President Bola Tinubu, again on Thursday, painted a gloomy picture of the state of the economy when he assumed office in 2023.
Speaking at the public presentation of a book, Economic Diversification and Structural Transformation in Nigeria: Past, Present and Future, authored by a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin, Tinubu maintained that the economy was in bad shape, with depleted foreign reserves, a weakening currency and scarce public funds being channelled towards sustaining fuel subsidies, which he noted were unsustainable.
He said:
“For too long, Nigeria’s story was sung in a single note. We were a nation of boundless promise, tied to a single product: our budget, our currency, and the livelihood of millions rising and falling with the tides of a distant oil market. We floated on the fragile illusion of an oil world while the foundation beneath us cracked.
“When I took the oath of office, I did not inherit a calm sea. I inherited a gathering storm: a collapse in the naira, debt servicing that swallowed nearly all our revenues, depleted reserves, a false subsidy that drained our treasury dry, and factories standing silent as industries and jobs fled across our borders.”
Justifying his economic policies, which he maintained were tough but necessary, Tinubu, represented by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Tajudeen Abbas, said he knew his economic restructuring reforms would cause hardship but was convinced they were the necessary economic surgery to give the nation lasting relief and put its ailing economy on the path to rapid and sustained recovery.
“Two roads lay before us. One was the comfortable road of cosmetic remedies that led us to the edge of the cliff. The other was the hard road of surgery to save the patient.
“We chose reform over ruin. We removed the fuel subsidy. We unified the exchange rate. These were not easy decisions, and we know the weight they place on every household, but they were necessary. And today, the pain is yielding its promise. The emergency ward is behind us.
“Non-oil activities now account for about 96 per cent of our gross domestic product. Our non-oil exports have crossed $6 billion, the highest in our history. Our external reserves have risen to about $55 billion, representing more than 14 months of import cover.
“Our non-oil revenue has grown from N13.63 trillion in 2023 to N16.4 trillion in the first half of this year alone. Our task has moved from stabilisation to shared prosperity, and our compass points firmly towards a $1 trillion economy by 2030, as outlined in the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2026–2030.”
Still defending his policies, Tinubu noted that a favourable economic environment must be created to encourage foreign investors to choose Nigeria for foreign direct investment.
“Government alone cannot build a trillion-dollar economy. Wealth is created by enterprises that invest, innovate, manufacture and export. Our duty is to clear the path before them.
“That is why our 2025 budget introduces a first-of-its-kind risk-sharing framework to attract private capital, which we expect to provide 86 per cent of the investment our 2030 goals demand. That is why we are harmonising our taxes and ending the menace of multiple taxation. We cannot tax our way into prosperity. We must produce our way there.”
Tinubu also highlighted investments aimed at ensuring energy stability and developing critical physical infrastructure.
“Yet a nation is not lifted by statistics alone. Numbers must become bread on the table, light in the home and work for willing hands. And no nation has ever industrialised in darkness.
“That is why we fought for Mambila, winning the $3.38 billion arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and freeing a project held hostage for more than nine years. That is why, on the strength of our market reforms, Geregu Power is moving to raise its capacity to 1,300 megawatts.
“In the Niger Delta, the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are roaring back to life. Energy is the heartbeat of diversification, and we are restoring its freedom.
“Trade travels on roads and rails, and we are laying them with purpose. The Kano-Katsina-Maradi Railway will carry the harvest of Dawanau, West Africa’s greatest grain market, to the Sahel and our southern ports. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will stitch our coastline together with ports, industry and tourism.
“The Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway will connect the farmlands of the north to the harbours of the south. And this work is not confined to one corner of our land.
“In the northwest, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway is being reborn. In the north-central region, our food basket, new roads are being built to carry harvests to markets. In the northeast, border routes in Borno are reopening to trade. In the south-south, the East-West Road is being rebuilt. In the southwest, the Ibadan-Ife-Ilesha Expressway is being renewed, and the historic Karu Bridge restored.”
In his remarks, the author of the book, Honourable Jibrin, said his mission was to provide a structured, empirical account of what needed to be done in the past but was ignored, as well as the ongoing efforts of the present administration to move the economy away from its monocultural dependence on oil as its primary source of foreign exchange earnings.
“It is my vision that Nigeria will be transformed from an oil-dependent economy into one with a well-diversified economic structure and a resilient economy, ultimately becoming a society whose productivity is built on a solid foundation. This led me to think about what additional contribution I could make to turn this vision into reality.
“More than just a memoir or a political reflection, this book is my deliberate, structured contribution to Nigeria’s economic diversification and structural transformation efforts.
“An attempt was made to examine the efforts of past administrations to initiate policies aimed at diversifying the economy, as well as those of the current administration, which has focused on subsidy removal, foreign exchange unification and tax reforms.
“Sustainability issues relating to forecasting and continuity were also addressed in the third segment of the book, which focuses on the future.
“For too long, our nation has leaned heavily on a single economic pillar. The future of our macroeconomic prosperity depends on our ability to aggressively unlock the vast potential of our non-oil sectors, from agriculture and technology to solid minerals, industrial manufacturing and the creative industry.
“This text is not built on mere theory but on a rigorous foundation of deep legislative and practical engagement with the levers of our national development. My perspectives are uniquely shaped by the rare privilege of having served across multiple assemblies as Chairman of the House Committees on Finance, Appropriations, Land Transport, Foreign Affairs, and Housing and Habitat.
“As Chairman of the Committees on Finance and Appropriations, I stood directly at the critical intersection of our national revenues and expenditures. I spent years overseeing the intricate frameworks of our national budgets, developing fiscal policies and driving critical transparency reforms to protect the commonwealth.
“As Chairman of the Committees on Land Transport, Foreign Affairs, and Housing and Habitat, I engaged firsthand with critical infrastructure, strategic international diplomacy and structural housing policies, which serve as the fundamental pillars of our economic architecture.
“These foundational assignments have provided me with comprehensive, master-level knowledge of the Nigerian economy, our precise fiscal standing and our true revenue potential.
“Having scrutinised our financial vulnerabilities and mapped our structural strengths, I have poured these insights, macro-frameworks and strategic policy solutions into these pages.
“It is my fervent hope that policymakers, economic drivers and entrepreneurs will find in this book a practical blueprint to accelerate our collective journey towards a fully diversified, resilient and self-sustaining economy.”