Bola Tinubu opens re-election campaign as Nigeria costs bite

Bola Tinubu opened his re-election campaign in Kaduna state on Saturday, defending economic reforms that have made Nigeria’s rising cost of living a central issue before the vote.

Tinubu told supporters there was a “promise of a better tomorrow” and said his first term had brought “prosperity, consistency, growth, recovery and opportunity.” Since winning in 2023, he has overhauled the tax code, liberalised the exchange rate and ended a costly fuel subsidy.

Those changes have coincided with severe pressure on households. Fuel prices have risen more than 450 percent since Tinubu’s inauguration, and the International Monetary Fund says about 63 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line.

Tinubu said earlier this month that his reforms had not created Nigeria’s economic weaknesses but confronted them. His government later announced possible fuel price caps.

Tinubu is set to face Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar. The opposition remains divided after Tinubu won in 2023 with 36.6 percent of the vote, while his All Progressives Congress holds 31 of Nigeria’s 36 governorships.