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JUST IN: I Understand The Hardship You Face, Tinubu Tells Nigerians
President Bola Tinubu says he understands the hardship Nigerians are facing owing to his government’s economic policies.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The Nigerian leader had pronounced an end to the payment of fuel subsidy among others.
While the move has resulted in a hike in the pump price of the commodity cost of living also high, Tinubu told Nigerians that he understands their plight.
“Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it. The cost of fuel has gone up. Food and other prices have followed it. Households and businesses struggle,” he said in a national broadcast Monday evening.
“Things seem anxious and uncertain. I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is not. If there were, I would have taken that route as I came here to help not hurt the people and nation that I love.”
Read full statement below
THIS NATIONAL BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU ON CURRENT ECONOMIC CHALLENGES IS RELEASED TO YOU STRICTLY UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 7.30 PM, JULY 31 AFTER THE PRESIDENT HAS READ IT. KINDLY REFRAIN FROM USE ON YOUR ONLINE PLATFORMS OR ANY PLATFORM WHATSOEVER UNTIL THE AFOREMENTIONED TIME.
TEXT OF THE NATIONAL BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU TO NIGERIANS ON CURRENT ECONOMIC CHALLENGES.
AFTER DARKNESS COMES THE GLORIOUS DAWN
My fellow citizens,
I want to talk to you about our economy. It is important that you understand the reasons for the policy measures I have taken to combat the serious economic challenges this nation has long faced.
2. I am not going to talk in difficult terms by dwelling on economic jargon and concepts. I will speak in plain, clear language so that you know where I stand. More importantly, so that you see and hopefully will share my vision regarding the journey to a better, more productive economy for our beloved country.
3. For several years, I have consistently maintained the position that the fuel subsidy had to go. This once beneficial measure had outlived its usefulness. The subsidy cost us trillions of Naira yearly. Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security. Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.
4. This group had amassed so much wealth and power that they became a serious threat to the fairness of our economy and the integrity of our democratic governance. To be blunt, Nigeria could never become the society it was intended to be as long as such small, powerful yet unelected groups hold enormous influence over our political economy and the institutions that govern it.
5. The whims of the few should never hold dominant sway over the hopes and aspirations of the many. If we are to be a democracy, the people and not the power of money must be sovereign.
6. The preceding administration saw this looming danger as well. Indeed, it made no provision in the 2023 Appropriations for subsidy after June this year. Removal of this once helpful device that had transformed into a millstone around the country’s neck had become inevitable.
7. Also, the multiple exchange rate system that had been established became nothing but a highway of currency speculation. It diverted money that should have been used to create jobs, build factories and businesses for millions of people. Our national wealth was doled on favourable terms to a handful of people who have been made filthy rich simply by moving money from one hand to another. This too was extremely unfair.
8. It also compounded the threat that the illicit and mass accumulation of money posed to the future of our democratic system and its economy.
9. I had promised to reform the economy for the long-term good by fighting the major imbalances that had plagued our economy. Ending the subsidy and the preferential exchange rate system were key to this fight. This fight is to define the fate and future of our nation. Much is in the balance.
10. Thus, the defects in our economy immensely profited a tiny elite, the elite of the elite you might call them. As we moved to fight the flaws in the economy, the people who grow rich from them, predictably, will fight back through every means necessary.
11. Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it. The cost of fuel has gone up. Food and other prices have followed it. Households and businesses struggle. Things seem anxious and uncertain. I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is not. If there were, I would have taken that route as I came here to help not hurt the people and nation that I love.
12. What I can offer in the immediate is to reduce the burden our current economic situation has imposed on all of us, most especially on businesses, the working class and the most vulnerable among us.
13. Already, the Federal Government is working closely with states and local governments to implement interventions that will cushion the pains of our people across socio-economic brackets.
14. Earlier this month, I signed four (4) Executive Orders in keeping with my electoral promise to address unfriendly fiscal policies and multiple taxes that are stifling the business environment. These Executive Orders on suspension and deferred commencement of some taxes will provide the necessary buffers and headroom to businesses in the manufacturing sector to continue to thrive and expand.
