As President Bola Tinubu’s administration marks its two years in power, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, has highlighted bold reforms steadily positioning the nation’s economy for sustained recovery and growth.

   This was as a member of the newly inaugurated North West Development Commission (NWDC), Aminu Suleiman called on Nigerians to exercise patience with Tinubu, describing his two years in office as more impactful than the previous administration’s eight-year tenure.

   Similarly, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said sweeping economic reforms set the country firmly on the path to recovery and global relevance, urging the United Kingdom and its Western allies to strengthen partnerships with Africa’s most populous country.

   Speaking on Saturday night after visiting Tinubu in his Lagos residence, Bagudu commended the administration’s economic policies, stating that Nigeria “is beginning to reap the fruits” of long-overdue structural changes. 

   “We are not where we want to be,” Bagudu admitted, “but these steps have turned the economy in the right direction.”

    The Minister emphasised that the Tinubu administration’s decision to end costly subsidies on fuel, foreign exchange and electricity was pivotal. 

   “Decades of underinvestment brought Nigeria to a point where even paying salaries was difficult,” he said. “By cutting these subsidies, we freed up resources. Today, states and local councils have nearly tripled the funds they had before. That’s transformative.

   “There is a visible return of private capital, both domestic and international. Investors are taking Nigeria seriously again. They see a government that is making tough but necessary choices.”

    Speaking to journalists shortly after paying a Sallah homage to the President at his Ikoyi residence in Lagos, Suleiman praised Tinubu’s leadership, insisting that the President was laying the groundwork for long-term transformation.

   “Tinubu’s two years are even better than the past government’s eight years,” Suleiman said. “Given the full privilege of a four-year term, I am confident he will transform Nigeria.”

   Suleiman also hailed the inclusion of the North-West in Tinubu’s development agenda, particularly through the establishment of the NWDC.

   Writing in The Telegraph over the weekend, Rabiu said Nigeria made bold structural changes that position it as a beacon of market reform on the continent.  

   “Nigeria has decisively turned a corner, embracing market economics under a liberalising government,” he wrote.

  The founder of BUA Group pointed to key reforms under Tinubu, including the removal of fuel subsidy, liberalisation of the foreign exchange regime, and the renewed effort to eliminate political interference in business.

   “These reforms are not cosmetic. They are foundational,” he stressed.

   According to Rabiu, the government’s decision to scrap the fuel subsidy, which, he said, had consumed over 15 per cent of the federal budget by 2023, was the most significant economic reform in the country’s recent history.