By Charles Olewezi

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that Nigeria has passed through its most difficult economic phase, likening the nation’s journey to passing through the Red Sea.

In his 66th Independence Day broadcast to the nation, with the theme “From Reforms to Prosperity”, the President said his administration met a near-collapsed economy in 2023 and had no choice but to undertake painful but necessary reforms.

He compared Nigeria to a sick patient diagnosed with cancer, noting that past leaders chose to administer morphine to dull the pain instead of treating the disease, by sustaining inefficient subsidies and postponing hard decisions.

“For too long, Nigeria’s leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came,” Tinubu said. “When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer.”

According to the President, the tough reforms are now yielding results, with the economy growing by over 4 per cent this year, oil theft down, inflation falling, foreign reserves rebuilt, forex market stabilized, and non-oil exports hitting over $6 billion in 2025, the highest in history.

He said with the foundation now repaired, Nigeria is entering a new phase focused on shared prosperity, affordable food and transport, reliable power for industries, and job creation for the nation’s youth.

“Our central economic task has changed. For three years, our overriding purpose was to correct our nation’s course. Now, our purpose is simple: shared and widespread prosperity,” he stated.

The President added that his government will focus on lowering the cost of producing and moving goods through mechanized farming, improved storage, roads, railways and ports, while using gas to power new industries and expanding digital connectivity.

He assured vulnerable Nigerians that programmes such as the National Social Register, NELFUND student loans, and CREDICORP consumer credit would serve as a bridge to prosperity, stressing that the goal is not to manage poverty but to defeat it.

” Nigeria has corrected its course. We have passed through our own Red Sea. This is not the time to look back. Let us go forward together,” he said.