1/3 Dear Blessing, I watched your video and listened as you explained how your journey from Masaka to Berger in the FCT now costs ₦500 instead of ₦1,500. That is ₦1,000 saved every trip. I know what that means when you have a family to feed, bills to pay and other responsibilities waiting at home. I was equally pleased to hear from Ada and Abigail, who now pay ₦1,600 instead of ₦4,000 to travel from Enugu to Nsukka, saving ₦2,400 on each journey. I also listened to Kabir, a taxi driver who explained that ₦10,000 worth of CNG allows him to make three more return trips than his colleagues using petrol. He says he has no intention of going back to petrol. I have also received encouraging feedback from Borno, where some commuters are now paying as little as ₦50 per trip on CNG and electric vehicles. Your various experiences show what our investment in CNG transportation is intended to achieve. Lower operating costs for drivers should translate into more affordable fares for passengers, leaving families with more money for their everyday needs. When we removed the petrol subsidy, I knew the decision would bring difficulties for many households. With that decision came a responsibility to provide practical alternatives that would ease transportation costs. Your stories show this is already happening, and I want more Nigerians to experience these benefits.

Over the past few days, servicemen and women of the Armed Forces have shared what the recent pay increase means for them and their families. I am glad it is making a difference. This week, the Nigerian Army @HQNigerianArmy operationalised new formations in Zamfara, Kebbi, Oyo and Osun. Our troops are now closer to vulnerable communities in these areas, strengthening our ability to respond swiftly and decisively when our people are threatened. We are also fast-tracking the construction of new barracks and depots in Abuja, Ekiti, Ebonyi and Kogi, with Osun already completed. As we demand more from our men and women in uniform, we must do more to support them and their families. Every deployment is a sacrifice made by a family too. As our Armed Forces stand watch over Nigeria, my duty as Commander-in-Chief is to ensure they have the resources and support to do their job, and that Nigeria stands firmly behind the families waiting for them at home. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria @NGRPresident @NigeriaGov

Today, we open the National Youth Confab 2026 @Youthconfab2026. The message to every young Nigerian is this: Our dear country believes in you and in what you can do for its future. When I proposed this Confab, I wanted young Nigerians to have more than a seat in the room. Your experience and ambition should help shape the decisions that affect your lives. Say what you think. Where you disagree with us, say so, and bring the alternative with you. Our job as a government is to listen and act on what deserves action. The virtual consultations run for the next two weeks and are open to you wherever you are, at home or in the diaspora. I look forward to receiving your recommendations and giving them the serious consideration they deserve. God bless every Nigerian Youth God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President @fmydNG @NGRPresident @NigeriaGov youtube.com/live/WCEdvQwQZtM

