The Structural Adjustment Programme introduced in Nigeria in July 1986 remains one of the most influential and controversial public policy interventions in the country's post-independence history. Few policies have generated as much debate among economists, political scientists, labour leaders, development practitioners, policymakers and ordinary citizens. For some, SAP represented an unavoidable response to a deep macroeconomic crisis. For others, it marked the beginning of Nigeria's prolonged economic stagnation, deindustrialisation, mass poverty and weakening of state capacity.

Indeed, many of today's economic reforms—including exchange-rate liberalisation, fuel subsidy removal, fiscal consolidation, privatisation, deregulation and public sector restructuring—bear remarkable similarities to the policy prescriptions advanced under SAP four decades ago. This continuity raises fundamental questions. Have we adequately learned from history? Have we addressed the structural weaknesses that SAP exposed? Or have we merely repeated the same policy prescriptions under different names while expecting different outcomes?

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