By Radarr Africa Business Desk
ABUJA, November 13 (Radarr Africa) – President Bola Tinubu has said Nigeria is beginning to benefit from economic diversification, with about 96 per cent of gross domestic product now coming from non-oil activities.
Tinubu made the claim at the public presentation of Economic Diversification and Structural Transformation in Nigeria: Past, Present and Future, a book by Abdulmumin Jibrin, held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday. Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas delivered the president’s speech on his behalf.
The president credited reforms since 2023 for several gains. He cited external reserves of $55 billion and said non-oil revenue rose from N13.63 trillion in 2023 to N16.4 trillion in the first half of 2026. He said the government’s task “has moved from stabilisation to shared prosperity.” The administration’s target is a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030, a goal set in the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2026 to 2030.
Tinubu criticised past dependence on oil, saying Nigeria had “floated on the fragile illusion of oil wealth while the foundations beneath us cracked.” He described the reform path as the harder choice and said the government had chosen reform over ruin.
The president urged the private sector to lead investment, which he said government cannot provide alone. He pointed to a de-risking framework in the 2025 budget, which he said is designed to attract private capital expected to fund 86 per cent of the investment needed to reach the 2030 target. He added that the government is harmonising taxes to end multiple taxation and said the country cannot tax its way into prosperity.
On energy, Tinubu said the government had won a $3.38 billion arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris over the Mambilla power project, which had been stalled for more than nine years. He also said efforts are under way to raise the capacity of the Geregu Power plant to 1,300 megawatts and that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are being revived.
The infrastructure projects he cited included the Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway. He also highlighted agricultural modernisation, Bank of Industry loans for small businesses across all 774 local government areas, and the MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund.
According to Tinubu, the fund has provided about N128 billion in mortgages to 1,859 families in 25 states at a fixed rate of 9.75 per cent over 20 years. He promised to work with the National Assembly to create a regulatory authority for housing and real estate.
