ABUJA — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has acknowledged the severe economic hardship and elevated cost of living still weighing heavily on millions of Nigerian households, declaring during his 66th Independence Anniversary nationwide broadcast that his administration has completed foundational reforms and is pivoting from emergency intervention directly toward defeating poverty.
Addressing the nation on Thursday morning, October 1, 2026, the President likened Nigeria’s historical economic management to treating a deep-seated cancer with temporary pain relief, defending his structural policy shifts as necessary surgery required to halt long-term fiscal decay rather than the cause of current household strain.
President Tinubu emphasized that macroeconomic indicators have stabilized—citing a headline GDP growth rate exceeding four percent in 2026, expanded foreign reserves, lowered inflation trends, and reduced crude oil theft—asserting that the country has successfully navigated its economic “Red Sea” and laid a durable foundation for real sector expansion.
Outlining the second phase of his economic framework, the President committed to lowering daily living costs by aggressively reducing production overheads, expanding transport infrastructure, enhancing agricultural security, and scaling targeted social interventions like the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and CREDICORP consumer credit facilities.
Reaffirming his administration’s social contract, President Tinubu rejected calls to revert to blanket, addictive subsidy regimes, insisting that the ultimate objective of his government is not to manage poverty more efficiently, but to completely defeat it through sustained industrial job creation and shared national abundance.
