President Bola Tinubu has eight-point priority areas as enunciated in his 80-page Renewed Hope Agenda. They are reforming the economy for sustained inclusive growth; strengthening national security for peace and prosperity; boosting agriculture to achieve food security; unlocking energy and natural resources for sustainable development; and enhancing infrastructure and transportation as enablers of growth. Others include a focus on education, health, and social investment as essential pillars of development; accelerate diversification through industrialisation, digitisation, creative arts, manufacturing & innovation and improve governance for effective service delivery. From the aforementioned, it is obvious that the President has a bias for the economy. Little wonder he prioritised what he called economic restructuring in the last two years. I call that ‘Tinubunomics’.

From the day of his inauguration on May 29, 2023, Tinubu left no one in doubt about the direction his government would go when he said, “Petrol subsidy is gone!”. He later followed that up with the floating of the naira, our national currency. To the best of my knowledge, Nigeria never had a cabinet that is as large as that of the incumbent President with about 50 ministers and the establishment of new ministries, departments and agencies some of which include the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Ministry of Livestock Development, Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy and Ministry of Steel Development.

President Tinubu has recorded a lot of achievements in the area of the economy in the last two years. In terms of brick and mortar, there have been several completed roads and bridges, especially in the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos. Nairametrics, in its March 31, 2025, edition, reported that Tinubu’s administration had prioritised road infrastructure, accelerating existing projects and initiating new ones to enhance connectivity, trade, and regional development. Summary of 13 key road projects: Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road: Originally awarded in 2017, now revitalised with N740.79bn in funding. Completion set for 2026; Ninth Mile-Oturkpo-Makurdi Road; Sokoto-Badagry Highway: A 1,068km north-south link with a rail line in the median; construction began in October 2024; Abuja-Lokoja-Benin Road: Undergoing dualisation with concrete technology, re-awarded in 2024 with N305bn funding and Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway (Phase 1): A 47.7km section started in March 2024, integrating rail transport; the full highway spans 700km.

Others include Enugu-Onitsha Expressway being reconstructed under MTN’s Tax Credit Scheme; 50-70 per cent complete, with a May 2026 deadline; Benin-Asaba Superhighway: A PPP-funded 125km highway with solar lighting, launched in March 2025, with a 30-month timeline; Oyo-Ogbomoso Road: Re-awarded in February 2025 to JRB Construction for N147.89bn to boost regional connectivity; Bode Saadu-Kaima-Kosubosu Road: A 130km project in Kwara, funded by BUA Group, designed for long-term durability; Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway: Ongoing work on the 56.1km Umuahia-Aba section, with completion targeted for June 2025; Second Niger Bridge Access Road: A 17.55km road linking the bridge to key transport corridors, started in March 2025; Lagos-Ibadan Expressway nearing completion, with tolling planned after Phase 1 to ensure maintenance funding and Bodo-Bonny Road: Includes 13 bridges; cost revised to N280bn, now scheduled for completion.

Under this administration, all six geopolitical zones now have development commissions that are aimed at making development initiatives percolate to the grassroots through pro-people and pro-poor projects and programmes. Tinubu’s game changer is the four tax reform bills sent to the National Assembly in October 2024. They are the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill and the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill. The Senate passed the bill last week, and a conference committee to harmonise the versions passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives has been set up. I am sure a clean copy may be sent to the President for assent before May 29. There are said to be a lot of benefits inherent in the new tax laws.

It is reported that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, has established three funds totalling N200bn to support businesses across Nigeria: The Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme, The FGN MSME Intervention Fund, and the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund. The Bank of Industry has been appointed as the executing agency of the funds, vested with responsibility for its day-to-day administration. An online source said BoI has disbursed N22bn of the N200bn support fund to MSMEs. The restreaming of Port Harcourt and Warri refineries in December 2024, as well as the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas, are some of Tinubu’s economic achievements in the last two years. It is noteworthy that the national minimum wage has increased from N30,000 to N70,000 since July 2024.

On the flip side, much as the economic handlers of the country will want the citizens to laud them for the purported economic growth, it is noteworthy that the lives of average Nigerians have worsened under this government. Nigerians are experiencing a higher cost of living rather than a higher standard of living.

Inflation, unemployment and poverty are on the increase. Headline inflation in March 2025 is 24.23 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

This newspaper, in its May 4, 2025 (online edition), reported that the World Bank had disclosed that the poverty rate among Nigeria’s rural population had reached an alarming 75.5 per cent, highlighting deepening inequality and widespread economic hardship across the country. According to the World Bank’s latest April 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief for Nigeria, rural dwellers are overwhelmingly bearing the brunt of economic stagnation, inflation, and structural challenges that have characterised the country’s growth trajectory in recent years. The data, derived from Nigeria’s most recent nationally representative surveys, shows that while 41.3 per cent of the urban population lives below the poverty line, the figure for rural Nigeria is almost double.

According to a development economist, Prof. Dudley Seers, in any country where poverty, unemployment and inflation are on the increase, there is no development. Imagine the cost of living crisis many Nigerians now face. Many of us are heavily indebted and find it extremely difficult to pay our bills.  Energy costs have hit the roof with petrol and electricity price hikes, as well as the recent increase in the telecommunications tariff. These price increases, coupled with over 40 per cent devaluation of the value of the naira, have made life unbearable for most Nigerians. This spike in the cost of living has made the new minimum wage of N70,00 worthless. It, therefore, behoves President Tinubu to find creative ways of ameliorating the suffering of the Nigerian masses.