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Article: Oligui Nguema's economic policy: between promises and contradictions

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Oligui Nguema's economic policy: between promises and contradictions

At the Gabon2025 editorial office, we receive testimonies and observe passionate exchanges on social networks that highlight the inconsistencies of the transitional government's economic policy. Through massive hiring announcements, promises of a more dynamic private sector and the awarding of public contracts, the transitional president multiplies contradictory commitments that raise questions. What are the real objectives behind these measures? Let's examine several major axes of these paradoxes.

Massive hiring in the public sector: an obesity cure in the midst of a crisis

Among President Oligui's flagship announcements, that of 150,000 public sector hires is surprising. This promise of jobs, although ambitious, contradicts well-known realities in Gabon: the 10,000 fictitious jobs already recorded in the workforce , as well as a public employment rate that represents nearly 40% of total employment in the country. This policy risks not only worsening the country's dependence on an "obese" public sector, but also further increasing the public deficit, a trend in direct opposition to the stated ambitions of financial recovery of the State.

On paper, Oligui is nevertheless arguing for support for the private sector, the keystone for any modern economy wishing to unleash its growth potential. But with a civil service whose cost weighs heavily on state finances, and which only responds to a logic of plethora of jobs, how can we hope for a revival of the national treasury? The salary costs of the Gabonese civil service are among the highest in the sub-region, leaving little room for structural investments essential for a healthy economic recovery promised support to the private sector… still non-existent

Another axis of contradiction: Oligui Nguema had promised to put the private sector at the center of his economic strategy, claiming to want to reduce the public sector's stranglehold on the economy. However, in reality, this vision of a Gabonese economy revitalized by private companies seems to remain a dead letter. Many companies, particularly in key sectors such as construction and services, continue to be dominated by foreign players (Burkinabe, Cameroonians), while Gabonese entrepreneurs struggle to obtain contracts or financing to develop their activities.

While the Head of State claimed to want to reduce this dependency, he continues to focus his action on public administration, to the detriment of a high-performing private sector. Result: young Gabonese are turning massively towards the civil service, perceived as the royal road, because access to opportunities in the private sector seems blocked to them. This preference for the civil service is becoming a hindrance, accentuating a "brain drain" towards other African nations, or even abroad, in the hope of finding professional and financial opportunities that they do not find in their own country.

Public procurement: from promises of local preference… to foreign realities


Finally, among Oligui Nguema's commitments is the desire to favor local companies in the awarding of public contracts. The objective? To create a local economy, where Gabonese companies would play a key role in national development. But here again, the testimonies collected and online discussions point to another reality: despite the announcements, the majority of lucrative state contracts continue to go to foreign companies, particularly those of Burkinabe, Lebanese or Moroccan nationality .

This preference for foreign companies only increases the frustration of local entrepreneurs, who denounce favoritism and a lack of transparency in the awarding of contracts. Despite the promise of transparency and reforms to better regulate these awards, the Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ARMP) is struggling to establish a truly fair framework. This goes so far as to raise questions about the real motivations of this economic policy, perceived by some as a "distribution of rent" rather than a solid economic overhaul.


Between promises and actions, the Gabonese economy at an impasse


Through these contradictions, Oligui Nguema seems caught in a dilemma: asserting himself as a reformer while maintaining practices from an old system. By hiring massively in the civil service, he adds an unsustainable economic burden. By promising to boost a private sector to which he does not give the means for its development, he breaks the trust of Gabonese entrepreneurs. As for the awarding of contracts, the commitments made are struggling to materialize, reinforcing Gabon's dependence on foreign interests.


While Gabonese people were hoping for a new era of development and transparency, this economic transition leaves more questions than answers. Do the choices of the transitional president really offer an alternative to the economic model inherited from the past, or are they just 'a repetition of the same mistakes?

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