Last week was another clear step forward in the long journey President Bola Ahmed Tinubu set Nigeria upon since May 29, 2023. It was an eventful week, and not a single day was without significance. Yet, if one moment stood out as both momentous and consequential, it was Tuesday’s meeting at the State House with the leadership of the World Bank, led by its Managing Director of Operations, Anna Bjerde.
It was momentous because Tinubu used the opportunity to tell the world, again, what his intentions are. It was consequential because, in the same breath, he laid bare the humanity of leadership: that reform is not merely a policy choice; it is a sacrifice, a deliberate refusal of temptations that have swallowed many administrations before his.
When he spoke to the World Bank team, the President did not pretend that Nigeria’s reforms were painless. He did not deny that the first reaction was hardship. Instead, he reached for language that captured the psychology of difficult governance: “Since we’ve gone into this tunnel of reform, we have our hands on the plow and we’re never going to look back.”
That sentence was a declaration of stamina. It was also a warning to those who profit from disorder.
Then came the confession that made the room feel even more serious. Tinubu openly acknowledged the seductive “quantum of money” that leaders can quietly harvest in a corrupt environment, especially through fuel subsidy and multiple foreign exchange windows. “It’s difficult for a leader to look the other way… from an opportunity that can give him quantum of money in subsidy regime… in multiple exchange… give it up,” he said.
In that moment, Tinubu was saying something profound: that greed is often the first enemy of reform. It is the invisible hand that keeps nations on life support. And if his presidency is to mean anything beyond another turn at power, he must be the leader who refuses personal enrichment and instead chooses the harder reward of history.
But Tinubu did not stop at moral clarity. He went further to reveal purpose.
Nigeria, he said, is “the heart of the continent,” and the only responsible path is to strengthen the economy for the sake of the country’s young population and vast arable land. He spoke about mechanisation, agriculture, and productivity, not as abstract dreams but as programmes already in motion.
“There’ll be zonal mechanization centers to help the farmers,” he disclosed, adding that the government is working on improved seedlings and wants the World Bank to support the process.
He then tied agriculture to industry, referencing the petrochemical sector’s growing output and the need to convert that advantage into local fertiliser production that raises yields. The goal, he said, is to move farmers “from ordinary small-scale holders to huge cooperative… farmers that can bring opportunities to Nigerians.”
This was where the meeting became more than a diplomatic courtesy. Tinubu was effectively telling the World Bank: Nigeria is not improvising. There is a plan. And the plan has reached the stage where global partners must support the private sector to become the engine of jobs and productivity.
He asked the World Bank to accelerate financing options and “tip the model” in favour of growth, insisting that bureaucracy must be cut and risk pushed in ways that develop skills and unlock investment.
His confidence was matched by his insistence on transparency and accountability. “Reform is a continuous exercise… transparency, accountability… We’re not looking back,” he said.
And then came the validation. Bjerde, in what can only be described as a remarkable endorsement, said Nigeria is now frequently cited globally as an example of “steady, credible reform leadership.” She noted that the government’s consistency and the evidence of positive results have built confidence among investors, policymakers, and the private sector.
But the week was not all about reform and financing.
By Wednesday, the President’s attention shifted sharply to a different national emergency, one that reminded the country that prosperity cannot take root where terror is allowed to bloom.
In Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, suspected Boko Haram terrorists carried out a beastly massacre, killing more than 160 people in rural communities. Tinubu’s response was swift, decisive, and unmistakably angry.
He ordered the deployment of an army battalion to the affected area and announced the establishment of a new military command to spearhead Operation Savannah Shield. He condemned the killings as “cowardly and beastly,” describing the attackers as heartless for choosing soft targets in their doomed campaign of terror.
On Thursday, he met with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to receive updates, and further directed close collaboration between federal and state agencies to provide immediate relief and support to the affected communities. He also made it clear that the perpetrators would not escape justice. “They will not go scot-free,” he vowed.
Then came Friday, and with it, another reform, this time in a sector Nigerians love instinctively, but which has not been fully harnessed economically: sports.
In a message posted on his verified X handle, Tinubu unveiled a sweeping sports-sector reform, ordering a reset of sports funding from the 2026 fiscal year. He reminded Nigerians that the country won an “unprecedented 373 medals across all sports in 2025,” describing sports as one of Nigeria’s strongest brands; a unifier that breaks fault lines and builds community.
But again, Tinubu insisted on honesty. For too long, he said, sports funding was slowed by bureaucracy, fragmented across institutions, and released too late for proper preparation. Infrastructure development and maintenance, he noted, have also been neglected.
To change the story, he directed the relevant ministries and the Budget Office to ensure adequate annual provisions for sports infrastructure, programmes, and international participation, with funds released immediately once the budget is passed and assented to. “Nigerian athletes deserve certainty, not excuses,” he declared.
He also announced that allocations currently spread across MDAs would be reviewed, streamlined, and transferred into a unified funding framework under the National Sports Commission.
The reforms, he said, are anchored on the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria’s Sports Economy (RHINSE), positioning sports as a driver of job creation, tourism, investment, and global influence.
Even beyond the week’s big-ticket moments; the World Bank engagement, the Kaiama outrage, and the sports-sector reset, President Tinubu’s itinerary carried the quieter signals of how he sees leadership: as a constant stitching together of nation, party, culture and purpose.
On Sunday, he congratulated the APC Lagos spokesman, Mogaji Oluseye Oladejo, at 60, describing him as a dependable party man whose clarity of purpose and disciplined loyalty helped strengthen the progressive family in Lagos. In the same breath of national reflection, the President also paid tribute to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, after the Afrobeat pioneer became the first African recipient of the Recording Academy’s Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Tinubu called him “a giant,” a fearless voice of the people whose courage and creativity reshaped global sound, a reminder that Nigeria’s influence is not only in crude oil or currency charts, but also in culture.
On Tuesday, he celebrated NNPC board chair, Ahmadu Musa Kida, at 65, praising a career that helped shape Nigeria’s oil sector. On Wednesday, he hailed Professor Jacob Kehinde Olupona at 75, spotlighting scholarship and global intellectual excellence, while also honouring Niger Delta entrepreneur Kestin Pondi for service, enterprise and peace-building.
Thursday brought the birthday message to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, a nod to people-centred governance, and a strategic meeting with APC leaders and National Assembly heads as the party moved towards inclusive conventions and congresses.
Then Friday, amid the intensity of reform, he played Father of the Day at Bello Matawalle’s children’s wedding fatiha, a symbolic reminder that power, too, has its human moments.
And perhaps most tellingly, he celebrated Prof. Ali Pate and Anna Adeola Makanju on the Devex Power 50 List, quietly projecting Nigeria’s renewed hope: competence, credibility and global relevance.
In the end, last week revealed something Nigerians are beginning to see more clearly: Tinubu’s presidency is being shaped around one stubborn idea; that Nigeria must be rebuilt through systems that work, not sentiments that entertain.
The same philosophy that guided his appeal to the World Bank; cut bureaucracy, empower private enterprise, invest strategically, and stay the course, is the philosophy behind his security response in Kaiama and his sports funding reform.
It is the tunnel of reform, with different stations. And as the President said, his hands are on the plow. He is not looking back.
