President Bola Tinubu has said Northern Nigeria will emerge as the biggest beneficiary of his administration’s economic reforms, citing increased trade opportunities, infrastructure development and the region’s strategic position as a gateway to neighbouring countries.
Tinubu stated this on Tuesday in a speech delivered by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who represented him at the second edition of the Policy Roundtable organised by the APC Professionals Forum.
The event, tagged the Asiwaju Scorecard Series, had the theme, “Dissecting the Renewed Hope Deliverables and Achievements.”
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The President said his administration inherited a difficult economic situation when it assumed office on May 29, 2023, including “fuel subsidy distortions, multiple exchange-rate windows, weak revenue mobilisation, foreign-exchange shortages, rising debt-service pressures and years of inadequate investment in critical infrastructure.”
He, however, said the reforms implemented by his administration had begun to produce measurable results, noting that the country’s gross external reserves had risen to about $52.7 billion as of August 2026.
Tinubu added that consolidated non-oil revenue increased from approximately ₦13.63 trillion in 2023 to ₦16.4 trillion in the first two quarters of 2026.
According to him, Nigeria’s merchandise trade position also improved from a surplus of about ₦44.8 billion recorded throughout 2023 to approximately ₦7.54 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
He further said real Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, while inflation eased to about 15.4 per cent.
Tinubu linked the economic gains to his administration’s ambition of growing the Nigerian economy to $1 trillion by 2030.
He said major infrastructure projects would support the target, including an integrated five-port maritime and logistics corridor linking Lagos, Ondo, Ibom, Port Harcourt and Calabar, alongside major road and rail projects.
He listed the Lagos-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano corridor, Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway and proposed Calabar-Maiduguri Trans-Sahara Super Highway among the projects expected to expand economic activity and improve connectivity across the country.
Tinubu said Northern Nigeria, in particular, would benefit significantly from the improved infrastructure and trade networks because of its proximity to several countries in the Sahel and Central Africa.
He said: “The biggest beneficiaries of this economy will be the Northern part of Nigeria, because they will now be trading with countries, trading with Niger, trading with Chad, trading with Burkina Faso, trading with Southern Sudan, trading with Northern Cameroon, trading with Central African Republic… The North is the next business destination of Nigeria.”
The President also highlighted the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline, Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), technical and vocational training programmes and the CREDICORP credit initiative as measures designed to translate the gains of economic reforms into improved living standards.
“These are investments meant to translate macroeconomic stability into microeconomic prosperity,” he said.
Tinubu urged Nigerians to consider the choice before the country ahead of the 2027 general elections, saying the electorate would have to decide between consolidating the reforms or reversing them.
“For the All Progressives Congress, the answer is clear. We choose progress, productivity, investment, infrastructure, innovation, Nigerian enterprise, exports, human capital, and we choose President Bola Tinubu,” he said.