President Bola Tinubu has placed job creation, enterprise and industrial growth at the centre of his administration’s next economic phase, saying Nigeria must turn its large youthful population into a productive force.
Tinubu spoke on Thursday in his Independence Day address to Nigerians, in which he announced a shift from economic reforms to what he described as an ‘age of prosperity.’
The President said prosperity could not be achieved merely through economic growth or improved statistics, stressing that Nigeria needed productive work and greater opportunities for its growing population.
‘But prosperity requires more than cheaper goods. It requires productive work,’ Tinubu said.
He noted that millions of young Nigerians enter adulthood every year with talent, energy and ambition, saying the government’s responsibility was to ensure that the country’s demographic strength became an engine of production rather than a source of despair.
‘We are therefore placing jobs, enterprise, and industrial growth at the heart of our government’s policies,’ he said.
Tinubu said the government would use Nigeria’s gas resources to power new industries and support businesses working to revive factories in the country’s major industrial centres.
He also announced plans to expand digital connectivity to communities that have been excluded from the modern economy.
According to him, the government will invest in the skills employers require while supporting Nigerian businesses with the infrastructure and financing needed to expand.
The President said his ambition was to see more Nigerians engaged in production, with domestic farms supplying cities and factories and Nigerian businesses exporting locally produced goods to international markets.
‘I want to see more Nigerians making things,’ Tinubu said.
‘I want to see more Nigerian farms feeding our cities and supplying our factories. I want to see Nigerian businesses selling Nigerian goods to the whole world.’
He also expressed particular interest in young Nigerians building businesses capable of creating employment and opportunities within the country.
‘I want young Nigerians building unicorns and creating opportunities for others here at home,’ he said.
Earlier in the address, the President said the country’s economic outlook had improved, citing growth of more than four per cent this year, lower inflation, rebuilt foreign reserves and a more stable foreign exchange market.
But he acknowledged that millions of Nigerians continue to struggle with basic needs and that economic recovery must eventually translate into greater opportunities for households.
He said the difficulties facing many Nigerians were the accumulated consequences of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient opportunities and institutional weaknesses.
‘We cannot erase in four years what accumulated over generations. But we can change its course,’ Tinubu said.
The President said the government’s objective was to build an economy that steadily lifts people out of poverty while ensuring that vulnerable Nigerians are not abandoned.
He also pointed to measures including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, consumer credit through CREDICORP and strengthened support for poorer households as part of the broader effort to expand economic opportunity.
However, he maintained that social programmes alone could not deliver lasting prosperity.
Tinubu said Nigeria 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 declared.