Africa (Commonwealth Union) _ President’s Senior Special Assistant on Digital Communications, Engagement, and Strategy, O’tega Ogra, has attacked 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi for advocating the economic reforms in Argentina but not the same in Nigeria.
Obi blamed Nigeria’s poverty and hunger on “incompetent leadership lacking capacity and compassion” on August 11. He contrasted Nigeria’s economic metrics with those of Argentina and emphasized the everyday hardships faced by millions of Nigerians. The former governor of Anambra praised Argentine President Javier Milei‘s broad reforms, saying they significantly decreased poverty and inflation in just two years. These reforms included devaluing the currency, eliminating fuel and electricity subsidies, and making significant cuts to the public sector.
On Tuesday, however, Ogra contended that Obi’s analogy was deceptive and failed to take into account important economic facts. “Inflation in Argentina was approximately 114.2% prior to Milei’s reforms, and it increased to nearly 289% within four months, causing prices to triple within a year,” Ogra stated. “After subsidy removals, currency floating, and mass job cuts, inflation spiked further before easing to 39.4% by June 2025. Prices are still rising just at a slower pace.”
He placed the current situation in contrast to the experience of Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu, whose inflation increased from 22.41% in May 2023 to 34.80% in December 2024 before falling to 22.22%. “Argentine and Nigerian economies are both going through phases of disinflation,” Ogra said. “What is different is that Nigeria avoided the brutal volatility and human suffering seen in Argentina.”
The president’s aide accused Obi of a double standard: preaching “pain first, stabilise later” reforms abroad but deploring the same measures on the continent. “It boggles my mind how the same pill is ‘good leadership’ in Buenos Aires but ‘incompetence’ in Abuja,” he said. “Either he hasn’t done his homework, lacks experience, or is not telling the truth.”
Ogra maintained that Nigeria was on the same reform path as Argentina but with less suffering, fewer social expenses, and improved macroeconomic outcomes. He urged Nigerians to maintain their focus on maintaining ongoing reforms, softening their impact on citizens, and avoiding policy U-turns.
Instead of abandoning reform for gradualism, which he maintained had failed elsewhere, he maintained that persistence and perseverance were needed to achieve stability that endures.
