President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has begun a decisive reset of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, confronting decades-old structural distortions while delivering early pro-people gains, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Mr. Sunday Dare, declared on Thursday in Abuja.
Speaking at the Daily Trust Public Lecture on “Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: What Is Working and What Is Not” at the NAF Conference Centre, Dare framed democracy as “not a straight line, but a learning curve,” insisting that Nigeria’s current democratic era must be judged by institutional resilience and reform outcomes, not by sentiment or nostalgia.
He reminded the audience that earlier republics collapsed under the weight of ethnic rivalry, economic mismanagement and political exclusion, noting that “the Fourth Republic is significant not because it is flawless, but because it represents Nigeria’s most sustained attempt to permanently entrench democratic ideals and institutions.”
Tracing the nation’s troubled past — from identity-driven politics of the First Republic to the civil war, oil-boom excesses and years of military rule — Dare said Nigeria entered the Fourth Republic already burdened by unresolved grievances and an economy detached from productivity.
By 2023, he said, the crisis had deepened into a full-blown emergency. “We were subsidising other countries while borrowing to survive,” Dare recalled. “Debt servicing swallowed over 90 per cent of federal revenue, inflation surged above 33 per cent, and the Central Bank printed over ₦30 trillion. President Tinubu had his job cut out for him from day one.”
According to Dare, the turning point was Tinubu’s willingness to confront what he described as a “structurally unjust system.”
He said: “President Tinubu did not inherit a neutral economy. He inherited one marked by elite currency arbitrage, subsidy capture and fiscal indiscipline — and he dared to pull the trigger.”
The unification of the exchange rate and removal of fuel subsidies, Dare argued, were not merely economic decisions but democratic ones. “Structural injustice fuels alienation,” he said.
“Reform became necessary, because only in reform was there a chance for the justice essential to democratic governance.”
The results, he said, are increasingly evident. Inflation has fallen steadily into the mid-teens, growth has climbed to about four per cent, and Nigeria now ranks in the upper tier of emerging-market economies.
“This growth,” Dare noted, “has been achieved through correction, not oil windfalls.”
He cited a ₦6.1 trillion non-oil trade surplus, external reserves rebuilt to over $43 billion, Nigeria’s exit from the FATF grey list and a dramatic collapse in currency arbitrage gaps as signs of restored credibility.
“We moved from fiscal denial to fiscal disclosure,” he said.
Beyond macroeconomics, Dare stressed the administration’s pro-people focus, pointing to expanded social safety nets, education loans reaching nearly one million students, consumer credit for ordinary Nigerians, rising agricultural exports and massive infrastructure projects across all geo-political zones.
While acknowledging persistent challenges — insecurity, youth unemployment and weak trust in institutions — Dare said democracy in Nigeria is maturing through self-correction.
“Reform is not anti-democratic,” he declared. “Reform is democracy’s insurance policy.”
He concluded with a call for national support, insisting that the direction is now clear.
“Unity is not an event; it is a continuous policy choice,” Dare said.
“Nigeria in the Fourth Republic is on a firm path of recovery under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The journey is hard, but the destination — a democracy that works for all — is finally within reach.”