President Bola Tinubu defended his reform agenda at the APC convention, blamed global war shocks for fresh economic strain, and insisted today’s suffering will deliver tomorrow’s prosperity.
President Bola Tinubu has doubled down on his controversial reforms, telling Nigerians that the hardship they are facing is a necessary sacrifice for a better future.
Speaking at the APC’s 4th elective national convention in Abuja, the President mounted a vigorous defence of his administration’s economic direction. Millions of households continue to battle soaring food prices. They also face collapsing purchasing power and worsening insecurity.
Tinubu said the pain was unavoidable.
“The sacrifices of today are laying the foundation for Nigeria’s prosperity tomorrow,” he declared. He insisted that his government could not build a stronger economy while clinging to “wasteful subsidies” and “dysfunctional priorities.”
It was a defiant message. It came at a time when public anger over inflation, unemployment, and the rising cost of living remains raw across the country.
The President also leaned heavily on official economic indicators to argue that his policies are beginning to work.
According to him, the stock market is surging, trade surpluses are being recorded, inflation is easing, and investor confidence has returned.
He claimed that Nigeria’s Eurobond was oversubscribed by 400 per cent. He pointed to the country’s exit from the Financial Action Task Force grey list. This served as further proof that the economy is healing.
But the government’s upbeat language continues to collide with the everyday reality of ordinary Nigerians.
For many families, the economy still feels broken.
Food remains expensive. Transport costs remain punishing. Rent is rising. Small businesses are struggling. And wages, for most workers, have not kept pace with the cost of survival.
Tinubu also reached beyond domestic policy to explain some of Nigeria’s troubles. He blamed external shocks for worsening economic pressure. These shocks included what he described as the US Israel Iran war.
That explanation may have some global context, but it does not erase the domestic decisions that have also fed the crisis.
Subsidy removal, exchange rate volatility, high borrowing costs and weak power supply have all played a major part in the hardship Nigerians are enduring.
The President made clear he sees no turning back.
No nation, he said, can grow by hiding from the truth or by protecting inefficient systems.
It was also a political speech, not just an economic one.
Tinubu used the convention to swat away opposition criticism of the Electoral Act 2026, describing the attacks as a disservice to Nigerians.
He insisted the law followed due process and reflected the will of the National Assembly and the Constitution.
At the same time, he tried to present himself as a defender of democracy, rejecting claims that the APC is plotting a one party state.
“We do not seek a one-party state,” he said. “Democracy thrives on vibrant and healthy competition.”
The message was aimed as much at sceptics outside the party as at restless loyalists within it.
Tinubu also made a direct appeal to youths and women, promising wider inclusion in governance and party structures.
His words were warm.
The challenge is execution.
Nigerians have heard similar promises before, often with little to show for them once the cameras fade and the convention banners come down.
The APC leader also celebrated the wave of defections into the ruling party, presenting them as proof that Nigerians trust the APC’s direction.
Opposition voices, however, have long argued that many of those defections are driven less by conviction than by survival, access and positioning ahead of future political battles.
Beyond the politics, Tinubu acknowledged one of the most stubborn failures of his administration: electricity.
He admitted that the sector remains weighed down by debt, ageing infrastructure and unreliable transmission.
His answer is a new Grid Asset Management Company, GAMCO, which he says will help inject about 1,600 megawatts into the national grid.
It is a bold promise.
But for Nigerians who already live with blackouts, generator costs and broken power supply, the announcement will be judged by results, not rhetoric.
That is the real burden hanging over the Tinubu administration now.
Not the language of reform.
Not the applause of party delegates.
Not the promise of future prosperity.
The test is whether the pain he is asking Nigerians to bear will ever translate into relief they can feel in their homes, in their markets and in their pockets.
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