President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has acknowledged that Nigeria is still grappling with high inflation, but insisted that overall economic indicators are pointing in a positive direction under his administration.
The President spoke on Wednesday night when he hosted members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and the Independent Campaign Council to Iftar at the State House in Abuja.
Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement, Tinubu said taming inflation remains a key priority.
However, he expressed optimism that the broader economic landscape is improving.
The President also used the occasion to reassure Nigerians that the economy is being steered onto the path of sustainable growth and broad-based prosperity for Nigerian families in all parts of the country.
“The economy is looking much better. Yes, we have challenges with inflation, but we will bring it down. When the exchange rate was going haywire, it looked like we were asleep, but we worked on it diligently, and it is going down; it is getting better.
“Borrowing was higher a year ago, but today, we are re-engineering the financial landscape, and our revenue is expanding. And we are taking up our sovereignty and earning our respect back in the comity of nations,” President Tinubu said.
The president also said the future of the Nigerian child is going to be brighter as the path to take them out of poverty has been cleared with his signing into law of the Student Loans Re-enactment Bill.
"The only thing that can fight poverty is education. Today, I signed the bill for the Student Loan Scheme. Imagine the children of the poor; what about people going through the mud, fishing in the ponds? How do you tell their children that their future will be brighter? It is only through education that we can fight poverty. A promising future awaits our children,” the President affirmed.
Acknowledging members of the PCC and ICC for their rigorous efforts toward his election, the president said: “It is your footwork and footprints that made me the President. I campaigned on hope, and you promised Nigerians hope and a good result when campaigning for me. There are a lot of expectations. I, therefore, have to work hard for it. There is a windy road we are travelling on. We have to navigate carefully. Otherwise, one ends up in the bush, and that is all I have been focused on.
“It is your effort, resourcefulness, and dedication that has brought us here. The results will not come suddenly, you have endured the campaign, you must endure more, and I assure you that a very bright light beckons for you and your children. Nigeria will prosper, and we will all reap the benefits.
We will work with determination and persistence.”
While urging citizens to continue to have faith in Nigeria by supporting his administration to succeed for the benefit of all, President Tinubu noted that “Europe and America did not get to where they are today in one day, but through persistence and hard work, which takes time and consistent focus.”
“Pray for Nigeria, think Nigeria. This is not play time. Let us believe in ourselves. We must ask questions. What is happening to our solid minerals? No rival wants you to be bigger than them. We must be dogged. We have to sort out our problem ourselves,” the President said.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, director general of the defunct PCC, Senator Simon Lalong, and the director general of the defunct ICC, in their various remarks, thanked the supporters for their perseverance, assuring them that the President had not forgotten all their efforts and would not disappoint them.