Millions of Nigerians struggling to feed, pay school fees, and medical bills didn’t begin with the reforms of my administration. We will defeat it – President Tinubu

President Tinubu today acknowledged that millions of Nigerian families struggle to feed, pay school fees, and medical bills but says that thee struggle didn’t start as a result of the reforms his administration has embarked upon in the last three years. 

He said these families’ struggles stem from the accumulated consequences of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient opportunity, and institutions that too often failed those who needed them most.

The President said

I am also conscious that millions of our fellow citizens cannot wait for tomorrow. Some Nigerian families still struggle today for the next meal, the next school fee, the next medical bill, or simply enough money to get to work. Their circumstances did not begin with the reforms of the last three years. Their struggle is the accumulated consequence of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient opportunity and institutions that too often failed those who needed them most.

We cannot erase in four years what accumulated over generations. But we can change its course. We can build an economy that steadily lifts people out of poverty while ensuring that those who remain vulnerable are not abandoned along the way.

That is why we are strengthening direct support for the poorest households and improving the National Social Register so that assistance reaches those who genuinely need it.

It is why the Nigerian Education Loan Fund is ensuring that the child of a low-income family need not surrender the dream of higher education simply because his parents cannot afford the fees.

It is why CREDICORP is giving working Nigerians access to consumer credit, allowing people to acquire vehicles, solar systems, digital devices and other essential assets without first having to accumulate years of savings.

That is why, working with our states and local governments, we will continue to strengthen primary healthcare, basic education, and the essential public services poorer Nigerians depend on most. Since 2023, we have paid salaries and pensions on time and in full. We have reformed the national pension program to benefit retirees and the vulnerable.

These programmes are not substitutes for prosperity. They are a bridge to aid our nation’s citizens on their path towards it. Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently.

We will defeat it.

It will take time. It will require discipline. It will require sustained growth year after year and the creation of millions of productive opportunities across our country.

But for the first time in decades, we embark on this task from a position of strength; with an economy whose fundamental direction has been corrected. We confronted the difficult choices we faced and have laid the foundations for lasting prosperity. Rather than fail the promise of a better future for our children, the time has come for us to build that future.

The age of reform has done its work. Now begins the age of prosperity. An age in which the promise of this great nation must finally become the lived experience of Nigerians from all walks of life.

We have travelled through difficult years together. We have made hard decisions together. And now, still together, we must build the country those decisions have made possible.

I believe deeply in what lies ahead.”