Sanwo-Olu: Nigeria on Course to Achieving $1tn Economy, Nation Improving Under Tinubu
• Reno Omokri explains why president should be re-elected
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has said Nigeria is getting better under President Bola Tinubu, expressing confidence that the administration is on course to achieving its target $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Sanwo-Olu, who spoke in Lagos during a meeting with former presidential aide, political commentator and ambassador-designate, Reno Omokri, said the federal government’s reforms, particularly in the oil and gas sector, were creating the conditions for increased investment and economic growth.
“If you look at what has happened in the oil and gas industry. Not only have we gone beyond the era of oil queues and the rest of it, yes, we can say that given the adjustment, but the bottom line is it’s available, it’s affordable, and it’s accessible,” the governor said.
He said the federal government’s recent efforts to attract fresh capital into the oil and gas industry further demonstrated the potential of the ongoing reforms.
“If you also see, I was just reading two or three days ago, the President just brought up another initiative to unlock over $50 billion in investment into the oil and gas industry,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Describing it as phenomenal, the Lagos state governor stressed that the Tinubu government was creating the right environment for economic development.
“That’s phenomenal. $50 billion just by policy changes and creating the enabling environment to unlock that kind of potential. I believe that with this government, it’s clear that we’re on our way to $1 trillion (economy) by 2030. If we miss it, maybe by a year, but we’re certainly on our way to it,” he added.
The governor also commended Tinubu’s social and economic policies, saying improvements in the welfare of pensioners were among the measures demonstrating the administration’s commitment to what he described as “shared prosperity”.
“I have been a beneficiary. I’ve been a strong advocate of what we’re doing and what we’re doing very, very well. And we cannot deny the fact that things are a lot better than they used to be,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu added that the President had recently approved an increase in pensions under the contributory pension scheme despite concerns about the cost of the measure.
“The President just increased the pensioners on the contributory pension scheme. He just increased their figures. I was just complaining to him last night, saying that you can’t do this, we can’t afford it. He said, no, he has to do it,” he said.
For his part, Omokri argued that the impact of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies could be seen beyond headline economic indicators, urging Nigerians to consider how the reforms were affecting states, workers, students and infrastructure.
He cited Osun State as an example, saying the state’s monthly federal allocation had risen substantially from the period before Tinubu assumed office.
“Before President Bola Tinubu became President, Osun had an IGR that was really nothing to write home about, and then they had federal allocation of just three billion Naira every month. Their wage bill was N3.7 billion,” Omokri said.
“That means that they can’t pay salaries. That’s why Osun State and 26 other states could not pay salaries. As I speak to you today, this is 2026, Osun receives N15 billion every month as federal allocation,” he added.
Omokri said the increase in allocations, alongside wage and social interventions, had helped improve the capacity of governments to meet their obligations.
He also pointed to the federal minimum wage and the regular payment of salaries as evidence of the reforms’ impact, arguing that millions of workers had benefited from the changes.
“We have 1.1 million public and civil servants in Nigeria at the federal level, and about 800,000 in the states, that’s two million people who, hitherto, were not getting salaries,” he said.
“But because of President Bola Tinubu, they are getting their salaries as at when due, and they’ve got a salary increase. Minimum wage is now 77,000 at the federal level,” Omokri pointed out.
Omokri also highlighted the federal government’s student loan programme, saying one million Nigerian students were benefiting from interest-free loans administered through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
He further cited the absence of prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as another indication of improved stability in the education sector.
Omokri also pointed to increased remuneration for military personnel and infrastructure projects across the country, arguing that improved roads and transport links would reduce travel time and costs while creating new economic opportunities.
He referenced the 1,068-kilometre Ilela-Sokoto Super Highway, the 750-kilometre Lagos-Badagry Coastal Highway and the Trans-Saharan Highway project as examples of what he described as a “democratisation of infrastructure”.
The ambassador-designate urged Nigerians not to dismiss the reported improvement in key economic indicators, arguing that the country had recorded significant economic expansion under Tinubu.
“I’m just going to appeal to you as a Nigerian, don’t listen to this propaganda about this economic growth. Nigeria has added $67 billion to our economy in two years’ time under President Bola Tinubu,” he said.
Omokri further claimed that Nigeria’s manufacturing base had risen to $55.9 billion, saying the country was on course to overtake Egypt as Africa’s largest manufacturing base.
He also claimed that Nigeria had recorded 12 consecutive quarters of GDP growth and 12 cycles of trade surpluses under the Tinubu administration, making a direct appeal ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