15. To strengthen the manufacturing sector, increase its capacity to expand and create good paying jobs, we are going to spend N75 billion between July 2023 and March 2024. Our objective is to fund 75 enterprises with great potential to kick-start a sustainable economic growth, accelerate structural transformation and improve productivity. Each of the 75 manufacturing enterprises will be able to access N1 Billion credit at 9% per annum with maximum of 60 months repayment for long term loans and 12 months for working capital.
16. Our administration recognises the importance of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and the informal sector as drivers of growth. We are going to energise this very important sector with N125 billion.
17. Out of the sum, we will spend N50 billion on Conditional Grant to 1 million nano businesses between now and March 2024. Our target is to give N50,000 each to 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 774 local governments across the country.
18. Ultimately, this programme will further drive financial inclusion by onboarding beneficiaries into the formal banking system. In like manner, we will fund 100,000 MSMEs and start-ups with N75 billion. Under this scheme, each enterprise promoter will be able to get between N500,000 to N1million at 9% interest per annum and a repayment period of 36 months.
19. To further ensure that prices of food items remain affordable, we have had a multi-stakeholder engagement with various farmers’ associations and operators within the agricultural value chain.
20. In the short and immediate terms, we will ensure staple foods are available and affordable. To this end, I have ordered the release of 200,000 Metric Tonnes of grains from strategic reserves to households across the 36 states and FCT to moderate prices. We are also providing 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, seedlings and other inputs to farmers who are committed to our food security agenda.
21. Our plan to support cultivation of 500,000 hectares of farmland and all-year-round farming practice remains on course. To be specific, N200 billion out of the N500 billion approved by the National Assembly will be disbursed as follows:
-Our administration will invest N50 billion each to cultivate 150,000 hectares of rice and maize.
-N50 billion each will also be earmarked to cultivate 100,000 hectares of wheat and cassava.
22. This expansive agricultural programme will be implemented targeting small-holder farmers and leveraging large-scale private sector players in the agric business with strong performance record.
23. In this regard, the expertise of Development Finance Institutions, commercial banks and microfinance banks will be tapped into to develop a viable and an appropriate transaction structure for all stakeholders.
24. Fellow Nigerians, I made a solemn pledge to work for you. How to improve your welfare and living condition is of paramount importance to me and it’s the only thing that keeps me up day and night.
25. It is in the light of this that I approved the Infrastructure Support Fund for the States. This new Infrastructure Fund will enable States to intervene and invest in critical areas and bring relief to many of the pain points as well as revamp our decaying healthcare and educational Infrastructure.
26. The fund will also bring improvements to rural access roads to ease evacuation of farm produce to markets. With the fund, our states will become more competitive and on a stronger financial footing to deliver economic prosperity to Nigerians.
27. Part of our programme is to roll out buses across the states and local governments for mass transit at a much more affordable rate. We have made provision to invest N100 billion between now and March 2024 to acquire 3000 units of 20-seater CNG-fuelled buses.
28. These buses will be shared to major transportation companies in the states, using the intensity of travel per capital. Participating transport companies will be able to access credit under this facility at 9% per annum with 60 months repayment period.
29. In the same vein, we are also working in collaboration with the Labour unions to introduce a new national minimum wage for workers. I want to tell our workers this: your salary review is coming.
30. Once we agree on the new minimum wage and general upward review, we will make budget provision for it for immediate implementation.
31. I want to use this opportunity to salute many private employers in the Organised Private Sector who have already implemented general salary review for employees.
32. Fellow Nigerians, this period may be hard on us and there is no doubt about it that it is tough on us. But I urge you all to look beyond the present temporary pains and aim at the larger picture. All of our good and helpful plans are in the works. More importantly, I know that they will work.
33. Sadly, there was an unavoidable lag between subsidy removal and these plans coming fully online. However, we are swiftly closing the time gap. I plead with you to please have faith in our ability to deliver and in our concern for your well-being.
34. We will get out of this turbulence. And, due to the measures we have taken, Nigeria will be better equipped and able to take advantage of the future that awaits her.
