President TINUBU’s reforms painful but necessary - SHETTIMA

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 - Vice President Kashim Shettima has said the sweeping reforms introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are courageous and inevitable.

He said they showed a clear demonstration of the President’s political will in addressing Nigeria’s longstanding structural weaknesses.

Shettima spoke at the opening session of the 66th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) yesterday in Abuja.

He said the administration remained committed to steering the economy onto a path of sustainable growth, despite the short-term hardships associated with the reforms.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, VP Shettima said: “Nigeria is, of course, not exempt from Africa’s economic tragedies. But our silver lining is the listening ear of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Under his leadership, this administration has embarked on bold and inevitable reforms to address structural weaknesses that others before us only paid lip service to.

“These reforms testify to the power of political will in economic policy. Their painful but necessary consequences remind us that a malignant disease can only be cured by painful surgery. The wounds are temporary, but the recovery is permanent.”     

The Vice President urged African nations to embrace the knowledge economy as a bridge to productivity and human capital development.

“We live in a world where a random citizen in Daura can outsource his services to a corporation in Dallas without leaving his bedroom.

“But to catch up with this changing world, Africa must embrace structural transformation that reinvents its human capital and reverses unemployment. Poverty must be confronted head-on for the promise of this continent to be realised in the lives of our people,” he said.

Shettima argued that global challenges, such as geopolitical conflicts, trade protectionism, supply chain disruptions, the energy transition, and artificial intelligence, should not be seen only as threats but also as opportunities for Africa.

“They all paint a gloomy outlook. But each threat is also an opportunity in disguise. This is why a society such as yours exists: to light the path of a continent even in the darkest night,” he said.

The Vice President assured fellow Nigerians that the Tinubu administration was mindful of the inflationary pressures and global spillovers affecting Nigeria’s economy.

He added that Tinubu is committed to “investment-friendly measures and social protection programmes”.

According to him, deliberate interventions in transport, healthcare, and education are targeted at reducing inequality.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, lauded Shettima’s role in the administration’s reforms.

He promised that the NES would be fully integrated into the ministry’s programmes, including the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme.

Also, the Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, highlighted the untapped billions of dollars in Nigeria’s livestock sector, describing it as “the next crude oil”.

He said the government would partner the NES to harness the sector in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.

The NES President, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju, reaffirmed the society’s commitment to serving as a bridge between research and policy.

He said: “We established chapters across the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Diaspora; created the NES Women’s Wing and Students’ Wing.”

Adenikinju stressed that the initiatives have repositioned the NES as Nigeria’s foremost economic think-tank.

The Director of the African Development Institute, Dr. Eric Kehinde Ogunleye, praised the Tinubu administration for its bold reforms and urged African leaders to rethink investment in people.

“These are the people who represent the greatest assets of the continent,” he said.

The conference attracted many dignitaries, including the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs, Tope Fasua; MOFI Board Chairman, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman; Nigeria’s first Professor of Capital Market Studies, Uche Uwaleke; as well as representatives of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso.