economic crisis in a generation” and as you might have guessed, the federal government isn’t pleased.

The writers of the report, Ruth Maclean and Ismail Auwal, took “starting off strong” literally with the opening line reading, “Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in freefall and millions of people struggling to buy food.”

The first Nigerian you see on the road today will confirm that these writers didn’t tell a single lie.

But the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, does not really agree. To him, the report was "predetermined, reductionist, derogatory, and denigrating and typical of the way foreign media portray African nations.” He also added that the report is misleading and overly negative.

Why is this a big deal?

They say numbers don’t lie and the number that holds the most important truth today is the National Bureau of Statistics’s report that food inflation in Nigeria has risen by over 61% in just one year. A quick stop at any market or supermarket will confirm this report.

But Onanuga’s displeasure with the report seems to be targeted at the fact that the writers highlighted that Nigeria’s worst economic reality yet can be traced back to President Tinubu’s administration.

"The report painted a dire picture of Nigeria's economic situation, blaming the new administration's policies without acknowledging the complex background and ongoing remedial measures," Onanuga said.

We can’t really say we blame the New York Times for including this in their report because many Nigerians will agree. In June 2023, when President Tinubu was elected into office, food inflation in Nigeria stood at 25.25%. By May 2024, it had skyrocketed to 40.66%.

Onanuga also defended some of the president’s most criticised reforms like the floating of naira and fuel scarcity removal, saying that they’ve contributed to the growth of the economy.

He practically said “not too much on President Tinubu” and added that the president “did not create the economic problems Nigeria faces today. He inherited them.” While this may hold some truth to it, the past president he “inherited” the economic problems from would be Muhammed Buhari who was also a member of the All Progressives Congress, a party Tinubu belongs to.

Onanuga also faulted the report for being “all gloom and doom” which raises concerns that Tinubu’s administration may be out of touch with the people’s reality which is mostly all gloom and doom like the report portrays.

Guinness dismisses rumours of leaving Nigeria

The news of Guinness leaving Nigeria was the talk of social media last week but the global stout-producing company just confirmed that the rumours are in fact just rumours.

In response to these rumours, Guinness said “Contrary to rumours being peddled on various media platforms, Guinness Nigeria remains firmly committed to its operations in Nigeria and is poised for a new phase of growth and innovation. Our unwavering commitment to Nigeria is evident in the substantial investments in infrastructure, employment, backward integration and our community development and social responsibility initiatives.”

Where did the rumours come from?

Last week, Guinness Nigeria made a deal with Tolaram Group, a company based in Singapore, to buy a 58% share in Guinness Nigeria. But the part that wasn’t well spread was that Diageo, the parent company, will still own the Guinness brand and will allow Guinness Nigeria to remain under a long-term licence.

The company added that the partnership between Diageo and Tolaram Group, as opposed to the rumours, clearly shows that Guinness Nigeria has no plans of leaving the Nigerian market. Their business operations will continue as they should and there won't be any loss of jobs or shut down of factories as a result of the partnership.

Senegal celebrates historic first oil production

Senegal has made its way into the league of oil-producing African countries and we definitely love to see it.

Last week, Senegal started producing oil for the first time, thanks to the Sangomar deep-water project which is supposed to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is the youngest African president, seems to be keeping his promise of reforming the country’s economy.

“We have set up an inter-generational fund for the benefit of your generation and those to come,” he said.

Thierno Ly, the general manager of the national oil company Petrosen, also shared the president’s optimism. “We have never been so well positioned for opportunities for growth, innovation, and success in the economic and social development of our nation.”

The beginning of oil production in Senegal is expected to generate billions of dollars for the country. But the government’s move to renegotiate existing oil and gas contracts has raised concerns among some investors.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, who played an important role in the president’s election campaign, defended this decision. “We are the ones who promised that we would renegotiate the contracts, and we are going to do it. We have started already,” he said, adding that the contracts signed by previous administrations were “unfavourable” to the country.

Regardless of the unresolved concerns, this is great news for Senegal and we expect to see impressive economic growth in the country soon.

This Week’s Big Question

“What’s that one book you think everybody should read at least once in their lifetime?”

Franca’s response -”If you’ve not read Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe, what are you even doing with your life? No but seriously, everybody should read that book.”

You can also share your response here and if it’s as interesting as Franca’s response, we’ll feature it in the next edition.

The Big Picks

UAE To Lift Visa Ban On Nigerians Soon: The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, has announced that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government will lift the visa ban imposed on Nigerian travellers soon.

Tinubu To Attend South African President's Second-Term Inauguration Today: President Bola Tinubu will be in Pretoria, South Africa later today to attend the inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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