The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has criticised Nigerians who attacked the World Bank on social media over its decision to lend money to Nigeria.
Oyedele said the backlash reflected a lack of understanding of how the international lending system works.
He spoke on Wednesday in Abuja during a media briefing on the Federal Government’s economic reform scorecard.
According to the minister, some Nigerians visited the World Bank’s social media platforms to abuse the institution over loans granted to Nigeria, prompting the bank to disable comments.
“People went to the social media account of the World Bank to go and be abusing them that they’re giving Nigeria loan. World Bank just switch off the comments. We’ve gotten the loan because that’s not how the system works,” he said.
Oyedele used an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) analogy to explain what he described as the consequences of criticising a system without understanding how it operates.
He imagined a situation where people who did not understand how an ATM worked saw others withdrawing money and concluded that the government was allowing only certain people to access funds.
He said such people could mobilise against the system, with some emerging as leaders and demanding that everyone be allowed to withdraw money.
“So some leaders emerged from their group and said this is not fair government has to and then they went and destroyed the ATM, beat up some other people withdrawing money there and they were hailing their hero,” he said.
Oyedele said the protesters would still be unable to withdraw money because the underlying issue was that funds had to first be deposited in the bank.
“Yes, let everybody withdraw money from the ATM. They haven’t put money in the bank,” he said.
He added that destroying the ATM or attacking other users would not solve the problem.
“After breaking the bank and the ATM and beating people up, they still can’t collect money ’cause that’s not how the system works,” he said.
The minister said the analogy also applied to economic issues, warning that a lack of understanding could lead to wasted effort.
“If you don’t understand how the system works, you waste energy,” Oyedele said.
He urged Nigerians to equip themselves with the knowledge required to effectively hold the government accountable.
“Part of your ability to hold government to account is having the right knowledge. If you don’t, you’re wasting your energy,” he said.
Oyedele also warned against manipulating economic data for political purposes, saying some people could interpret figures from the reform scorecard to suit their political interests.
“I know what’s going to happen after today now is some people will take this data and turn it upside down for campaign,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to be honest about whether their actions were intended to help or undermine the country.
“And you have to be honest with yourself. Are you trying to build your country or you are trying to tear it apart?” he asked.
The briefing was held at the Federal Ministry of Finance as part of the presentation titled “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits and Harms Prevented.”
The exercise followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive for the finance minister to publicly account for the gains, costs and impacts of the administration’s economic reforms since 2023.
