President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday defended his administration’s economic reforms as necessary steps towards building a $1tn economy by 2030, as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar challenged the policies, asking why Nigerians had to endure years of hardship before the government began promising relief.
Tinubu, represented by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, at the second edition of the Asiwaju Scorecard Series and Policy Roundtable in Abuja, said the reforms had strengthened the foundation for economic stability and growth, citing improved foreign reserves, revenue mobilisation, trade and gross domestic product.
Atiku, however, said the administration’s recent promises of cheaper transportation, increased food production and relief for vulnerable Nigerians amounted to a belated response to a cost-of-living crisis it had allowed to persist for more than three years.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, has continued to oppose the policies of the Tinubu administration as the 2027 general elections draw nearer, particularly its economic reforms and their impact on the cost of living.
Speaking at the event, Tinubu, represented by Yilwatda, said the economic reforms introduced by his administration had placed Nigeria on the path to achieving a $1tn economy by 2030.
He said the reforms had strengthened the foundation for economic stability, growth and prosperity.
The President said the removal of fuel subsidy and reforms in the foreign exchange market, alongside increased revenue mobilisation and investments in critical infrastructure, were necessary to move the country away from years of economic uncertainty and towards sustainable growth.
“When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office on 29 May 2023, Nigeria faced a difficult economic inheritance. We had fuel subsidy distortions, multiple exchange-rate windows, weak revenue mobilisation, foreign-exchange shortages, rising debt-service pressures and years of inadequate investment in critical infrastructure.
“The President understood that Nigeria could not continue on that trajectory and therefore took difficult decisions, including the removal of the fuel subsidy and the reform of the foreign-exchange market.
“The evidence increasingly shows that the foundation is strengthening. Nigeria’s gross external reserves have risen to about $52.7bn by August 2026.
“Consolidated non-oil revenue increased from approximately N13.63tn in 2023 to N16.4tn in the first two quarters of 2026, demonstrating the growing contribution of non-oil sources to government revenue.
“Our trade position has also improved dramatically: from a merchandise trade surplus of only about N44.8bn for the whole of 2023 to approximately N7.54tn in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
“Real GDP grew by 4.43 per cent in Q2 2026, while inflation has fallen significantly from its earlier peak to about 15.4 per cent.
“These figures do not mean that our economic challenges have disappeared, but they demonstrate that the direction of travel has changed.
“And let me emphasise: macroeconomic stability is not the destination; it is the foundation. The ultimate test is when stability translates into cheaper food, more jobs, affordable credit, reliable electricity and greater purchasing power for Nigerians,” Yilwatda said on Tinubu’s behalf.
Speaking on the $1tn economy, Tinubu said: “It is not merely a number, but a national mission: a Nigeria that produces more, exports more, attracts more investment, creates more jobs and gives its young people a greater stake in the future.”
He said Nigeria’s $1tn economy ambition requires adequate infrastructure, stressing that the Renewed Hope Agenda prioritises roads, rail, ports, energy and digital connectivity.
The President added, “Nigeria must now take full advantage of its enormous maritime opportunity by developing an integrated five-port maritime and logistics corridor.
“Our strategic ambition should be to develop and connect five major deep-sea ports at Lagos, Ondo, Ibom, Port Harcourt and Calabar, linking them by modern rail and road infrastructure, with the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Super Highway serving as the principal coastal road spine. But the vision does not stop at the coastline.
“The Western Corridor will connect the maritime gateways to the interior through the Lagos–Abuja–Kaduna–Kano rail corridor, complemented by the Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway, thereby opening a direct trade route from the Atlantic coast to the markets of the Northwest and the Sahel.
“The Eastern Corridor will similarly connect the eastern maritime gateways through the Port Harcourt–Abuja–Kaduna–Kano rail corridor, complemented by the proposed Calabar–Maiduguri Trans-Sahara Super Highway, creating a second major east-to-north trade route.
“In this way, Nigeria can create an integrated national transport system in which our five deep-sea ports are connected, connected to our major cities and production centres, and connected ultimately to the landlocked markets of Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Sudan and the Central African Republic.”
He further stated, “This is how Nigeria can move beyond being simply a coastal trading nation to becoming the maritime gateway and logistics hub of West and Central Africa, capturing a much larger share of the continent’s trade, logistics, manufacturing and distribution value chain.
“That is more than transportation infrastructure, but a trade architecture. It would generate opportunities in logistics, warehousing, freight forwarding, customs, banking, insurance, manufacturing, distribution and agro-processing. It would create jobs, generate foreign exchange and strengthen Nigeria’s position as a regional commercial hub.”
Tinubu said Nigeria must develop industrial parks, export-processing zones, logistics hubs, agro-processing clusters and manufacturing centres along major transport corridors.
He said linking rail lines to agricultural and mineral-producing areas would attract processing and manufacturing industries, turning infrastructure into an engine of economic growth.
He added that Nigeria’s ambition must go beyond individual ports to developing an integrated maritime economy covering shipping, logistics, ship repair, marine services, finance, fisheries, offshore energy, tourism and marine technology.
“Every container through a Nigerian port is an economic opportunity. Every Nigerian agricultural product exported is an opportunity. Every factory established along a transport corridor is an opportunity. Every international company that chooses Nigeria as its African distribution base is an opportunity. That is how we grow GDP, create jobs, earn foreign exchange and build the foundation of a $1tn economy,” he said.
He listed Nigeria’s abundant gas and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline as strategically important in connecting gas resources to major population and industrial centres in Northern Nigeria to generate energy.
“It is about electricity, fertiliser, manufacturing, transportation, energising homes and industrialisation,” he said.
On investment in youths, Tinubu said, “We are investing in the future of our young people because they are the greatest asset of the Nigerian economy.