I am also conscious that millions of our fellow citizens cannot wait for tomorrow. Some Nigerian families still struggle today for the next meal, the next school fee, the next medical bill, or simply enough money to get to work. Their circumstances did not begin with the reforms of the last three years. Their struggle is the accumulated consequence of decades of low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient opportunity and institutions that too often failed those who needed them most. We cannot erase in four years what accumulated over generations. But we can change its course. We can build an economy that steadily lifts people out of poverty while ensuring that those who remain vulnerable are not abandoned along the way. That is why we are strengthening direct support for the poorest households and improving the National Social Register so that assistance reaches those who genuinely need it. It is why the Nigerian Education Loan Fund is ensuring that the child of a low-income family need not surrender the dream of higher education simply because his parents cannot afford the fees. It is why CREDICORP is giving working Nigerians access to consumer credit, allowing people to acquire vehicles, solar systems, digital devices and other essential assets without first having to accumulate years of savings. That is why, working with our states and local governments, we will continue to strengthen primary healthcare, basic education, and the essential public services poorer Nigerians depend on most. Since 2023, we have paid salaries and pensions on time and in full. We have reformed the national pension program to benefit retirees and the vulnerable. These programmes are not substitutes for prosperity. They are a bridge to aid our nation's citizens on their path towards it. Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently. We will defeat it. It will take time. It will require discipline. It will require sustained growth year after year and the creation of millions of productive opportunities across our country. But for the first time in decades, we embark on this task from a position of strength; with an economy whose fundamental direction has been corrected. We confronted the difficult choices we faced and have laid the foundations for lasting prosperity. Rather than fail the promise of a better future for our children, the time has come for us to build that future. The age of reform has done its work. Now begins the age of prosperity. An age in which the promise of this great nation must finally become the lived experience of Nigerians from all walks of life. We have travelled through difficult years together. We have made hard decisions together. And now, still together, we must build the country those decisions have made possible. I believe deeply in what lies ahead. I believe in the millions of ordinary men and women whose work, courage and determination have always been the true strength of our country. The road ahead will still demand much from us. But we now travel it with firm footing, a clear direction, and renewed hope in our collective future. 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, with faith in ourselves, faith in our country, and faith that the sacrifices we have made will yield their reward. The Promised Land before us is a Nigeria of abundance and opportunity; a nation where prosperity is broadly shared, where every child can dream beyond the circumstances of his birth, and where our country's immense promise is finally reflected in the lives of our people. Our destination is in sight. Our foundations are strong. Our direction is clear. So let us go forward. No looking back. Happy Independence Day, my fellow Nigerians. God bless you all, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria

Three and a half years later, the evidence that Nigeria's economic outlook has improved is undeniable. Our economy has grown by over 4 per cent this year. Both oil and non-oil sectors have contributed to the renewed period of stable growth. Oil theft is down. Inflation has fallen substantially from its peak. Our foreign reserves have been rebuilt, our foreign exchange market has stabilised, and in 2025 this country recorded its highest revenue from non-oil exports in its history, exceeding $6 billion. This is real money being made by real Nigerian businesses. These are not idle claims. International observers, journalists, NGOs and multilateral institutions can see the change. Each has concluded that our reforms have strengthened Nigeria's economic stability and resilience. The private sector has long since delivered its verdict, and foreign direct investment continues to rise each year. My fellow Nigerians, we have reached a turning point. The emergency treatment is over. The foundation has been repaired. The central economic task before us has changed. For three years, our overriding purpose was to correct our nation's course. Now, our purpose is simple: shared and widespread prosperity. When I speak of prosperity, I do not speak merely of a larger economy, abstract numbers or better statistics. I mean something much more personal. I mean a Nigeria in which the farmer can cultivate his land safely, produce more at lower cost, and earn a decent return for his labour. A Nigeria in which factories have reliable power, businesses can obtain credit, and young people can find productive work. A Nigeria in which food and transportation are affordable, education is within reach, and hard-working families can look towards the future with confidence. This is the promise we must now fulfil. Our priority is to bring down the cost of living. We will achieve this by lowering the cost of producing and moving the things Nigerians consume. We have the land and people to feed ourselves. My government is therefore focused on expanding mechanised irrigation and dry-season farming, improving access to seeds and fertiliser, holistically increasing mechanisation, and investing in storage and transportation. We are building and completing the roads, railways and ports that connect farms and factories to markets. Our logic is simple. When a farmer produces more cheaply, when fewer crops are lost between the farm and the market, when a manufacturer spends less on electricity, when a truck reaches its destination faster, and when the business environment fosters fair competition, all those savings will ultimately find their way into the price of goods in the market. But prosperity requires more than cheaper goods. It requires productive work. Nigeria is a young country. Millions of young Nigerians enter adulthood every year with talent, energy and ambition. Our responsibility is to ensure that this great demographic strength becomes an engine of production rather than a source of despair. We are therefore placing jobs, enterprise, and industrial growth at the heart of our government's policies. We will use our gas to power new industries. We will support businesses that work to bring factories back to life in our great industrial centres. We will expand digital connectivity into communities that have waited too long to participate in the modern economy. We will invest in the skills employers demand and support Nigerian businesses with the infrastructure and finance they need to grow. I want to see more Nigerians making things. I want to see more Nigerian farms feeding our cities and supplying our factories. I want to see Nigerian businesses selling Nigerian goods to the whole world. I want young Nigerians building unicorns and creating opportunities for others here at home.

