President Bola Tinubu has declared that Nigeria’s era of difficult economic reforms is over, saying the country has entered a new phase focused on delivering shared and widespread prosperity to its citizens.
Tinubu made the declaration on Thursday in his Independence Day address to Nigerians, marking the 66th anniversary of the country’s independence.
According to the President, the administration’s economic priority has shifted after three years of what he described as difficult but necessary reforms aimed at correcting longstanding distortions in the economy.
‘The emergency treatment is over. The foundation has been repaired. The central economic task before us has changed,’ Tinubu said.
‘For three years, our overriding purpose was to correct our nation’s course. Now, our purpose is simple: shared and widespread prosperity,’ he added.
Tinubu said the reforms undertaken since his administration assumed office had produced improvements in Nigeria’s economic outlook, citing economic growth of more than four per cent this year, lower inflation, rebuilt foreign reserves and a more stable foreign exchange market.
He also said oil theft had declined and that Nigeria recorded its highest-ever revenue from non-oil exports in 2025, exceeding $6 billion.
‘These are not idle claims,’ the President said, arguing that international observers, journalists, non-governmental organisations and multilateral institutions had recognised improvements in the country’s economic stability and resilience.
Tinubu acknowledged, however, that the economic gains must translate into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
He stated that prosperity should not be measured simply by the size of the economy or improved economic statistics, but by whether Nigerians could produce, work and live with greater security and opportunity.
Tinubu outlined a vision of a Nigeria where farmers could cultivate their land safely and earn better returns, factories have reliable electricity, businesses could access credit and young Nigerians could find productive employment.
He also promised that food and transportation would become more affordable while education and other essential services would become more accessible.
The President said the administration’s next phase would focus on reducing the cost of living by lowering the cost of producing and transporting goods.
He listed expanded mechanised irrigation and dry-season farming, greater access to seeds and fertiliser, increased mechanisation, improved storage and transportation, and continued investment in roads, railways and ports among the measures being pursued.
Tinubu argued that reducing production and transportation costs would ultimately bring down the prices of goods in the market.
‘When a farmer produces more cheaply, when fewer crops are lost between the farm and the market, when a manufacturer spends less on electricity, when a truck reaches its destination faster, and when the business environment fosters fair competition, all those savings will ultimately find their way into the price of goods in the market,’ he said.
The President also placed jobs, enterprise and industrial growth at the centre of the new phase, promising to use Nigeria’s gas resources to power new industries and support the revival of factories in major industrial centres.
He said the government would expand digital connectivity, invest in skills demanded by employers and provide Nigerian businesses with infrastructure and financing to expand.
Tinubu noted that millions of Nigerians still face difficulties meeting basic needs, including food, school fees, medical bills and transportation costs, but argued that these challenges were the accumulated result of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure and insufficient opportunities.
‘We cannot erase in four years what accumulated over generations. But we can change its course,’ he said.
The President also pointed to social interventions, including direct support for poorer households, improvements to the National Social Register, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and CREDICORP, as measures intended to support vulnerable Nigerians while the broader economy expands.
He stressed that such programmes were not intended to replace economic prosperity but to serve as a bridge towards it.
‘Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently. We will defeat it,’ Tinubu declared.
He acknowledged that achieving that objective would require sustained economic growth and the creation of millions of productive opportunities across the country.
‘The age of reform has done its work. Now begins the age of prosperity,’ he said.
Tinubu urged Nigerians to look beyond the sacrifices associated with the reform period and focus on building on what he described as stronger economic foundations.
‘Nigeria has corrected its course. We have passed through our own Red Sea. This is not the time to look back,’ he said.
He called on Nigerians to move forward with confidence in the country’s future, describing the destination as a Nigeria of ‘abundance and opportunity’ where prosperity is broadly shared and every child can aspire beyond the circumstances of birth.