“Through NELFUND, we are expanding access to higher education so that financial circumstances do not prevent young Nigerians from acquiring the knowledge they need to succeed.
“We are also supporting young people in technical and vocational education through grants and skills-development opportunities, while programmes to train young Nigerians in digital technologies are equipping a new generation with the skills required for the global digital economy.
“At the same time, through initiatives such as CREDICORP, we are expanding access to responsible credit so that workers, entrepreneurs and businesses can acquire productive assets, grow their enterprises and create jobs.
“This is not simply social investment; it is an investment in the productive capacity of Nigeria and in the young Nigerians who will ultimately build and drive our $1 trillion economy.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the APC Professionals Forum’s Board of Trustees, Dr Isa Yuguda, said the 2027 presidential election should focus on achievements, policies and realistic solutions.
Yuguda described fuel subsidy removal as a difficult but necessary reform, saying his experience as chairman of the 2009 Fuel Subsidy Task Force exposed widespread fraud and financial leakages in the system.
He said the reform had reportedly saved over N15tn, providing more resources for education, security, agriculture and infrastructure.
Yuguda also warned that restoring subsidy could reverse the gains recorded.
“As we approach the 2027 election, Nigerians must carefully evaluate political promises, particularly those relating to the return of fuel subsidy.
“The proposal by former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to restore subsidy may appear attractive to citizens seeking immediate relief, but it must be examined against our national experience.
“The old subsidy regime was associated with massive leakages, fraudulent claims, inefficiency, and a significant drain on public finances.
“Presenting a return to that system without clearly addressing these problems risks misleading Nigerians for short-term political gain and could reverse the fiscal space now supporting critical national investments,” he added.
Atiku, however, hit back at Tinubu over his criticism of proposals to reduce energy costs, accusing the administration of making Nigerians endure years of economic hardship while promising relief only as the 2027 elections approach.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the central issue was not a personal contest between him and Tinubu but the inability of millions of Nigerians to afford necessities.
Shaibu, in a statement on Tuesday titled, “Tinubu, the issue is not Atiku — it is why Nigerians can no longer afford to live,” said Atiku would not engage the President in a personal exchange but would continue to defend policies aimed at reducing the cost of living.
He said, “Atiku has more important people to engage directly: the mother struggling to feed her children; the civil servant whose salary disappears into transportation; the farmer paying more to move produce to market; the student being pushed into debt simply to remain in school; and millions of Nigerians whose daily reality bears no resemblance to the prosperity advertised in your tweets.”
The statement was a response to Tinubu’s recent remarks on economic policy, in which the President criticised Atiku’s proposals to reduce the cost of energy and dismissed the possibility of returning to the era of fuel subsidy.
Shaibu questioned why the administration was now promising cheaper transportation, increased food production and relief for vulnerable Nigerians after more than three years of hardship.
“Why did Nigerians have to suffer for more than three years before your government discovered that economic growth must reach ‘the dining table and the pocket’?
“Why is intervention backwards when Atiku proposes it, but progressive when you announce it?” he asked.
Atiku’s camp argued that reducing the cost of energy would have a wider impact on the economy by lowering transportation and production costs and ultimately reducing prices of food and other essential goods.
The statement noted that the Atiku Economic Recovery Plan would provide targeted support for Nigerian crude supplied for domestic refining under a capped and transparently budgeted framework.
According to him, the proposal would include tracking of crude supplied, monitoring of refined products and a consumer pass-through mechanism to ensure that the benefit of the intervention reaches consumers.
“The economics is straightforward. Reduce fuel costs, and you reduce pressure on transportation. Reduce transportation costs, and you reduce the cost of moving tomatoes, rice, yam, livestock and manufactured goods,” he said.
He added that the objective was to provide “structural relief” rather than allow living costs to rise before introducing temporary palliatives.
The Atiku camp also aimed the administration’s student loan programme, accusing the government of increasing the cost of education and subsequently presenting student loans as the solution.
Atiku described the argument that cheaper fuel would threaten the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, workers’ salaries or the minimum wage as ‘fearmongering dressed up as economics.’
“Celebrating NELFUND as proof that education has become affordable under your government is like setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water,” he said.
The statement stressed that Atiku had reviewed the student loan policy and would seek to reduce the underlying cost of education while considering forgiveness for qualifying student debts.
“A student loan is not a scholarship. It is a liability,” Atiku said, arguing that education policy should enable young Nigerians to acquire education without being pushed into unsustainable debt.
The former vice president also demanded explanations over the financial gains from the removal of petrol subsidy.
According to him, the Federal Government had stated that subsidy removal mobilised about N15.8tn between June 2023 and December 2025, asking what measurable benefits had accrued to ordinary Nigerians in return for the sacrifice.
“Atiku wants to offer Nigerians more than empty figures. He has a plan that respects the dignity and protects the survival of the Nigerian people,” he said.
The statement further renewed demands for a reconciliation of figures involving about N30tn in Federation Account revenues, deductions, savings, transfers and related entries.
It also questioned Import Duty Exemption Certificate approvals covering about N34tn worth of imports in 2025, asking the government to disclose the beneficiaries, values, legal basis and public benefits of the exemptions.
“So when you suddenly announce that relief is coming ‘in the next few weeks,’ Nigerians are entitled to ask: Why now?” the statement added.
The ADC presidential candidate alleged that the promised relief could amount to “a temporary dose of political anaesthesia as 2027 approaches,” but said Nigerians should distinguish election-season measures from sustainable economic recovery.
The statement comes as political parties and opposition figures intensify preparations for the 2027 general elections, with economic hardship, fuel prices, food inflation, wages and social protection expected to feature prominently in the emerging political contest.
