By Eshanekpe Israel

As Nigeria clocks 65 today, though some may say we’re yet to reach ‘our Canaan land,’ we however, have reasons to celebrate.

Our nation since independence has towered above its contemporaries growing through the ashes of challenges over the years and coming out stronger indivisibly in unity and national cohesion – we have reasons to celebrate our togetherness irrespective of what skeptics may think, say or do our nationhood remains intact.

This nation has gone through so many policies and programmes that have brought us thus far. As we live hoping to evolve a greater and workable nationhood, I, Mayor Akpodoro congratulates Nigeria. I congratulate the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR on this auspicious day. We appreciate his doggedness, patriotism to Nigeria and the Nigerian people, we celebrate every Nigerian who belief lies in the unity and peace of our nation.

As Nigerians, we have to consider the imperatives of peace and tranquility in our nation. We owe it a duty to support the current administration that has renewed the hope of Nigerians.

Since the inception of this administration, the President has commendably recorded tremendous achievements in his drive to build a virile nation that we are proud of. The political will of President Tinubu can not be overemphasised as a leader with unrivaled solidarity to the Nigerian state and her people.

In the past two years, Nigerians are witnesses to destiny changing reforms by our hardworking President who undoubtedly stepped out rewrite the ugly trajectory of our nation. We see the President who put his life on the line for the betterment of the greatest and most populous black nation under on earth. There’s no gainsaying the fact that we have a president who has elected to bring our nation of the woods and thrust it up proudly in the comity of nations. He has taken a far reaching decisions and actions that is currently gaining momentum in its positive dividends.

President Tinubu is working to make this and the next generation of Nigerians proud of our nation now and in future. It is on record that the President thrives strong in his international diplomacy opening so many channels for an enviable nation and her people. Brazilians won’t forget in a hurry the robust ties strengthened by the renewed hope agenda of his administration ditto the government and the people of St. Martin during his official visit to that nation.

Unequivocally, we, on behalf of the Nigerian people congratulate President in Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as we celebrate our nationhood. For us in Urhoboland there’s no going back in our support for this government that has demystified ineptitude, cluelessness, corruption, bad governance…to build a buoyant and sustainable economy. Nigeria no longer live fake life, the machinery of governance is strongly standing on progressive pedestal for which we are proud to witness a better Nigeria under President Tinubu.

The All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration of President Tinubu has removed the veil of poor governance as the administration progressively within 2 years in the saddle has recorded so many achievements some of which are:

Addition of $67 billion to Nigeria’s GDP, moving us from a ₦269.29 trillion economy on May 29, 2023, when he became President, to ₦372.8 trillion today; the fixing our broken and unfair tax system; the delivery of 3.84% quarterly GDP growth in 2024. Our best economy in a decade, according to CNN; the stability of our national economy. This President is deliberately working for his fatherland to write the wrongs of the past.

President Tinubu has moved Nigeria from being Africa’s number one fuel importer to being West Africa’s top refined fuel exporter; he approved the new Minimum Wage and now pays federal workers a ₦70,000 minimum wage – State civil servants, please hold your Governor, not the President if you are paid less; he is subtly restructuring our hitherto fixed federal system by ensuring genuine federalism through Local Government autonomy, and our Naira now have its own identity as the President floats our national currency in tandem with global realities.

At his inception, President Tinubu

flagged of two legacy road projects that will cut across Nigeria, including the 1068-kilometre Illela-Sokoto-Badagry and the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal super highways; the reduction of our national debt from $113.7 billion, which he inherited from previous government to $97 billion; he has doubled federal allocation to the states from what they were under the immediate past government.and he established NELFUND, which almost 1 million indigent Nigerians through his Student Loan initiative.

The President has kept his promise that a four-year university course would be four years, because he will ensure that ASUU does not go on strike under his administration as he improved the ranking of Nigeria’s passport on the Henley Passport Index to 88th best in the world as of July 18, 2025, a rise from 92nd in July 2024 and his administration ended scarcity of our international passport just as he upgraded Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to become the most modern airport in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the moment your plane lands to the moment you leaves the airport, you do not need human contact. Everything is electronic!

Tremendously, the power situation in Abuja and environs has improved under the Tinubu’s administration through the building of the NNPCL 1350 megawatt Gwagwalada Independent power plant, at $2 billion or ₦3.2 trillion and he has achieved a record-breaking trade surplus of $14.31 billion in 2024, the highest in our history. Total exports were $38.93 billion, while imports were $24.62 billion. This is on upward trend in 2025 with the Nigeria First policy launched by the President this year.

More importantly, he has achieved peaceful Executive-Legislative and Judicial relations throughout the subsistence of this administration and with zero tolerance for malfeasance as we saw him sack a top official of his administration for corruption at inception and he increased our net foreign reserves to $40.1 billion. Nigerians would do well to remember that, contrary to what the Central Bank of Nigeria was telling them under Buhari, JP Morgan revealed that Buhari actually left Nigeria with a net $3.7 billion, rather than the $14 billion they claimed.

Now, if President Tinubu can achieve all these and more in just two years, then imagine what he would accomplish for Nigeria as well as for you and your family, if you re-elect him and give him four more years in 2027!

In view of the forgoing, we have found necessary to congratulate Nigerians on the laudable feat achieved in so many fronts by the administration of President Tinubu.

*For us in ex- agitators, we declare our support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reelection bid in 2027.

*My team is already engaging Nigerians, particularly the critical stakeholders, to throw their weight behind the President’s re-election.

*I have long kick-started mobilization and would sustain the moment until the election day when Nigerians shall file out in their numbers to massively renew the mandate freely given to the President ab initio to continue his good work for Nigerians till 2031 – God willing.

*I call on opposing parties to join the president in his current efforts at nation building rather than wasting hard earned resources on a wild goose chase.

Once again, I congratulate the good people of Nigeria. May Nigeria succeed!

*His Excellency Eshanekpe, Head, Association of Urhobo Mayoral Family Crown, AUMFC and Mayor of Urhoboland, writes from Abuja.