Former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Co-Director of the APC Presidential Campaign Council Women Mobilisation Directorate, Betta Edu, has said President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms have moved Nigeria from a difficult reform period into prosperity.
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Edu spoke with journalists at the APC Women’s Directorate Stakeholders’ Engagement and Town Hall Meeting with Plateau women, held at the Rayfield Government House in Jos on Saturday.
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“For Nigerians, we have gone through a bend, a bend of reform, of transformation and what we may call tough times but right now, we are into prosperity,” she said.
She described the reforms as necessary foundations for the country to move forward, while urging Plateau residents to support Tinubu’s re-election and other APC candidates.
Empowerment programme in Plateau
Edu said the women’s mobilisation team was in Plateau on the directive of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to run a data-driven and empowerment-focused campaign.
She said at least 1,000 women were empowered at the event to recapitalise their businesses and support their families
“Today, we have empowered at least one thousand women in this hall and we have done that for them to go back and recapitalise their businesses,” Edu said.
She added that the First Lady’s empowerment efforts were not a one-off activity. The event was attended by Women Affairs Minister Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s wife, Helen Mutfwang, and former Deputy Governor Pauline Tallen.
There is evidence that some macroeconomic indicators have improved under the Tinubu administration. The World Bank reported that Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, up from 3.9 per cent in the same period of 2025.
Inflation has also fallen sharply from its 2024 peak. The National Bureau of Statistics put headline inflation at 14.63 per cent in September 2026, down from 15.39 per cent in August and 20.98 per cent in September 2025.
The World Bank also found that inflation declined from 27.6 per cent in January 2025 to 15.2 per cent in December 2025, although it noted that higher global fuel prices had slowed the pace of decline.
The claim that Nigerians are now “into prosperity” is more difficult to support when household conditions are considered. The World Bank estimated that poverty reached 63 per cent of the population under Nigeria’s national poverty line in 2025, while about 27 million Nigerians faced food insecurity in autumn 2025.
The United States State Department also reported that fuel-subsidy removal caused fuel prices to rise sharply from 2023 levels, contributing to an estimated national poverty rate of 63 per cent in 2025.
Food inflation remained high at 19.59 per cent in September 2026, according to the NBS. That means the fall in headline inflation does not automatically translate into affordable food or improved purchasing power for every household.
Edu’s remarks came at an APC political event, where the administration’s economic record was being presented to supporters ahead of the 2027 elections.
The administration points to subsidy removal, foreign-exchange-market unification, improved revenue and fiscal discipline as evidence that its reforms are stabilising the economy.
Critics argue that macroeconomic stability is not the same as shared prosperity. A former Central Bank governor cited in reports said the current growth rate of about four per cent is inadequate to industrialise the economy, reduce poverty significantly or create enough jobs for Nigeria’s growing population.
For Nigerian households, the practical test is not the growth rate or inflation figure alone. It is whether food, transport, rent, school fees, healthcare and employment become more affordable and accessible.
The available evidence supports a more balanced conclusion: reforms may be producing macroeconomic gains, but widespread hardship remains a major challenge.
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