Tinubu defends economic reforms in Independence Day Speech

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has defended the economic policies of his administration, comparing the economy of Nigeria in 2023 to a cancer patient that needed surgery instead of medications.

Addressing Nigerians during his Independence Day broadcast on October 1, the President while speaking about the current economic struggles, explained that his administration took from a crippling economy.

He said his government had no choice but to implement policies to help salvage the situation. The president gave an illustration of a sick patient forced to choose between taking morphine to temporarily stop the pain, or enduring a painful treatment to actually stop the disease from spreading.

“For too long, Nigeria’s leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came”, Tinubu said.

He said previous leaders spent heavily to keep inefficient systems running and by doing so, they postponed difficult decisions and pushed the real consequences onto future generations.

The President also said that his policies did not ruin the economy but instead, he said the reforms were put in place to confront an already broken system.

“When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer”, he stated.

He also warned Nigerians against calls to reverse the reforms and return to the old days of addictive subsidies.