35. In a little over two months, we have saved over a trillion Naira that would have been squandered on the unproductive fuel subsidy which only benefitted smugglers and fraudsters. That money will now be used more directly and more beneficially for you and your families.
36. For example, we shall fulfill our promise to make education more affordable to all and provide loans to higher education students who may need them. No Nigerian student will have to abandon his or her education because of lack of money.
37. Our commitment is to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of our people. On this principle, we shall never falter.
38. We are also monitoring the effects of the exchange rate and inflation on gasoline prices. If and when necessary, we will intervene.
39. I assure you my fellow country men and women that we are exiting the darkness to enter a new and glorious dawn.
40. Now, I must get back to work in order to make this vision come true.
41. Thank you all for listening and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
As the stand-off over the Strait of Hormuz continued, following its effective blockade by Iran, the US and the gulf state are trading threats of further destruction of energy and oil infrastructure across the Middle East with US President, Donald Trump, saying Tehran would face possible obliteration of its energy facilities if it failed to reopen the channel within 48 hours.
In a swift response, Iran threatened to irreversibly destroy US-linked energy sites across the Middle East if its power plants were targeted.
The 48 hours deadline expires today.
Trump’s ultimatum came hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona, injuring more than 160 people in the most destructive attack since the war began.
This, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to retaliate “on all fronts”.
Iran had blocked the vital waterway, which carries a fifth of global crude oil trade in peacetime, as its key leverage in the war.
The standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with North Sea Brent crude now trading above $105 a barrel, as long-term consequences for the global economy become an acute concern.
The ultimatum, made just a day after the US president said he was considering winding down military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more US Marines headed to the Middle East.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran had imposed restrictions only on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran, and would assist others that stayed out of the conflict.
Meanwhile, issuing the threat via his Truth Social, Trump said that the US would “hit and obliterate various Iran power plants starting with the biggest one first if Tehran did not fully reopen the strait within 48 hours.”
Reinforcing Trump’s threat, US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said the US may need to “escalate” its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: “They’re not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.”
“This is the only language the Iranians understand,” he argued.
Iran threatens US-linked Gulf energy sites after
In response to Trump’s threat, Iran’s army said it would target energy and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region, according to the Fars news agency.
In a post on X, speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf,
said that vital infrastructure, energy and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered “legitimate targets” and would be destroyed in an irreversible manner.
“Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time,” Ghalibaf said.
Similarly, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit in a post on X published by the IRGC affiliated Fars News Agency, said that it is thinking “beyond just the region”.
The post explained that this referred to a “red target bank” of technological and political targets in response to threats against power plants, suggesting that action could be taken “in less than 48 hours”.
The post also lists several achievements the IRGC claimed to have made during the war, including what it described as the “consolidation of power in the Strait,” and “control of global energy.”
To completely shut down the strait
Besides the threats of targeting energy infrastructure across the region, Iran’s military also threatened to completely shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if Trump acts on threats to target the country’s power plants.
“If the United States’ threats regarding Iran’s power plants are carried out… the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the military’s operational command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, said in a statement carried by state TV.
The military said it would also strike Israel’s “power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure”, along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.
It added that the measures will be taken “to defend our country and the interests of our nation”.
Iran charges $2m from ships passing through Strait of Hormuz – Iranian MP
BBC quoted Iranian Member of Parliament, Alaeddin Boroujrrdi, as saying on state TV that some of the ships that pass through the Strait of Hormuz were being charged “ a $2 (£1.5) million fee” by Iran.
He said that a “new governing regime” was being imposed in the Strait claiming that “war has costs”. According to him, the closure of the Strait shows the “authority and right that the Islamic Republic of Iran possesses”.
Iran’s deadly strikes on southern Israel injures 160
Meanwhile, retaliating against Israel’s strike on its Natanz nuclear facility, Iran struck southern Israel towns of Arad and Dimona, injuring more than 160 people in the most destructive attack since the war began. The Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to retaliate “on all fronts”
The strikes, which slipped through Israel’s missile defence systems, tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.
