President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has set its sights on building a $1 trillion Nigerian economy by 2030, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) declaring that recent economic indicators show the country’s reforms are beginning to deliver greater stability and growth.

APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, who represented Tinubu at the Second Edition of the Asiwaju Scorecard Series/Asiwaju Policy Roundtable in Abuja on Tuesday, said the administration was determined to move Nigeria “from economic uncertainty to stability, from stability to growth, and from growth to prosperity.”

Yilwatda said Nigeria’s gross external reserves had risen to about $52.7 billion by August 2026, while consolidated non-oil revenue increased from approximately ₦13.63 trillion in 2023 to ₦16.4 trillion in the first two quarters of 2026.

He also highlighted the country’s improved trade position, saying Nigeria moved from a merchandise trade surplus of about ₦44.8 billion for the whole of 2023 to approximately ₦7.54 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 alone.

According to him, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, while inflation had fallen significantly from its earlier peak to about 15.4 per cent.

The APC chairman, however, acknowledged that the figures did not mean Nigeria’s economic challenges had disappeared, stressing that macroeconomic stability was only the foundation for achieving broader prosperity.

“The ultimate test is when stability translates into cheaper food, more jobs, affordable credit, reliable electricity and greater purchasing power for Nigerians,” he said.

Yilwatda said Tinubu’s $1 trillion economy target was not merely a numerical ambition but a national mission aimed at making Nigeria produce and export more, attract investment, create jobs and give young Nigerians a greater stake in the country’s future.

He attributed the emerging economic stability to difficult reforms undertaken by the Tinubu administration since its inauguration on May 29, 2023, including the removal of fuel subsidy and reform of the foreign exchange market.

He said the reforms became necessary because the administration inherited an economy characterised by fuel subsidy distortions, multiple exchange-rate windows, weak revenue mobilisation, foreign-exchange shortages, rising debt-service pressures and years of inadequate investment in critical infrastructure.

On infrastructure, Yilwatda unveiled an ambitious vision for an integrated maritime and logistics network built around five major deep-sea ports in Lagos, Ondo, Ibom, Port Harcourt and Calabar.

He said the proposed corridor would connect the ports through modern rail and road infrastructure, with the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Super Highway serving as the principal coastal road spine.

The APC chairman said the Western Corridor would connect the maritime gateways to the interior through the Lagos-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano rail corridor and the proposed Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, while the Eastern Corridor would link eastern maritime gateways through the Port Harcourt-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano rail corridor and the proposed Calabar-Maiduguri Trans-Sahara Super Highway.

According to him, the objective is to connect Nigeria’s ports not only to major cities and production centres but also to landlocked markets across the Sahel and Central Africa, positioning the country as a maritime gateway and logistics hub for West and Central Africa.

He said the infrastructure strategy would stimulate investment in logistics, warehousing, freight forwarding, customs, banking, insurance, manufacturing, distribution and agro-processing, while generating jobs and foreign exchange.

Yilwatda also called for industrial parks, export-processing zones, logistics parks, agro-processing clusters and manufacturing centres to be developed along the transport corridors.

He said Nigeria’s maritime ambitions must extend beyond individual ports to cover shipping, maritime logistics, ship repair, marine services, maritime finance, insurance, fisheries, aquaculture, offshore energy, coastal tourism and marine technology.

On energy, he described the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline as strategically important to linking Nigeria’s gas resources to major population and industrial centres in the North, saying the project would support electricity generation, fertiliser production, manufacturing, transportation and industrialisation.

The APC chairman also highlighted the administration’s investment in young Nigerians through programmes including the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), technical and vocational training, digital-skills initiatives and the Credit Access for Nigerians’ Domestic Investment (CREDICORP).

He said the programmes were designed to expand access to education, skills and responsible credit, arguing that investment in young Nigerians was an investment in the productive capacity required to build the $1 trillion economy.

Yilwatda stressed that the next phase of the Renewed Hope Agenda must move beyond macroeconomic indicators to improvements in the daily lives of Nigerians.

“A good GDP number does not automatically put food on a family’s table. Stronger reserves do not pay school fees. A stronger stock market does not automatically put money into the pocket of a market woman,” he said.

He said the government must therefore translate economic stability into “more food, more jobs, lower inflation, affordable credit, reliable power, more manufacturing, greater exports and stronger purchasing power.”

With the 2027 elections approaching, Yilwatda said Nigerians would be confronted with competing promises, including calls to reverse some of the administration’s reforms.

He urged Nigerians to consider whether the country should abandon or accelerate infrastructure investment, discourage investors or make Nigeria one of Africa’s preferred investment destinations, and maintain the ports primarily for domestic trade or transform the country into a maritime gateway for the wider African hinterland.

“For the All Progressives Congress, the answer is clear. We choose progress, productivity, investment, infrastructure, innovation, Nigerian enterprise, exports, human capital, and we choose President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

Yilwatda said the administration’s ultimate objective was to transform Nigeria from a large domestic market into a “maritime, industrial, digital and logistics powerhouse for Africa.”

He declared that the foundation had been laid for the next phase of the administration’s economic agenda, which he said would take Nigeria “from reform to results, from results to growth, from growth to prosperity, and from prosperity to a $1 trillion economy by 2030.”