President Bola Tinubu has said that the seeds of his administration’s difficult but necessary reforms are yielding fruits across Nigeria.
Tinubu said this on Wednesday during his Independence Day national broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 65th anniversary.
“Fellow compatriots, this is the third time I will address you on our independence anniversary since I assumed office as your President on May 29, 2023. In the last 28 months of my administration, like our founding fathers and leaders who came before me, I have committed myself irrevocably to the unfinished nation-building business,” he said.
“Upon assuming office, our administration inherited a near-collapsed economy caused by decades of fiscal policy distortions and misalignment that had impaired real growth.
“As a new administration, we faced a simple choice: continue business as usual and watch our nation drift, or embark on a courageous, fundamental reform path. We chose the path of reform.
“We chose the path of tomorrow over the comfort of today. Less than three years later, the seeds of those difficult but necessary decisions are bearing fruit.”
Upon assuming office in 2023, Tinubu declared that the era of the payment of fuel subsidy was gone, while he also initiated some economic reforms, leading to the increase in the price of a litre of fuel even as food items became unaffordable for the common Nigerians.
“In resetting our country for sustainable growth, we ended the corrupt fuel subsidies and multiple foreign exchange rates that created massive incentives for a rentier economy, benefiting only a tiny minority. At the same time, the masses received little or nothing from our Commonwealth,” Tinubu said.
“Our administration has redirected the economy towards a more inclusive path, channelling money to fund education, healthcare, national security, agriculture, and critical economic infrastructure, such as roads, power, broadband, and social investment programmes.
“These initiatives will generally improve Nigerians’ quality of life. As a result of the tough decisions we made, the Federal and State governments, including Local Governments, now have more resources to take care of the people at the lower level of the ladder, to address our development challenges.”
Speaking further, the president said, while Nigeria may not have achieved all the lofty dreams of its forebearers, the country has not strayed too far from them.
He added that in 65 years since our Independence, we have made tremendous progress in economic growth, social cohesion, and physical development, while the nation’s economy has experienced significant growth since 1960.
