The Presidency has intensified its push for President Bola Tinubu‘s re-election, arguing that the administration’s economic and social reforms are now delivering tangible prosperity, with millions of students accessing education loans, stronger GDP growth, moderating inflation, and improving investor confidence.

In an article titled “From Reform to Prosperity: A Case for President Tinubu’s Re-election,” the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement, Fredrick Nwabufo, said nearly two million Nigerian students had benefited from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), a zero-interest facility designed to widen access to tertiary education and reduce dropouts caused by financial hardship.

Nwabufo said beneficiaries, who receive support for tuition and upkeep, are expected to begin repayment two years after completing the National Youth Service Corps, adding that the scheme was a historic intervention that would be remembered for generations.

He described NELFUND as part of a broader reform agenda that included fiscal adjustments, the removal of petrol subsidy, improved revenue distribution to states, job creation, direct grants to low-income households and small businesses, and the rollout of the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation, CREDICORP, to help workers access essential goods and productive assets.

According to the presidential aide, the reforms have begun to yield macroeconomic gains, with the economy expanding by 4.43 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2026, up from 4.23 per cent in the same period of 2025, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics.

He also noted that headline inflation declined to about 15.4 per cent in July 2026, while Moody’s Ratings revised Nigeria’s outlook to positive from stable and affirmed its B3 sovereign rating, citing stronger external buffers and sustained reform momentum.

Nwabufo said the improved economic outlook had boosted investor confidence, pointing to the FTSE Russell decision to reclassify Nigeria’s capital market from “Unclassified” to “Frontier Market” status, effective September 21, 2026, and the country’s foreign reserves rising to over $53 billion, the highest level in nearly two decades.

“The reforms have been sown, and now we are harvesting prosperity,” he said, adding that the administration had largely fulfilled the commitments in its original manifesto and would consolidate the gains under a proposed “Renewed Hope Agenda 2.”

The presidential aide argued that critical programmes such as NELFUND should not be reduced to populist politics, stressing that their primary purpose was to provide opportunities for higher education, better livelihoods and expanded economic participation for Nigerians.

He said states were now better positioned to pay workers’ salaries, a departure from the past when many could not meet this obligation, and that wages, income and access to credit had improved under the current administration.

“From yesterday’s challenges, Nigeria is transitioning today, undergirded by economic policy shifts, such as fiscal realignments and fuel subsidy removal, toward long-term stabilisation, infrastructure returns, expanded federal revenue distributions to states, job creation, and emerging microeconomic gains,” Nwabufo said.

He concluded that, while residual challenges remained, the Tinubu administration had kept faith with the core pillars of its Renewed Hope Agenda and was now focused on delivering immediate gains while building a stronger foundation for the future.