President Bola Tinubu has likened Nigeria’s economic situation before his administration took office to a cancer patient being given morphine to suppress pain rather than receiving treatment for the underlying disease.
Tinubu made the comparison in his Independence Day address to Nigerians on Thursday, as he defended the economic reforms introduced by his administration.
According to the President, Nigeria was facing rising poverty and deepening economic challenges in 2023, leaving his government with difficult choices.
“Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer. His doctor explains that the treatment will be difficult and painful, but that it offers a strong prospect of recovery,” Tinubu said.
He added, “The patient has a choice. He can begin treatment, endure its discomfort and fight the disease. Or he can ask only for morphine, dull the pain and leave the cancer to spread.”
Tinubu argued that successive administrations had deferred difficult economic decisions, allowing structural problems to persist while large amounts of public funds were spent sustaining what he described as inefficient systems.
“For too long, Nigeria’s leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came,” he said.
“They focused on symptoms while allowing the disease to take hold deep within the fabric of our society. We spent enormous sums sustaining inefficient arrangements that were never intended to last. We hid from difficult truths and passed the consequences from one generation to the next.”
The President said his administration instead chose to tackle the problems directly, despite the hardship associated with the reforms.
“When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer,” he said.
Tinubu acknowledged that the reforms had brought significant difficulties, but maintained that the consequences should not be confused with the problems they were designed to address.
“The reforms that followed were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease,” he said.
He also defended the decision to maintain the reforms and rejected calls to return to subsidy-based policies.
“Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them,” Tinubu said.
He added that Nigerians should remember the reasons behind the reforms and how far the country had progressed since their implementation.
Tinubu further claimed that Nigeria’s economic outlook had improved after three and a half years of reforms, citing economic growth of more than four per cent in 2026, declining inflation from its peak, rebuilt foreign reserves and greater stability in the foreign exchange market.
“Three and a half years later, the evidence that Nigeria’s economic outlook has improved is undeniable,” he said.
The President also said Nigeria recorded more than $6 billion in non-oil export revenue in 2025, describing the figure as the highest in the country’s history.
“This is real money being made by real Nigerian businesses,” Tinubu said.
He said the next phase of his administration’s economic agenda would focus on translating the gains from the reforms into improved living conditions and broader prosperity for Nigerians.
