Oyedele faults Nigerians for attacking World Bank over loans
August 20, 2026 10:30 am
File photo: The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has faulted Nigerians who attacked the World Bank on social media over loans to Nigeria, saying their actions showed a lack of understanding of how the system works.
Oyedele spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at a media briefing on the Federal Government’s economic reform scorecard.
He said some Nigerians went to the World Bank’s social media account to abuse the institution over its decision to lend money to Nigeria, after which the World Bank disabled 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.
The minister used an Automated Teller Machine analogy to explain what he described as the consequences of criticising a system without understanding how it works.
Oyedele said people without knowledge of how an ATM worked could see some people withdrawing money and assume that the government was allowing only some people to access the funds.
He said such people could then mobilise against the system without understanding its workings.
He said, “Some people who have no knowledge of how it works. They said why is government allowing some people withdraw money here and they’re not giving to the rest of us.”
According to him, leaders could emerge from the group and begin to demand 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 could demand that everybody be allowed to withdraw money despite not understanding 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 said the protesters would ultimately gain nothing from destroying the ATM or attacking other users because the underlying problem would remain unresolved.
“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.
Oyedele said the analogy applied to how some Nigerians approached economic issues, arguing that a failure to understand the systems behind such issues could result in wasted effort.
“If you don’t understand how the system works, you waste energy,” he said.
He said Nigerians needed the right knowledge 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.
The minister also warned against the manipulation of economic data for political purposes, saying some people would attempt to interpret the data 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,” Oyedele said.
He urged Nigerians to consider whether their actions were aimed at building or undermining 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 “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits and Harms Prevented” presentation.
The exercise followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive for the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy to publicly account for the gains, costs and impacts of the administration’s economic reforms since 2023.
Fawzi is a journalist and subeditor covering a wide range of beats including politics, metro, and international news, among others. He also optimises stories for digital audiences.
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