Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have defended President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms despite ongoing hardship, insisting the policies have laid the foundation for long-term prosperity and should be given time to deliver their full benefits.
The President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, and House of Representatives member for Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency, Abdulmumin Jibrin, spoke on Tuesday at the presentation of the APC’s 2027 manifesto, titled From Reforms to Prosperity, in Abuja.
The leaders urged Nigerians to support the administration’s agenda ahead of the 2027 general elections, arguing that its economic policies and infrastructure investments were beginning to yield results.
Gbajabiamila acknowledged that the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange system had placed significant pressure on households. He insisted, however, that Tinubu was right to take the difficult decisions.
“Now, those decisions have placed real pressure on households. We must speak honestly about that experience, because the people living through it deserve to be heard, and nobody should have to pretend that it’s easy, that life is easy at the moment,” he said.
He argued that leaving the previous economic structure intact would have continued to undermine the country’s ability to invest in its future. Tinubu, he said, chose to act as a leader rather than a politician by implementing reforms whose benefits might not immediately translate into electoral gains.
“The difference between a politician and a leader is that whereas the politician thinks about the next election, a leader thinks about the next generation,” Gbajabiamila stated.
He identified the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, tax reforms and the Electricity Act as policies designed to expand opportunities, ease financial burdens and improve public services. The APC manifesto, he added, includes commitments to halve the number of out-of-school children by 2031, install an additional seven million electricity meters and expand health insurance coverage.
The document would also require the government to publish clear targets, assign responsibility and regularly report progress to citizens.Jibrin, for his part, defended the administration’s infrastructure record, especially road and rail projects in Northern Nigeria.
He noted that previous governments had failed to complete major highways such as the Abuja-Kaduna and Kaduna-Kano roads despite spending three to eight years in office.He said the Tinubu administration completed the Kaduna-Kano Road within three years and was expected to finish the Abuja-Kaduna Road by November or December 2026. Jibrin also highlighted the development of the Dawanau agricultural market in Kano and the Maradi railway corridor as deliberate investments in the region.
On fiscal management, he criticised the handling of public finances over the past 15 years and noted that the national budget had expanded from about ₦5–6 trillion during his earlier time in the National Assembly to approximately ₦53 trillion.
He pointed to projected non-oil revenue of about ₦33 trillion and higher Federation Account allocations to states, rising from an average of ₦6 billion to ₦40–50 billion in some cases as evidence of the gains from subsidy removal.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com