Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Economic Affairs, Dr Tope Fasua, has stated that despite ongoing economic challenges, Nigerians enjoy a higher standard of living today than at the time of independence in 1960.

The Guardian reports that Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, had on Thursday night on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme, argued that the nation missed the opportunity to build a cohesive vision due to weak leadership, political assassinations, and military interventions. Kukah said Nigeria has not generated a national dream capable of inspiring its people.

“No Inspiring Speech Since Independence,” he remarked, adding, “I’ve always said, for example, close your eyes and ask yourself after the 1960 speech, whether there is a speech of any president of Nigeria that has made you feel wow.”

But speaking on Channels Television on Friday, Fasua cautioned against drawing direct comparisons between contemporary hardships and the early years of nationhood. He noted the rural conditions that prevailed in 1960, stressing that many Nigerians only moved to urban centres later, where they faced unfamiliar challenges.

“For those who try to compare Nigeria to 1960, in many ways we are living a better life now than used to be the case. In 1960, just after independence, we had a whole lot of people, of course, living in villages and so on. It was when we took over government as nationals ourselves that we started moving from villages to Lagos, to Ibadan, to Kaduna, to Enugu and all of that, and then that created a kind of urban poverty, because people found themselves in those cities and they were out of sorts as to what to do,” Fasua explained.

He said the Tinubu administration is prioritising structural reforms and infrastructure development rather than temporary solutions such as cash handouts.

“The current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is saying that, look, we are not going to really be sharing money, we want to do something that takes us on a different trajectory, that paints a new picture, that prepares even our children and unborn children for a better life than what we have had,” he added.

At independence, Nigeria had a population of roughly 45 million, with agriculture dominating the economy and limited access to education, healthcare, electricity, and potable water largely confined to urban areas. Today, the country’s population exceeds 230 million, and infrastructure, schooling, and healthcare have expanded, although poverty and unemployment persist.

Fasua also questioned the accuracy of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Report, which indicated that 133 million Nigerians—about 63 percent of the population—lived in multidimensional poverty. He argued that ongoing infrastructure investments were already lifting millions out of poverty. “If we redid the multidimensional poverty today, perhaps 10 to 20 million people have been taken out of poverty due to these investments,” he said. He further cited declining inflation and reforms that, according to the World Poverty Clock, have lifted five to six million people from poverty.

Fasua urged Nigerians to recognise that progress is gradual. “Because if we are saying that you want to have a better country, it had better be good and better for the majority of the people. But if you’re saying you yourself, you think that you are poorer today than you were a few years ago, and then that means that nothing is being achieved, you are wrong, you know,” he said.

On Thursday night, Bishop Kukah had revisited the enduring trauma of the January 1966 coup, which claimed the lives of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, noting that many Northerners in their seventies and eighties still struggle to reconcile with the events.

Speaking on Arise Television, Kukah criticised the country’s reluctance to confront historical truths and described the military’s involvement in politics as a setback that undermined institutions, meritocracy, and national development.

Kukah said, “We could have been better than Singapore. We could have been better than Malaysia. Literally, no one would have seen our back had the military not struck.” He concluded that the country’s principal challenge remains the absence of a collective vision, arguing that intellectual governance, national mythologies, and an honest reckoning with history are essential for future progress.