BY AHMED AKANBI
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, has said the administration of President Bola Tinubu has laid a solid foundation for Nigeria to achieve a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Yilwatda, who represented the President at the second edition of the Asiwaju Scorecard Series/Asiwaju Policy Roundtable organised by the APC Professionals Forum in Abuja on Tuesday, said the target was a national mission to transform Nigeria into a productive, investment-driven and globally competitive economy.
The APC chairman said President Tinubu would have attended personally but asked him to convey appreciation to the organisers for creating a platform to engage Nigerians on the administration’s policies.
According to him, Nigeria inherited a difficult economic situation on May 29, 2023, characterised by fuel subsidy distortions, multiple exchange-rate windows, weak revenue mobilisation, forex shortages, rising debt-service pressures and poor investment in infrastructure.
He said the President took difficult decisions, including fuel subsidy removal and forex market reforms, to reverse years of economic distortions.
Yilwatda said emerging indicators show the reforms are strengthening the economic foundation.
He, however, cautioned that macroeconomic stability must translate to real benefits, saying “macroeconomic stability is not the destination; it is the foundation.”
The APC chairman stressed the need for cheaper food, more jobs, affordable credit, reliable electricity and increased purchasing power.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the APC Professionals Forum, Dr Isa Yuguda, said the 2027 presidential election should focus on achievements, policies and solutions rather than rhetoric.
Yuguda said the roundtable, themed: ‘Dissecting the Renewed Hope Deliverables & achievements’, was designed to objectively examine the Tinubu administration’s performance.
He defended the subsidy removal, saying his 2009 Fuel Subsidy Task Force uncovered irregularities, fraud and leakages that made the regime unsustainable.
”The subsidy system consumed resources that could have gone to education, security, agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure,” he said.
He added that Tinubu showed the political courage to implement a reform previous administrations admitted was necessary but failed to execute.