Kí ni àkọ́kọ́-fẹ́ yín fún àìláàbò, iye owó ìgbésí ayé, àti ṣíṣẹ̀dá iṣẹ́, àti báwo ni a ó ṣe díwọ̀n ìtẹ̀síwájú?

Nigeria is not working: One year of Tinubu is a cocktail of trial-and-error economic policies. On May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu raised the hopes of Nigerians with his pledge to “remodel our economy to bring about growth and development through job creation, food security and an end of extreme poverty.” Since then, Tinubu has also spoken about growing the economy at double-digit rates to US$1 trillion in six years, ending misery, and bringing immediate relief to Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis. On listening to this, Nigerians must have breathed a sigh of relief after their experience with ex-President Buhari’s 8 years of economic misadventure. Tinubu laid out no plans for the ‘remodeling’ of the economy but soon embarked on a cocktail of policies to achieve it. In May 2023, he eliminated PMS subsidies, and a month later, the CBN implemented a new foreign exchange policy that unified the multiple official FX windows into a single official market. More policies followed in rapid succession: the tightening of monetary policy to reduce Naira liquidity, a hike in monetary policy rates, the introduction of cost-reflective electricity tariff, and a cybersecurity tax.

Nigeria’s young people do not need a government that teaches them how to survive hardship. They need a government that gives them the opportunity to prosper. The cost-of-living crisis has stripped millions of Nigerians of purchasing power, weakened small businesses and pushed too many young people farther away from jobs, capital and economic independence. My commitment is to change that. We will restore purchasing power, reduce the cost of living and deliberately expand opportunities for young Nigerians, including through a $10 billion financing programme for start-ups and entrepreneurs. Our objective is simple: move young Nigerians from dependence to enterprise, from unemployment to productivity, and from palliatives to prosperity. It was against this background that I was pleased to receive, this afternoon, a nationwide delegation of N-Power beneficiaries who came to declare their support for my presidential candidacy.

Atiku described as extraordinary the reported announcement by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Jimoh Ibrahim, that he had secured Tinubu a seat “not too far from where the US President, Donald Trump, will be seated.” “The seat was secured, but the President disappeared,” Atiku said. “If proximity to President Trump was considered such a diplomatic achievement, why did Tinubu abandon the opportunity and send his deputy? Why celebrate securing a strategic seat for the President when the President had no intention of occupying it? “That contradiction becomes even more scandalous when Nigerians remember that Tinubu’s administration committed up to $9 million of Nigeria’s scarce foreign exchange to American lobbyists supposedly hired to improve its standing before the government and people of the United States. “What exactly did Nigerians purchase with that money? Why spend millions of dollars lobbying Washington while Tinubu repeatedly stays away from New York? Why hire lobbyists to speak for Nigeria in America when the Nigerian President cannot summon the courage to appear at the world’s biggest diplomatic gathering on American soil?

The former Vice President reiterated his commitment to policies designed to reduce the cost of living if elected president, including a targeted production subsidy for petroleum products refined in Nigeria, rather than a return to an open-ended subsidy on imported fuel. He said the policy would be structured to support domestic refining, eliminate waste and ensure that government support translates directly into lower prices for consumers. “My promise to make life affordable again is not a political slogan. It is a solemn covenant with the Nigerian people. “We will support what Nigeria produces. We will support fuel refined in Nigeria, create Nigerian jobs and insist that every naira of government support delivers a measurable benefit to the consumer. “The purpose of government is not merely to announce reforms. The purpose of government is to make life better for the people.” Atiku said Nigeria’s young people deserve classrooms, skills, jobs and opportunities that allow them to fulfil their potential rather than an economy that leaves survival increasingly dependent on dangerous and uncertain livelihoods.

BOLA TINUBU CALLS IT PROSPERITY BUT NIGERIANS CAN BARELY AFFORD TO LIVE Being the text of speech delivered by His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, GCON,Waziri Adamawa, Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007), and African Democratic Congress’ Presidential Candidate for the 2027 General Elections in Nigeria, on the occasion of Nigeria's 66th Independence Anniversary on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at the African Democratic Congress Headquarters, Abuja. My fellow Nigerians, Sixty-six years after independence, millions of Nigerians are fighting for things a free country should never put beyond their reach: food on the table, a wage that lasts the month, and a safe journey home. The past three years under Bola Tinubu have plunged Nigeria into the most severe cost of living crisis in our history. Families are not merely tightening their belts. They are skipping meals, delaying treatment and borrowing to survive until payday.

I have the experience to lead this country, and that is what Nigeria needs now. I have done this work before. Nigerians elected me Vice President twice, in 1999 and 2003, and in government I led the reforms that returned loss-making government companies to private hands and opened our economy to private investment. I served Nigeria in the Customs Service from 1969 to 1986, and I have built businesses that today employ thousands of Nigerians, so I know how jobs are created. The two issues Nigerians care about most are restoring vitality to our economy and securing the country. My plan is clear: end insecurity, bring down the cost of living, create opportunities for every Nigerian, and uphold the rule of law. Nigeria has given me so many opportunities to be who I am today. If the presidents we have had offered better leadership, I would have retired my ambition. But I cannot, in good conscience, do that when I know I have better ideas to offer. The constitution allows a four-year term, and a second term is not an automatic entitlement. I am in this race to serve.