President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has defended his administration’s economic reforms, saying Nigeria must resist calls to reverse them despite the hardship associated with their implementation.

He said the reforms were necessary to address deep-rooted economic distortions that had been allowed to worsen over the years, arguing that abandoning them would take the country back to the problems that necessitated the changes.

In his 2026 Independence Day address on October 1, 2026, as the country celebrates 66 years of independence, President Tinubu said his administration had deliberately chosen difficult reforms rather than continue policies that merely masked the country’s economic challenges.

“Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them,” he said.

He said previous governments had avoided difficult decisions and instead relied on measures that sustained inefficient arrangements and allowed economic problems to deepen.

Tinubu compared Nigeria’s economic condition to a patient diagnosed with cancer who must choose between undergoing painful treatment or using medication to temporarily dull the pain while the disease worsens.

“For too long, Nigeria’s leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came,” he said.

He said his administration had instead chosen to “excise the cancer”, acknowledging that the reforms had produced real and difficult side effects.

“The reforms that followed were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease,” he said.

The President also criticised calls to abandon the reforms and return to what he described as “addictive subsidies.”

He said the country should resist what he called the “siren song” of those seeking a reversal of the reforms and instead remain focused on the longer-term objective of economic recovery.

Tinubu said the reforms were introduced against the backdrop of worsening economic conditions, with poverty rising and public confidence declining by the time his administration assumed office in 2023.

He said the government had recognised that difficult decisions were necessary to change the country’s economic trajectory.

The President said the ultimate objective of the reforms was to create a stronger and more prosperous Nigeria capable of providing greater opportunity and dignity for its citizens.

His address was delivered as Nigeria marked its 66th Independence Day, with the President framing the country’s current economic programme as part of a broader effort to fulfil the promise of independence.

Source: Citinewsroom