By Eshioromeh Sebastian
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said working Nigerians will no longer need to save for years before owning a car, a solar system or a digital device, pointing to his administration’s consumer credit scheme, CREDICORP, as the bridge between the painful reforms of the past three years and the prosperity he promises next.
In his Independence Day broadcast on Thursday, the President devoted a substantial portion of his address to the scheme, describing it as one of the ways his government is cushioning the cost-of-living crisis while helping Nigerians build assets.
“It is why CREDICORP is giving working Nigerians access to consumer credit, allowing people to acquire vehicles, solar systems, digital devices and other essential assets without first having to accumulate years of savings,” Tinubu said.
Why He Says It Matters
The President’s argument was simple. For too long, he said, the Nigerian worker has had to delay basic needs — a car to get to work, solar panels to escape an unreliable grid, a phone or laptop to earn a living — until he had saved enough to pay in full. For many, that day never comes, especially with inflation eating into savings.
CREDICORP, he explained, changes the timeline. Instead of saving for years and buying later, a working Nigerian can access credit now and pay over time.
Tinubu framed the scheme as more than a welfare measure. A car, he said, is not a luxury for a trader who must move goods or a worker whose daily commute swallows fares and hours. A solar system is not a luxury for a family tired of paying for diesel and generator repairs. A device is not a luxury for a young person trying to earn online.
He positioned CREDICORP alongside two other interventions — the National Social Register for the poorest households and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund for students — as what he called a bridge.
“These programmes are not substitutes for prosperity,” he said. “They are a bridge to aid our nation’s citizens on their path towards it. Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently. We will defeat it.”
The Wider Context
The CREDICORP push comes as Nigerians continue to grapple with high inflation and weak purchasing power, the fallout from the President’s decision in 2023 to end petrol subsidies and float the naira. Tinubu did not apologise for those decisions in his speech. Instead, he defended them as unavoidable.
“Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer,” he said. “For too long, Nigeria’s leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came.”
He said the treatment is working. The economy, he said, has grown by more than 4 per cent this year. Inflation has fallen substantially from its peak. Foreign reserves have been rebuilt, the foreign exchange market has stabilised, oil theft is down, and non-oil exports hit a record $6 billion in 2025.
“The emergency treatment is over,” he declared. “The foundation has been repaired.”
The Transition to Prosperity
Tinubu said the central task before his government has changed. For three years, the priority was correcting the country’s course. Now, he said, the focus is on shared prosperity — and that means bringing down the cost of living.
His plan, he explained, rests on lowering the cost of producing and moving goods: expanding mechanised irrigation and dry-season farming, improving access to seeds and fertiliser, investing in storage, completing roads and railways, and using gas to power industries and cut electricity costs.
“When a farmer produces more cheaply, when fewer crops are lost between the farm and the market, when a manufacturer spends less on electricity, when a truck reaches its destination faster… all those savings will ultimately find their way into the price of goods in the market,” he said.
On jobs, he promised to revive factories in industrial centres, expand digital connectivity to underserved communities, and invest in skills employers demand.
“I want to see more Nigerians making things. I want young Nigerians building unicorns and creating opportunities for others here at home.”
Rejecting the Critics
Tinubu reserved his sharpest words for those urging him to abandon the reforms, particularly the removal of petrol subsidies.
“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,” he said.
He acknowledged that many Nigerians are still struggling — for the next meal, the next school fee, the next medical bill — but insisted the root of that struggle predates his administration.
“We cannot erase in four years what accumulated over generations. But we can change its course,” he said.
“No Looking Back”
The President closed with a biblical metaphor, saying Nigeria had “passed through our own Red Sea.”
“This is not the time to look back. Let us go forward together, with faith in ourselves, faith in our country, and faith that the sacrifices we have made will yield their reward.”
He described the destination as a Nigeria where “prosperity is broadly shared” and “every child can dream beyond the circumstances of his birth.”
“Happy Independence Day, my fellow Nigerians. God bless you all, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
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