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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, pledged that a second term for him would mean “more work,” and that his government would press ahead with tough economic changes aimed at stabilising Nigeria and safeguarding the future for younger generations.
“Do more work. More challenges are there. The world won’t wait for anybody. You have to continue to reset and rethink, challenge the intellectual curiosity of you as a government,” Tinubu said when asked what he would prioritise if re-elected.
He described his governing philosophy as one that values decisive action.
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“The philosophy I came with, in governance, is believing that the hallmark of a transformative leader is the ability to take decisions, do what you’ll do, at the time it has to be done, on behalf of the people,” he added.
Defending controversial steps such as fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange unification, the President argued they were painful but necessary to prevent economic collapse and avoid mortgaging the future.
“It is a fake life to think you can, in a global economy, continue the subsidy that is wasteful. It’s an encouragement to falsification of papers, smuggling, and that is a very critical situation for the country,” he said. Tinubu noted that under the old system many states could not meet basic obligations: “Of the 36 states, 27 of them were unable to pay the salaries of the workers. Where is the money? You are oil producing, you are earning, you are given fuel, you have no refinery that is functional. It is not possible to continue that trend.”
He compared the short-term pain of reform to childbirth, saying temporary hardship can yield lasting benefits: “It is difficult, it is painful, but it is just like the human reproduction process. A woman carries a pregnancy, endures the pain of labour, and has a very big smile when she sees a live child.”