First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli army told Agence France-Presse there had been a direct missile hit on a building in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.
Iran said the targeting of Dimona was retaliation for Israeli strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility, with the IRGC saying forces also targeted other southern Israeli towns as well as military sites in Kuwait and the UAE.
The Natanz facility hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran’s disputed nuclear programme; it sustained damage in the June 2025 war.
The Israeli military denied it was behind the Natanz strike, but said it had struck a facility at a Tehran university that it claimed was being used to develop nuclear weapon components for Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
Attacks on nuclear sites create escalating threat to public health, WHO chief warns
The Iran war has reached a “perilous stage” as both sides target nuclear facilities, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned.
Ghebreyesus said the International Atomic Energy Agency was looking into both attacks.
“No indications of abnormal or increased off-site radiation levels have been reported,” he said in a post on X.
But he added: “Attacks targeting nuclear sites create an escalating threat to public health and environmental safety.
“Since the outbreak of hostilities, WHO has provided critical training to its own staff and UN personnel across 13 countries to help them respond effectively to public health threats in the event of a nuclear incident.
“I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents.
“Peace is the best medicine.”
There is palpable tension in Egbeda/Ona-Ara Federal Constituency of Oyo State, as a group of youths staged a protest opposing what they described as an alleged move by Alabi to pursue a third term in the House of Representatives.
Alabi, an entrepreneur and author, is currently serving his second term in the 10th National Assembly, representing Egbeda/Ona-Ara. A ranking member of the House, he chairs the Committee on Works. He is also the founder of NairaBET and owner of Lekki United F.C.
According to a statement made available to the columng by a journalist Tosin Faleye, protesting youths opposed to his continued representation argued during a street procession, that after completing two terms — amounting to eight years — leadership should rotate to allow fresh representation and new ideas.
Placards displayed during the protest carried messages demanding accountability, transparency, and measurable development outcomes. Some demonstrators alleged that infrastructure projects and empowerment initiatives in parts of the constituency have not met expectations.
Several residents who spoke during the protest expressed concerns about what they described as limited grassroots engagement and insufficient visibility of constituency projects.
Allegations and Counterclaims
The development comes amid broader national conversations surrounding lawmakers’ constituency project allocations, particularly following the removal of petrol subsidy.
At a media and civil society roundtable organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) in Abuja, House spokesperson Akin Rotimi dismissed claims of increased constituency allocations as false, attributing the reports to political actors dissatisfied with previous electoral outcomes.
Separately, comments by Ayodele Asalu had alleged significant increases in funding for lawmakers’ projects. However, official representatives of the House have refuted those claims.
Governance Debate Intensifies
Critics within Egbeda/Ona-Ara maintain that performance should be assessed based on tangible impact, accessibility, and sustained community engagement. They argue that representation must translate into visible development and consistent communication with constituents.
Supporters of Alabi, however, point to his legislative experience and committee leadership as some of the bragging rights that qualifies him for another term of representation.
The Ogun state government has directed gas stations , eateries and restaurants located within the state, to henceforth make their restrooms available to the general public for use without hindrance.
Speaking on the moves of government to address the worrisome issue of open defecation in the state, the Ogun State’s Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Ola Oresanya, said to nip the trend it in the bud, government has provided about 10 public toilets on the Ogun state end of the Lagos Ibadan Express road, specifically from Kahra, through Ibafo to Redeemed Church’s third gate.
Explaining that the public toilets are the labelled visible yellow buildings on the corridor, the Commissioner who made the disclosure while speaking on a program on Miliki FM, said, the 10 public toilets on the Ibafo corridor, are part of the newly built 100 public toilets out of 200 planned for the state.
He said the Karra through Ibafo to Sagamu interchange will eventually have 40 with 20 on each side of the road.
As part of efforts to curb open defecation in the state, the Commissioner said meetings have been held with owners of gas stations in the state to always make their toilet available for public use.The directive, he said also affects restaurant operators.In the bid to enforce the directive, which he said is backed by law, the Commissioner disclosed that three recalcitrant gas stations have already been shut for non compliance
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