Why Tinubu is best choice for 2027 – City Boy DG

The Director-General of the City Boy Movement, Francis Shoga, has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains the best candidate to lead Nigeria beyond 2027, arguing that his administration’s infrastructure projects and economic reforms provide a compelling case for a second term.

Speaking during an interactive session with journalists at the movement’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, Shoga said continuity would allow the President to consolidate interventions in agriculture, transportation, petroleum and public finance.

He urged Nigerians to assess the administration through measurable achievements across key sectors.

He identified the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway as major projects underpinning the movement’s support for the President.

According to him, the administration is “building the two longest highways in our history” while undertaking construction and rehabilitation of other federal roads nationwide.

Tinubu commissioned the first 30 kilometres of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway on May 31, 2025, within the 40.7-kilometre portion then being delivered under Phase One, Section One. The wider Section One corridor was originally designed to cover approximately 47.47 kilometres.

The Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, being constructed in sections, runs from Sokoto through Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo and Ogun states before terminating in Lagos.

On agriculture, Shoga cited the deployment of 2,000 tractors and other equipment, alongside the $1.1 billion Green Imperative Programme with Brazil, as evidence of the administration’s commitment to improving productivity.

“We are mechanising agriculture at a historic scale,” he said.

Tinubu launched the 2,000 tractors under the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme in June 2025. Nigeria and Brazil had earlier signed the commercial phase of the Green Imperative Project to provide machinery, technical support and service centres for farmers.

Shoga also pointed to the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, increased financing for agricultural production and the expansion of land cultivated for rice and wheat.

He said these measures demonstrated an effort to address the underlying causes of food insecurity through sustained investment.

In the petroleum sector, Shoga cited improved crude oil production and fresh upstream investments.

He also mentioned the commencement of commercial operations at the Dangote Refinery and the restart of operations at the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries in late 2024.

Figures from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission showed that crude production reached 1.56 million barrels per day in June 2026 and stood at about 1.50 million barrels per day in August, when Nigeria met its OPEC quota for the fourth consecutive month.

Addressing the hardship associated with petrol subsidy removal, Shoga said the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative was intended to expand access to cheaper transportation alternatives.

He said the programme had encouraged the establishment of vehicle conversion centres and attracted substantial private investment in CNG infrastructure.

The federal government commissioned four major CNG infrastructure projects in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri in May 2026 as part of the programme’s expansion.

Shoga also cited rising external reserves, easing inflation and an improvement in the government’s revenue position as indications that the economic reforms were yielding results.

Federal Ministry of Finance figures put external reserves at $54.7 billion as of September 18, 2026, and headline inflation at 15.39 per cent in August.

The ministry also reported a debt-to-revenue ratio of about 65 per cent in the first half of 2026.

He said the improving indicators strengthened the case for a second term, during which the administration could deepen its reforms and turn economic gains into better living conditions.

He said the projects and reforms underway provided the basis for its endorsement of Tinubu, saying the President should be given another term to advance the country’s development.