President Bola Tinubu-led government is celebrating the naira’s marginal gain, as it trades for N1,520 against the dollar, a huge decline from N780 before the administration in May 2023.

Presidential aide Sunday Dare, in a post on Tuesday, said the Nigerian currency is showing signs of recovery and is heading towards stability.

“As the naira strengthens against the naira at N1,520/$, we see the emerging signs of recovery,” Mr Dare said. “The Nigerian economy under the watch of President Tinubu is gradually being transformed. The Nigerian currency is headed towards stability and must be noted.”

Mr Dare attributed the naira’s marginal gain to Tinubu-led government economic policies, adding, “2025 is promising with many other reforms docking in the months ahead.”

“The pillar of the macroeconomic reforms is the market pricing of petroleum products and forex. Willing buyer. Willing seller. These were the two courageous and timely decisions President Tinubu took less that two years ago,” Mr Dare said.

He added, “The faithful implementation of these key policies of market reforms is gradually reinvigorating Nigeria’s Economy. The reforms in the oil sector are delivering increased local refining of PMS and market-led pricing.

In reaction to Mr Dare’s statement, some Nigerians on X criticised the Tinubu-led government for the naira collapse, recalling it traded for N780 before the president assumed office.

An X user, @krisflyy, said, “Look at what you’re celebrating. You met it at N750/$; actually, your party met it at N185/$.”

@UcheDec, another X user, said, “You are just boasting emptily. This naira you met at 700 per dollar, you are barefacedly praising Tinubu that pushed the naira to #1520 per dollar, and this was what APC met at 180 per dollar in 2015. Dare na wa ooo. Even satan will be ashamed of this.”

Since Mr Tinubu assumed office announcing fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification, the naira has been on free fall, trading for about N1,800 to a dollar at some point.

Mr Tinubu’s administration blamed the declining naira on the activities of cryptocurrency platforms, blocking Binance and KuCoin for Nigerian users and forcing them to delist naira on their platforms.

In addition, two Binance top officials, Tigran Gambrayan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, were invited, arrested, and jailed for several months for the allegation that their platform was sabotaging the naira.

Similarly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission conducted a series of raids on Bureau de Change operators to help the naira regain its value.