President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pledged to make job creation, enterprise, industrial expansion and agricultural productivity central to the next phase of his administration’s economic programme.
Tinubu made the commitment in his Independence Day address, saying Nigeria’s young population must be transformed into an engine of production and economic growth, adding, “Nigeria is a young country. Millions of young Nigerians enter adulthood every year with talent, energy and ambition.”
The President said the government’s responsibility was to ensure that the country’s demographic strength became a productive asset rather than a source of despair.
He said the administration would use Nigeria’s gas resources to power new industries and support businesses working to revive factories in the country’s industrial centres.
Tinubu also promised to expand digital connectivity to communities that had not adequately participated in the modern economy.
He said the government would invest in skills required by employers while providing Nigerian businesses with infrastructure and financing needed to expand.
“I want to see more Nigerians making things. I want to see more Nigerian farms feeding our cities and supplying our factories,” he said.
The President also expressed the ambition of seeing Nigerian businesses sell their products internationally and young Nigerians build successful technology companies capable of creating employment opportunities.
On agriculture, Tinubu said the government was expanding mechanised irrigation and dry-season farming while improving access to seeds, fertiliser and mechanisation.
He said investment in storage and transportation would also help reduce the losses that occur between farms and markets.
According to him, the government is also building and completing roads, railways and ports to improve the movement of agricultural and industrial products.
Tinubu said the strategy was designed to reduce production costs, improve productivity and ultimately make goods more affordable.
He said industrial growth and productive employment were essential to achieving what he described as “shared and widespread prosperity”.
The President acknowledged that millions of Nigerians continue to struggle with food, education, healthcare and transportation costs.
He said those difficulties were the accumulated consequences of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient opportunity and institutions that had failed many citizens.
Tinubu maintained that the government could not erase in four years all the problems accumulated over generations, but said it could change the country’s direction.
He said sustained economic growth and the creation of millions of productive opportunities would be required to reduce poverty and improve living standards.
The President described the next phase of his administration as a transition from economic reform to prosperity, with increased production and employment at the heart of the programme.