2026 INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS: FROM REFORMS TO PROSPERITY My fellow Nigerians, Sixty-six years ago today, our flag was raised, for the first time, over a free and sovereign nation. Since then, we have journeyed together as one nation, bound by our collective trust in the great promise of Nigeria: that a country of our size, our bountiful resources, our cultural diversity and, above all, our extraordinary people can build a giant in Africa; that in this blessed and fertile land we can build a united, strong and prosperous nation; a land of regional authority and global consequence. Our journey has not always been easy. In truth, it has generally been too hard for too many. We have known moments of great hope and periods of profound disappointment. We have endured war, military rule, economic crises, insecurity and political upheaval. Yet through it all, Nigeria, with the indomitable spirit of its people, has endured. It has endured through the efforts of the farmer who rises before dawn to work his land. The trader who opens her shop each morning, hopeful for a productive day. The teacher who believes in the children entrusted to her care and the young entrepreneur who refuses to surrender ambition to circumstance. We are grateful for the men and women of our Armed Forces and security services who place themselves in harm's way so that the rest of us may live in peace. Through every difficulty, generations of Nigerians have continued to believe in one thing: that this country of ours will be better. This faith, which sustains us all, is the inheritance of independence. Our founding fathers did not struggle merely for a flag, an anthem or a place among the nations of the world. Independence carried a larger promise: that Nigerians would have the freedom to shape their own destiny and build a nation capable of providing opportunity, dignity and a better life for its people. Sixty-six years later, Almighty God has made it our responsibility to deliver that promise. Today, as we celebrate our independence, we must speak honestly about the journey so far, the choices we made, and the country we are determined to build from here. For too long, the promise of Nigeria was undermined by choices that postponed difficult decisions and allowed deep economic distortions to grow. By 2023, poverty was rising, and hope was nearly gone. The country's situation was darker than ever. We had no choice but to act. Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer. His doctor explains that the treatment will be difficult and painful, but that it offers a strong prospect of recovery. The patient has a choice. He can begin treatment, endure its discomfort and fight the disease. Or he can ask only for morphine, dull the pain and leave the cancer to spread. For too long, Nigeria's leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came. They focused on symptoms while allowing the disease to take hold deep within the fabric of our society. We spent enormous sums sustaining inefficient arrangements that were never intended to last. We hid from difficult truths and passed the consequences from one generation to the next. When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer. The reforms that followed were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease. Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them. Now, as certain influential but regressive voices would have us abandon the treatment and return ourselves to the abuse of addictive subsidies, we must resist their siren song. We must remember why we began this journey and how far we have already come.

The decisions we have taken to reposition Nigeria’s oil and gas sector are beginning to bear fruit. Since assuming office, I have signed a series of Presidential Directives and Executive Orders to make investment in Nigeria more competitive, reduce the cost and time required to develop projects, provide greater certainty to investors and ensure that our natural resources deliver greater value to our people. One of those reforms introduced specific incentives to unlock onshore and shallow-water gas projects that had remained undeveloped for years. Today, we are seeing the result. AMNI International and TotalEnergies have taken an $800 million Final Investment Decision to develop the Ima Gas Field, discovered in 1973 and left underground for more than fifty years. For Nigerians, this means work for our engineers, technicians and contractors. It means opportunities for Nigerian businesses, jobs and economic activity in our host communities, and more export earnings for our country. AMNI, a Nigerian company, holds the majority interest in the project. Around 60% of the development workforce is expected to come from the host communities. Ima is expected to produce about 350 million cubic feet of gas every day at peak and supply about one-third of the gas required for the expansion of Nigeria LNG. This is what our reforms are intended to achieve, to move Nigeria’s resources from potential to production and translate them into jobs, incomes and opportunity for our people. We have more to unlock. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President