The Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, describing them as bold but essential measures to secure Nigeria’s long-term prosperity.
Momoh stated this on Monday while delivering the 55th Founder’s Day Lecture of the University of Benin, where he spoke on the theme “Reforms for a Shared Prosperity.”
The minister, an alumnus of the university, said ongoing reforms had become necessary to correct long-standing structural distortions in the economy, even though many Nigerians were currently experiencing hardship.
He noted that Tinubu inherited deeply entrenched economic problems that previous administrations lacked the political will to confront, adding that the withdrawal of petrol subsidy on the President’s first day in office was a crucial step toward ending a system riddled with corruption, smuggling and rent-seeking.
“No previous administration had summoned the courage to confront this situation until President Tinubu introduced decisive reforms,” he said.
Momoh also defended the unification of the exchange rate, arguing that the old regime encouraged arbitrage and denied genuine investors access to foreign exchange. He said the reforms were designed to restore transparency and boost investor confidence.
He highlighted ongoing improvements in the oil and gas sector, including the operationalisation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Host Community Development Trust and new investments in local refining. According to him, the Dangote Refinery’s planned expansion to 1.4 million barrels per day and the emergence of indigenous modular refineries were signs of renewed sectoral confidence.
The minister further disclosed that the Federal Executive Council had approved a N4 trillion bond to offset verified debts owed to power-generation companies and gas suppliers, part of efforts to stabilise the electricity market. He added that revenue collection in the power sector rose by 70 per cent in 2024 following regulatory reforms.
On clean energy, he said the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI) would help cut transportation costs while supporting Nigeria’s energy-transition goals.
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Momoh announced that the government had approved N68.7 billion for the construction of solar farms in eight universities and teaching hospitals, including UNIBEN.
He acknowledged the short-term pain Nigerians were enduring but insisted that the reforms were building a foundation for future shared prosperity. “Nigeria stands today at a difficult yet decisive juncture,” he said.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof. Edoba Omoregie, praised the minister as a worthy ambassador of the institution and highlighted recent federal interventions, including seven tricycles for campus transportation, N1 billion for agricultural development and N5 billion for the Senate building.
Omoregie said the university aligned with the Federal Government’s vision of sustainable development under the Renewed Hope agenda.