President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Thursday assured Nigerians of a better time as Nigeria celebrates 66th national day.
Tinubu said Nigerians will experience lower living costs, more productive jobs and increased industrial growth.
He said the administration has moved from economic reforms to what he described as a new “age of prosperity.”
The President said the government’s priority in the next phase would be to reduce the cost of living by lowering the cost of producing and transporting goods and services.
Our priority is to bring down the cost of living. We will achieve this by lowering the cost of producing and moving the things Nigerians consume,” he said.
Tinubu said the government would expand mechanised irrigation and dry-season farming, improve access to seeds and fertiliser, increase agricultural mechanisation and invest in storage and transportation.
He said the government was also building and completing roads, railways and ports to connect farms and factories to markets.
He said the government would use the country’s gas resources to power new industries and support businesses seeking to revive factories in major industrial centres.
Tinubu also promised to expand digital connectivity and invest in skills required by employers, while providing Nigerian businesses with infrastructure and financing to support their growth.
“We are therefore placing jobs, enterprise, and industrial growth at the heart of our government’s policies,” he said.
The President said his administration wanted to see more Nigerians producing goods for local consumption and international markets.
“I want to see more Nigerians making things. I want to see more Nigerian farms feeding our cities and supplying our factories. I want to see Nigerian businesses selling Nigerian goods to the whole world,” he said.
Tinubu acknowledged that millions of Nigerians continue to struggle with food, education, healthcare and transportation costs, saying their difficulties were the result of problems that had accumulated over several decades.
He said the government would therefore strengthen direct support for poor households and improve the National Social Register to ensure assistance reaches people who genuinely need it.
He also highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and CREDICORP as part of efforts to expand access to education and consumer credit for low-income and working Nigerians.
Tinubu said the government would continue working with state and local governments to strengthen primary healthcare, basic education and other essential public services.
He said the measures were intended to serve as a bridge towards broader prosperity rather than permanent substitutes for economic opportunity.
“Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently. We will defeat it,” the President said.
Tinubu said achieving that goal would require sustained economic growth, discipline and the creation of millions of productive opportunities across the country.
