Nigeria @66: Tinubu admits economic hardship, pledges to defeat poverty

President Bola Tinubu, in his 66th Independence Day address, acknowledged that many Nigerians continue to struggle with basic necessities like food, education, healthcare, and transportation. He emphasized that the hardships faced by these households were not a result of his administration but rather a consequence of decades of low productivity, poor infrastructure, lack of opportunities, and ineffective institutions.

Tinubu acknowledged the government's responsibility to change the circumstances of vulnerable Nigerians, even though he stressed that reversing generational poverty over four years would be impossible. However, he pledged that his administration would not settle for merely managing poverty but would strive to defeat it.

The President outlined various initiatives aimed at supporting the poorest households and improving the National Social Register. He highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, CREDICORP, and other government efforts to enable working Nigerians to acquire essential assets. Tinubu also stressed the importance of strengthening primary healthcare, basic education, and other essential public services to ensure they reach those who need them most.

Tinubu declared that while these interventions were not long-term solutions for prosperity, they were bridges to aid citizens on their path towards it. He stressed that the government's goal was not to manage poverty more efficiently but to defeat it entirely.

He emphasized that achieving prosperity would require time, discipline, sustained economic growth, and the creation of millions of productive opportunities. Tinubu defined prosperity as a Nigeria where farmers can cultivate their land safely, factories have reliable power, businesses can obtain credit, and young people can find productive work.

He stated that lowering the cost of living would be a priority, with efforts focused on reducing the cost of producing and transporting goods, improving agricultural production, and building infrastructure to connect farms and factories to markets.

Tinubu linked poverty reduction to job creation, emphasizing that prosperity would be measured by the ability of Nigerians to afford basic necessities, access productive opportunities, and look towards the future with confidence.