It Took Singapore 35 years, India 50 years To Develop — SSA To Tinubu Aliyu Audu Tells Nigerians

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Aliyu Audu, says Nigeria’s journey from underdevelopment to prosperity demands time, vision, and shared responsibility.

Speaking on Channels TV’s The Beam, he urged Nigerians to be patient as the country undergoes necessary but tough reforms.

“There are certain processes in terms of mission building, moving from underdevelopment to being developed. We have examples across the world. It took an average of 35 years for Singapore, 50 years for India, and a couple of others. But we are Nigerians, we are different. It doesn’t have to take that long,” he said.

He acknowledged past leadership failures but emphasized national unity.

“We’ve been in power for 10 years, and the PDP did a very bad job in their 16 years, but it’s our collective past. We have to own it,” he said. “Every single party and leader that has led this country, however well you want to rate their performance, we’re still together. We’re building nationhood.”

Audu praised 25 years of democracy and expressed optimism about President Tinubu’s reforms.

“I honestly think that in another four to six years, a lot of jobs will be created,” he said.

He also pointed to the newly launched Nigerian Credit Guarantee Scheme as a boost for economic activity.

“The president recently launched the Nigerian Credit Guarantee Scheme with an initial startup fund of ₦100 billion. What this does is improve the spending power of the average Nigerian,” he explained.

He linked inflation to weak purchasing power, “The cost of living isn’t just about the price of goods in the market, it’s about the purchasing power of the citizen.”

On fighting corruption, he said, “If we are able to remove corruption from our identity, we’ll have more money available for job creation. We need to make it a deliberate thing to shame corruption.”

“Money is just a medium of exchange. A million naira sitting in one place is not the same as a million naira that has exchanged 10 hands,” he added.