FACT-CHECK: Was the Naira ₦1,900 to a Dollar When Tinubu Took Office, as He Claimed?
By Oluwatoyin Hawal Momolosho
At a recent engagement, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu claimed that when he assumed office, the naira exchanged at ₦1,900 to a dollar, and that his administration has since stabilised it around ₦1,450.
Claim:
“The economy has stabilised, nobody is trading a piece of paper for an exchange rate anymore. When I took over, it was ₦1,900 to a dollar, it’s ₦1,450 now. It’s been stabilising there, you don’t have to know Cardoso before you get your foreign exchange.” — Tinubu Claimed
Verdict: False!
Verification:
Tinubu did not inherit a naira at ₦1,900/$1. He inherited it at around ₦460 (official) and ₦740 (parallel), and the ₦1,900 level only appeared during his tenure.
According to Official rate in May 2023; On 29 May 2023, the day Tinubu took office, the official exchange rate at the Central Bank’s Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window was about ₦460–₦465 per dollar.
At the same time, the parallel market where most Nigerians sourced dollars traded between ₦740 and ₦775/$1.
Both figures are far from the ₦1,900 claimed by the president. The naira only slumped to around ₦1,850–₦1,900/$1 in February 2024, several months after Tinubu assumed power. This followed his government’s foreign exchange unification policy and market liberalisation, which triggered sharp depreciation.
While Current exchange rate in 2025; As of September 2025, both the official and parallel markets over mostly between ₦1,500 and ₦1,560/$1. There is no evidence of the steady ₦1,450/$1 rate Tinubu claimed.
Why this matters?
Exchange rates are a key indicator of economic performance. By suggesting he inherited a collapsed naira and then improved it, the president inverts reality: he actually took over a stronger currency that later weakened sharply under his watch, before recovering slightly in 2025.
Such inaccuracies risk misleading the public about the true state of the economy.
Conclusion:
President Tinubu’s statement that he inherited a naira at ₦1,900/$1 and later stabilised it around ₦1,450 does not stand up to scrutiny.
The facts show he took office with the exchange rate at about ₦460/$1 officially and ₦740/$1 in the parallel market. The ₦1,900 figure only emerged months later, in early 2024, under his administration. Today, the naira trades largely above ₦1,500, not ₦1,450.
By misrepresenting when the naira fell to ₦1,900, the president flipped the timeline, portraying a collapse he did not inherit and an improvement he cannot fully claim.
