Nigeria’s reform gamble: Austerity without anesthesia

Dr Olumide Adeosun

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