President Bola Tinubu, in his Independence Day speech has stated that Nigeria must either reform for progress and prosperity or continue with business as usual and risk collapse.
He, however, said his administration, upon taking over the leadership of the country 16 months ago, decided to reform the political economy and defence architecture, given the critical juncture the country found itself.
He lamented that Nigeria found itself in a precarious situation because of the missed opportunities and mistakes of the past while calling on Nigerians not to allow the mistakes to follow the country into the future.
This was part of the text of the national broadcast by the President, on the occasion of the 64th Independence anniversary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, delivered on Tuesday morning.
Nigeria got its Independence from Britain, its erstwhile colonial master, on October 1, 1960.
Tinubu said the economy faced many headwinds and security highly impaired upon his assumption of office.
“We found ourselves at a dizzying crossroads, where we must choose between two paths: reform for progress and prosperity or carry on business-as-usual and collapse. We decided to reform our political economy and defence architecture,” he said.
He added that if the country did not correct the fiscal misalignments that led to the current economic downturn, it would face an uncertain future and the peril of unimaginable consequences.
The President further said the economy was undergoing the necessary reforms and retooling to serve the people better and more sustainably.
