President Bola Tinubu has disclosed that his administration inherited a near-collapsed economy from his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, stating that this was caused by decades of fiscal policy distortions and misalignment that had impaired real growth.
Tinubu noted that these formed reasons his administration removed the fuel subsidy and adopted other economic policies that could return the country to its path of growth and development.
He noted that the administration has piloted the country’s economy to survive the turbulent period, and the results Nigerians seek are starting to manifest and spread across the country, allowing them to benefit.
The president disclosed this on Wednesday during his national broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 65th independence anniversary.
Tinubu said: “As a new administration, we faced a simple choice: continue business as usual and watch our nation drift, or embark on a courageous, fundamental reform path. We chose the path of reform. We chose the path of tomorrow over the comfort of today. Less than three years later, the seeds of those difficult but necessary decisions are bearing fruit.
“In resetting our country for sustainable growth, we ended the corrupt fuel subsidies and multiple foreign exchange rates that created massive incentives for a rentier economy, benefiting only a tiny minority. At the same time, the masses received little or nothing from our Commonwealth. Our administration has redirected the economy towards a more inclusive path, channelling money to fund education, healthcare, national security, agriculture, and critical economic infrastructure, such as roads, power, broadband, and social investment programmes.”
The President noted that these initiatives will generally improve Nigerians’ quality of life, adding, “as a result of the tough decisions we made, the Federal and State governments, including Local Governments, now have more resources to take care of the people at the lower level of the ladder, to address our development challenges.”
In the broadcast aired nationwide by TV and radio, President Tinubu also said: “like our founding fathers and leaders who came before me, I have committed myself irrevocably to the unfinished nation-building business.”
