Nigeria at 63: Nigerians must endure a little while, says Tinubu

Nigerian President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his broadcast speech in commemoration of the nation’s 63rd independence anniversary, told Nigerians to endure the current economic challenges to enjoy a better future.

Tinubu, in his lengthy speech to mark this year’s Independence Day celebration on Sunday, said the “bold reforms” he has put in place may be painful, but his government is doing all it can to make lives better while adding that the economic reforms introduced by his administration will put the nation on the path of prosperity and growth.

“I am attuned to the hardships that have come. I have a heart that feels and eyes that see,” Tinubu said.

“I wish to explain to you why we must endure this trying moment. Those who sought to perpetuate the fuel subsidy and broken foreign exchange policies are people who would build their family mansion in the middle of a swamp.

“I am different. I am not a man to erect our national home on a foundation of mud. To endure, our home must be constructed on safe and pleasant ground.

“Reform may be painful, but it is what greatness and the future require. We now carry the costs of reaching a future Nigeria where the abundance and fruits of the nation are fairly shared among all, not hoarded by a select and greedy few. A Nigeria where hunger, poverty and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever-fading past.

“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future.”