Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North Senatorial District, has strongly criticized the economic policies of former President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly targeting the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) use of the Ways and Means provision, which he blames for the catastrophic depreciation of the naira.
Speaking on Saturday at a Progressives Governors Forum’s meeting and interactive session in Benin City, Edo State, Oshiomhole claimed that the CBN, under Buhari’s administration, engaged in reckless money printing that destabilized the Nigerian economy.
According to the former Edo State governor, “We are coming from a country that was almost like Zimbabwe or Idi Amin’s Uganda where he [Idi Amin] asked the Central Bank governor to ‘go and print more money for us to share to the people’. The governor responded, ‘if we print more money, the Ugandan currency will become worthless’. That’s exactly what the immediate past CBN governor was doing.”
Oshiomhole revealed that over ₦31 trillion was printed under the Ways and Means scheme, which allows the federal government to borrow from the CBN to cover temporary shortfalls in its budget. “When the government wants to deceive the people, they use jargon,” he said. “They called it Ways and Means, but what it really meant was printing money with no backing—no revenue, no resources—just to share and satisfy monetary illusions.”
He directly linked this excessive printing of unearned currency to the collapse of the naira, arguing that the root of the country’s inflation crisis and the deteriorating exchange rate lies in the mismanagement of the Ways and Means policy under Buhari’s administration.
“In the Senate, we have the record. It’s not a rumor,” Oshiomhole stressed. “The irresponsible printing of ₦31 trillion was not based on productivity, and the consequences are what every Nigerian is facing today.”
He also criticized the scale of borrowing during Buhari’s tenure, stating, “Nigeria was borrowing every day the way fish drinks water.” According to him, this financial recklessness has now become President Bola Tinubu’s burden, as the new administration is left to manage debt repayments and restore economic credibility to preserve national sovereignty.
Oshiomhole commended the Tinubu government for halting the Ways and Means practice, suggesting it was a necessary first step toward stabilizing Nigeria’s economy.
