By Friday Temitope Eugenia
The Presidency has attributed the slow impact of ongoing economic reforms on Nigerians to the country’s large population and longstanding infrastructure deficit.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, said the Federal Government’s resources, despite improved revenue generation, remain insufficient to immediately meet the needs of over 230 million citizens.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News, Bwala explained that while the administration’s reforms are yielding results, the benefits will take time to reach all Nigerians because of the scale of the country’s developmental challenges.
According to him, increased federal revenue has translated into higher allocations to state governments, leading to improvements in governance and development projects across the country.
Bwala maintained that the effects of the reforms are already being felt through various intervention programmes, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transportation initiative, and healthcare support schemes covering services such as dialysis and Caesarean sections.
He noted that the programmes are designed to support low-income Nigerians, citing more than one million beneficiaries of the student loan scheme as evidence of the government’s commitment to expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged citizens.
The presidential aide stressed that the administration’s policies are targeted primarily at improving the welfare of the poor and vulnerable, adding that initiatives such as CNG transportation and healthcare subsidies were introduced to reduce the financial burden on households.
On concerns that many Nigerians are yet to experience improvements in their living conditions, Bwala acknowledged that macroeconomic gains often take time to reflect in household economies.
He said while citizens may be focused on rising living costs, government performance should also be assessed using empirical economic data and long-term indicators.
Bwala, however, reiterated that population growth and limited resources remain major constraints to rapid poverty reduction, insisting that the administration’s reforms are laying the foundation for gradual and sustainable economic growth.
