“What we need now is not more grammar about prosperity, but a clear roadmap: When will food become affordable? When will power become reliable? When will transport costs drop?”
BY ABDULBAKI IBRAHIM
I listened with keen interest to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day address titled “From Reforms to Prosperity.”
The speech was eloquent, well-structured, and optimistic. The President’s analogy of Nigeria as a patient who needed painful but necessary surgery rather than painkillers was apt. He correctly argued that difficult reforms were unavoidable.
At the macro level, the President is right. There are signs of stability: foreign reserves are rebuilding, the exchange rate market is more orderly, oil theft has reduced, and non-oil exports have improved. These are commendable gains and should be acknowledged.
However, there is a wide gap between macro-economic stability and micro-economic reality.
The statistics in Aso Rock may be improving, but the reality in the homes and markets is different. Inflation may have slowed on paper, but prices of food, transport, rent, school fees, and medicines remain far beyond the reach of the average Nigerian family. What has changed for the market woman in Kano, the farmer in Zaria, or the okada rider in Lagos is not prosperity, but the increasing cost of survival.
For three and a half years, Nigerians have been exceptionally patient and resilient. They have borne the pain of reforms with the hope that relief is near. To now be told that the “age of prosperity begins” without clear timelines, measurable targets, and empathy for the pain endured, risks sounding like another promise.
Programmes such as the National Social Register, NELFUND, and CREDICORP are good initiatives, but their reach is still too limited to cushion the hardship faced by over 200 million citizens. For most families, they remain policies heard on television, not felt in their pockets.
Nigerians are not tired of reforms. Nigerians are tired of endless waiting.
What we need now is not more grammar about prosperity, but a clear roadmap: When will food become affordable? When will power become reliable? When will transport costs drop?
We sincerely hope that this time, prosperity will move from the pages of a beautiful speech into the daily lives of ordinary Nigerians.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
…Alhaji Abdulbaki Ibrahim is a political analyst based in Kano
