IMF’s Latest Report and Prescriptions Mean More Suffering and Poverty for Nigerians
By Kola Ibrahim
Though couched in a diplomatic tone that leaves room for manipulation, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent statement that over $8 billion was expended by the Nigerian government outside the budget clearly confirms that the Bola Tinubu administration’s economic policies are aimed at transferring wealth from working people and the poor to the already wealthy class, particularly the kleptomaniac capitalist political elite. As is clearly discernible to the average Nigerian, in plain terms, the IMF’s pronouncement means that over $8 billion could not be properly accounted for by the Nigerian government. It is important to note that this pronouncement is contained in the IMF’s latest Article IV Consultation Staff Report, which is based primarily on IMF staff meetings with Nigerian government officials and was issued on June 8, 2026.
However, beyond this revelation lies the IMF’s endorsement of the Tinubu government’s attacks on the living conditions of the majority of Nigerians. In the opening note of its latest report, the IMF stated that, “Strong reforms over the past three years have yielded improved macroeconomic outcomes and built resilience.” Similarly, the IMF Executive Board, in its comments on the Staff Report, “commended the authorities’ reforms over the past three years that have strengthened macroeconomic stability and resilience.” Fundamentally, the IMF, in this report, has no qualms with Tinubu administration’s economic policies, including tax extortion targeting working people and the poor under different guises; the removal of fuel subsidy, the resulting increase in fuel prices and associated hyperinflation; and the devaluation of the naira. All these policies have increased the cost of living and pushed millions more Nigerians into the abyss of poverty and misery but the well-paid staff of this imperialist agency try to claim that this suffering somehow strengthens Nigerians, hence their repeated use of the word “resilience”.
However, while the facts force an acknowledgment that life has become more difficult for Nigerians, with more than 27 million people reportedly facing food insecurity in 2025 and the poverty rate reaching 63 percent, the IMF nevertheless called not only for the continuation of the very policies that have increased poverty but also for their deepening and expansion. Rather than acknowledge that these policies have worsened poverty in the country, the IMF places the blame primarily on the global energy crisis. It noted that, “Higher global fuel, food and fertilizer prices will improve exports and fiscal revenues, but also give rise to inflationary pressures, potentially aggravating poverty and food insecurity.”
The reality, however, is that while global fuel, food and fertilizer prices do contribute to inflationary pressures, Nigeria became far more exposed to these global shocks because of the removal of fuel subsidy, the deliberate collapse of the country’s refineries, the devaluation of the naira, and other extortionate economic policies which have helped collapse of sectors of Nigeria’s economy. The IMF’s attempt to erase the impact of these so-called reforms on the worsening living standards of Nigerians reflects the organization’s anti-poor and pro-big business orientation.
The Nigerian government’s justification for removing the fuel subsidy is that it had become a racket enriching a few while bleeding the country financially. This is nothing more than an attempt to avoid responsibility for its failure to make local refineries functional. Furthermore, it demonstrates the government’s abdication of its responsibility to tackle financial crimes or prevent looting. However, the removal of fuel subsidy has not stopped the financial haemorrhaging of the country by a privileged few. Rather, it has deepened it. Nigerians have now been left at the mercy of Shylock importers and the Dangote Refinery, who seize every available opportunity to exploit citizens. The hope that the Dangote Refinery would provide relief disappeared from the very day it commenced operations. The company made it clear that its products would be sold at international prices, despite enjoying enormous state incentives, waivers and support.
On the other hand, the trillions of naira supposedly saved from subsidy removal and the devaluation of the naira have not translated into any significant improvement in national development or in the living conditions of the average Nigerian. Instead, they have fuelled a looting spree, albeit by different gangs of looters. The IMF’s reported $8 billion in unaccounted spending is only the tip of the iceberg of the gargantuan looting taking place at the federal, state and local government levels. This is without mentioning the trillions of naira being spent on the lavish lifestyles of political office holders and political parties from the public purse. Meanwhile, basic social services such as education, healthcare, water supply and sanitation remain in a deplorable state.
Although local food prices are influenced by global developments, the reality is that the Nigerian government’s failure to adequately fund sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture and the agro-allied sector remains a major cause of food shortages, food insecurity and widespread hunger. While allocations to the three tiers of government have multiplied over the past three years, poverty, hunger and deprivation have also increased, indicating that government policies and projects are primarily designed to enrich a privileged few.
All these facts point to the reality that the so-called reforms being promoted by the IMF do not benefit working people and the poor. Instead, they primarily serve the interests of the already wealthy and global capitalism. For a neo-colonial country like Nigeria, governed by a kleptomaniac capitalist political class interested only in the primitive accumulation of wealth, this situation can only worsen.
Yet, against the backdrop of increasing poverty and suffering already acknowledged by the IMF in its Staff Report, what solutions does the organization offer? It is more capitalist reforms. The report calls for “tight macroeconomic policies and continued reforms supported by technical assistance from the Fund and other partners.” Furthermore, it “welcomed the recent tax reforms, noting that additional tax policy measures may be needed over the medium term.” In other words, the IMF wants the government to increase taxes over the medium term even though average Nigerians are already overburdened by multiple taxes and deductions, while the rich continue to enjoy generous waivers. The report also called on the government to remove any barriers to the further devaluation of the naira, a policy that, rather than benefiting the country, helps foreign corporations maximize their profits.
To demonstrate its supposed ‘concern’ for suffering Nigerians, the IMF recommends “a scaled-up cash transfer programme to provide relief to the most vulnerable.” But the problem is not simply a shortage of cash among the poorest. The reality is that more and more Nigerians are sliding into poverty because stagnant incomes can no longer keep pace with the rising cost of living. Although the minimum wage was increased in 2024, its poor implementation by governments at all levels and by many private sector employers, combined with soaring inflation and the rising cost of education and healthcare, has eroded its value. Many members of the middle class are also losing their status because they can no longer meet their basic needs. How does the IMF’s proposal of cash transfers for only the most vulnerable address this broader systemic crisis?
All these developments reinforce what we in the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) have consistently argued: no amount of capitalist reform prescriptions can rescue a neo-colonial economy like Nigeria from underdevelopment and poverty. Such policies merely benefit the Dangotes, oil importers, foreign multinational corporations, financial sharks and, of course, Nigeria’s kleptomaniac capitalist political elite. The IMF’s prescriptions once again demonstrate that the institution primarily serves the interests of global finance capital rather than the interests of Nigeria and its people.
This is why the DSM advocates, alongside fighting for immediate improvements, the building of a mass movement that can carry through the democratic nationalization of the commanding sectors of the economy, including energy, electricity, mineral resources and the financial sector, under democratic workers’ control and management. By democratic control and management, we mean that these sectors should be collectively owned by Nigerians and managed through elected representatives of workers, communities and relevant professional groups. All elected officials should be subject to immediate recall by their constituents and should receive only the salaries and emoluments obtainable in the public service. Nationalization should also be accompanied by democratic central planning of the economy in order to ensure immediate, medium-term and long-term approaches to national development and the rational use of resources. With this, Nigeria’s enormous wealth can be harnessed to improve the lives of its long-suffering people and secure the future of younger generations and an example set for working people in other countries to follow.
However, all the major capitalist politicians in parties such as the PDP, ADC, APC and others subscribe to essentially the same philosophy and policies promoted by the IMF and implemented by the Tinubu administration. This clearly underscores the need for working people, youth and the oppressed to build their own independent political alternative based on socialist programmes and principles in order to break capitalism’s grip. The labour movement has a central role to play in this process.