The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Economic Affairs, Tope Fasua, claims that Nigerians are better off today than they were at independence in 1960, despite the present economic hardships.

Speaking on Channels Television on Friday, Fasua argued that comparing the country’s current realities with the early post-independence years is misleading. He explained that in 1960, most citizens resided in rural areas with limited access to infrastructure, only encountering poverty after migrating to urban centres.

Fasua stated: “For those who try to compare Nigeria to 1960, in many ways we are living a better life now than used to be the case.”

He elaborated on the shift in demographics post-independence, saying: “In 1960, just after independence, we had a whole lot of people, of course, living in villages and so on. It was when we took over government as nationals ourselves that we started moving from villages to Lagos, to Ibadan, to Kaduna, to Enugu and all of that, and then that created a kind of urban poverty.”

Fasua stressed that the Tinubu administration is concentrating on tackling both historical and current poverty through reforms and infrastructure development, rather than through cash giveaways.

He outlined the administration’s strategy, saying: “The current administration is saying that, look, we are not going to really be sharing money, we want to do something that takes us on a different trajectory, that paints a new picture, that prepares even our children and unborn children for a better life than what we have had.”

He also dismissed the relevance of the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Report, which estimated that 133 million Nigerians were poor, describing the figures as outdated. Fasua claimed that ongoing infrastructure investments are already driving significant change, stating: “If we redid the multidimensional poverty today, perhaps 10 to 20 million people have been taken out of poverty due to these investments.”

He pointed to ongoing road projects and other infrastructure as the drivers of this claimed improvement.

Fasua further mentioned that inflation, which he said once peaked at 34 percent, had dropped to 24 percent and is anticipated to continue falling. He credited the current reforms with lifting between five and six million Nigerians out of poverty, citing figures from the World Poverty Clock.

Fasua urged Nigerians to be patient with the reform process, concluding: “If you’re saying you think that you are poorer today than you were a few years ago, and then that means that nothing is being achieved, you are wrong… progress takes time.”