Lagos is working for me I don’t know about you. Why fixing a thing when it’s not broken. Lagos is safe hence the mass migration everyday. Lagos leadership makes it happen. I don’t think you are a close substitute.

1/3 Dear Blessing, I watched your video and listened as you explained how your journey from Masaka to Berger in the FCT now costs ₦500 instead of ₦1,500. That is ₦1,000 saved every trip. I know what that means when you have a family to feed, bills to pay and other responsibilities waiting at home. I was equally pleased to hear from Ada and Abigail, who now pay ₦1,600 instead of ₦4,000 to travel from Enugu to Nsukka, saving ₦2,400 on each journey. I also listened to Kabir, a taxi driver who explained that ₦10,000 worth of CNG allows him to make three more return trips than his colleagues using petrol. He says he has no intention of going back to petrol. I have also received encouraging feedback from Borno, where some commuters are now paying as little as ₦50 per trip on CNG and electric vehicles. Your various experiences show what our investment in CNG transportation is intended to achieve. Lower operating costs for drivers should translate into more affordable fares for passengers, leaving families with more money for their everyday needs. When we removed the petrol subsidy, I knew the decision would bring difficulties for many households. With that decision came a responsibility to provide practical alternatives that would ease transportation costs. Your stories show this is already happening, and I want more Nigerians to experience these benefits.

2026 INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS: FROM REFORMS TO PROSPERITY My fellow Nigerians, Sixty-six years ago today, our flag was raised, for the first time, over a free and sovereign nation. Since then, we have journeyed together as one nation, bound by our collective trust in the great promise of Nigeria: that a country of our size, our bountiful resources, our cultural diversity and, above all, our extraordinary people can build a giant in Africa; that in this blessed and fertile land we can build a united, strong and prosperous nation; a land of regional authority and global consequence. Our journey has not always been easy. In truth, it has generally been too hard for too many. We have known moments of great hope and periods of profound disappointment. We have endured war, military rule, economic crises, insecurity and political upheaval. Yet through it all, Nigeria, with the indomitable spirit of its people, has endured. It has endured through the efforts of the farmer who rises before dawn to work his land. The trader who opens her shop each morning, hopeful for a productive day. The teacher who believes in the children entrusted to her care and the young entrepreneur who refuses to surrender ambition to circumstance. We are grateful for the men and women of our Armed Forces and security services who place themselves in harm's way so that the rest of us may live in peace. Through every difficulty, generations of Nigerians have continued to believe in one thing: that this country of ours will be better. This faith, which sustains us all, is the inheritance of independence. Our founding fathers did not struggle merely for a flag, an anthem or a place among the nations of the world. Independence carried a larger promise: that Nigerians would have the freedom to shape their own destiny and build a nation capable of providing opportunity, dignity and a better life for its people. Sixty-six years later, Almighty God has made it our responsibility to deliver that promise. Today, as we celebrate our independence, we must speak honestly about the journey so far, the choices we made, and the country we are determined to build from here. For too long, the promise of Nigeria was undermined by choices that postponed difficult decisions and allowed deep economic distortions to grow. By 2023, poverty was rising, and hope was nearly gone. The country's situation was darker than ever. We had no choice but to act. Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer. His doctor explains that the treatment will be difficult and painful, but that it offers a strong prospect of recovery. The patient has a choice. He can begin treatment, endure its discomfort and fight the disease. Or he can ask only for morphine, dull the pain and leave the cancer to spread. For too long, Nigeria's leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came. They focused on symptoms while allowing the disease to take hold deep within the fabric of our society. We spent enormous sums sustaining inefficient arrangements that were never intended to last. We hid from difficult truths and passed the consequences from one generation to the next. When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer. The reforms that followed were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease. Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them. Now, as certain influential but regressive voices would have us abandon the treatment and return ourselves to the abuse of addictive subsidies, we must resist their siren song. We must remember why we began this journey and how far we have already come.