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<\/p>\nNigerian President Bola Tinubu declared on Wednesday that the \u201cworst is over\u201d following a series of painful economic reforms that have left millions struggling with rising costs and deepening poverty.<\/p>\n
In a national address marking Nigeria\u2019s 65th Independence Day, Tinubu defended his administration\u2019s decision to scrap fuel subsidies and unify the foreign exchange rate – moves that triggered inflation and widespread public anger but, he said, were necessary to \u201creset\u201d the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cLess than three years later, the seeds of those difficult but necessary decisions are bearing fruit,\u201d Tinubu said.<\/p>\n
He cited second-quarter GDP growth of 4.23% – the fastest in four years – and a decline in inflation to 20.12% in August, the lowest in three years.<\/p>\n
Tinubu also pointed to five consecutive quarters of trade surpluses, a rebound in oil production to 1.68 million barrels per day, and a rise in external reserves to $42.03 billion – the highest since 2019.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The president said the government had disbursed 330 billion naira ($222.90 million) to eight million vulnerable households under its social investment programme and was expanding infrastructure across rail, roads, airports, and seaports.<\/p>\n
However, critics questioned the transparency of the cash transfer scheme. Two weeks ago, the finance minister announced the disbursement, sparking calls for a public register of beneficiaries.<\/p>\n
Despite Tinubu\u2019s upbeat tone, the IMF\u2019s most recent Article IV assessment warned of persistently high inflation and worsening poverty.<\/p>\n
Over 129 million Nigerians – more than half the population – live below the poverty line, while funding cuts by international donors have forced the World Food Programme to shut down 150 nutrition centres in the conflict-hit northeast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are racing against time,\u201d Tinubu said, even as critics including opposition party leader Peter Obi argue that his spending priorities have not matched the scale of the country\u2019s humanitarian and economic challenges.<\/p>\n
The speech comes amid growing labour unrest over the recent dismissal of 800 workers at the privately owned Dangote Oil Refinery for unionising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigerian President Bola Tinubu declared on Wednesday that the \u201cworst is over\u201d following a series of painful economic…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,24,25,59,30],"tags":[46,48,49,50,58,86],"class_list":["post-4408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa","category-future","category-national","category-technology","category-world","tag-africa","tag-feature","tag-human-interest","tag-international","tag-national","tag-sadc","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\n