President Bola Tinubu has said the economic reforms introduced by his administration have put Nigeria on the path to achieving a $1 trillion economy by 2030, despite the hardship faced by millions of Nigerians.
Tinubu spoke on Tuesday at the second edition of the Asiwaju Scorecard Series and Policy Roundtable in Abuja, where he reviewed the economic direction of his administration and outlined plans to expand infrastructure, production, jobs and investment.
The President was represented at the event by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda.
Tinubu said his administration inherited a difficult economic situation when he assumed office on May 29, 2023, but insisted that the difficult decisions taken since then were necessary to put the economy on a stronger footing.
Among the major reforms introduced by the administration were the removal of the petrol subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange market.
The measures triggered strong reactions across the country, particularly because of their immediate effect on the cost of living, transportation and household expenses.
However, the Presidency has continued to defend the reforms, saying they were necessary to address long-standing problems and create conditions for sustainable economic growth.
Tinubu said the country had faced fuel subsidy distortions, multiple foreign exchange rates, weak government revenue, shortages of foreign exchange, rising debt servicing costs and years of inadequate investment in 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,” he said.
According to him, recent economic figures indicate that the reforms are beginning to produce improvements in key areas.
Tinubu said Nigeria’s gross external reserves rose to about $52.7 billion by August 2026.
He also said consolidated non-oil revenue increased from about N13.63 trillion in 2023 to N16.4 trillion in the first two quarters of 2026.
The President said the country’s trade position had also improved significantly, moving from a merchandise trade surplus of about N44.8 billion for the whole of 2023 to approximately N7.54 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
He added that real Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, while inflation had fallen to about 15.4 per cent from its earlier peak.
Tinubu, however, acknowledged that the figures did not mean that Nigerians’ economic difficulties had disappeared.
“These figures do not mean that our economic challenges have disappeared, but they demonstrate that the direction of travel has changed,” he said.
He stressed that economic stability should not be treated as the final goal of the reforms.
“The ultimate test is when stability translates into cheaper food, more jobs, affordable credit, reliable electricity and greater purchasing power for Nigerians,” he said.
The President described the $1 trillion economy target as more than a financial figure, saying it represented a broader national ambition to increase production, exports, investment and employment.
“The $1 trillion economy 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.
To achieve the target, Tinubu said Nigeria must make major investments in infrastructure, particularly roads, railways, ports, energy and digital connectivity.
He outlined plans for what he described as an integrated five-port maritime and logistics corridor involving major deep-sea ports in Lagos, Ondo, Ibom, Port Harcourt and Calabar.
He said the ports should be linked through modern road and rail networks to major cities, production centres and markets across the country and neighbouring countries.
According to him, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Super Highway would serve as a major coastal road, while the Lagos-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano rail corridor and other proposed road projects would connect the coastal areas with markets in northern Nigeria and the Sahel.
Tinubu said such infrastructure would allow Nigeria to become a major maritime gateway and logistics hub for West and Central Africa.
He said the proposed transport network could also open trade routes to landlocked countries such as Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Sudan and the Central African Republic.
The President said the benefits would go beyond transportation, as improved connectivity could support logistics, warehousing, freight forwarding, customs services, banking, insurance, manufacturing, distribution and agro-processing.
He said Nigeria needed to establish industrial parks, export-processing zones, logistics hubs, agro-processing clusters and manufacturing centres along major transport corridors.
“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,” Tinubu said.
He added that attracting international companies to use Nigeria as a distribution base could increase foreign exchange earnings, create jobs and expand the economy.
Energy, he said, would be critical to achieving the plan.
Tinubu identified Nigeria’s gas resources and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline as important to the country’s industrial development.
According to him, the project is expected to connect gas resources with major population and industrial centres in northern Nigeria and support electricity generation, fertiliser production, manufacturing and other economic activities.
The President also highlighted programmes targeted at young Nigerians.
He said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund was expanding access to higher education so that financial difficulties would not prevent young people from acquiring skills and qualifications.
He also said the government was supporting technical and vocational education through grants and skills-development programmes.
Digital training programmes, he added, were preparing young Nigerians for opportunities in the global digital economy.
The President further mentioned the Consumer Credit Corporation as part of efforts to expand access to responsible credit.
According to him, the scheme would help workers, entrepreneurs and businesses acquire productive assets, expand their operations and create jobs.
Tinubu said these programmes were not merely welfare measures but investments in the productive capacity of the country.
As Nigeria pursues the $1 trillion target, the President said the next phase of his administration’s economic agenda would focus more directly on improving living standards.
He said the government would work towards creating more jobs, making credit more affordable, reducing inflation, improving electricity supply, increasing production and strengthening the purchasing power of Nigerians.
The focus on living standards is important because the economic reforms have continued to attract criticism over their short-term effects on households.
The removal of petrol subsidy, for instance, led to a sharp increase in transport and other costs, while the changes in the foreign exchange market affected the prices of imported goods and raw materials.
The government has responded with various social and economic support programmes while arguing that the previous system was too costly and could not be sustained.
The success of the $1 trillion ambition will therefore depend not only on growth figures but also on whether increased economic activity produces better jobs, lower living costs and improved incomes for ordinary Nigerians.
Tinubu said his administration understood this challenge and would continue to pursue policies aimed at making economic stability translate into tangible benefits.
He maintained that the reforms had begun to lay the foundation for long-term growth and insisted that the country’s economic direction had changed.
The President’s message was that Nigeria must now move from stabilising the economy to expanding production and building the infrastructure required to support sustained growth.
He said the combination of infrastructure development, energy supply, industrialisation, skills development, access to credit and stronger trade links would be central to achieving the 2030 target.