SUNDAY DARE STORMS OXFORD BUSINESS ALUMNI: How Tinubu’s Bold Reforms Are Reshaping Nigeria’s Economy – $50billion Reserves, Export Boom, and a Warm Invitation to the World

By Abbey kayode

There are moments when you witness history being rewritten. Not with noise, but with numbers. Not with propaganda, but with proof.

I was there. At the prestigious Oxford Business University alumni gathering, where minds from across the globe converged—not for politics, not for empty speeches, but for the love of enterprise, strategy, and the future of commerce. And then he walked in.

Sunday Dare.

Former Minister, sitting panelist, proud Oxford alumnus, and now one of the most articulate voices defending the economic transformation of Nigeria under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

What happened next was not an interview. It was a masterclass.

The Question That Hung in the Air

Someone asked him directly, unapologetically “Where does Nigeria stand under Tinubu? Because the world is watching, and the world is confused.”

Sunday Dare smiled. Not the smile of a politician dodging a bullet. The smile of a man who knows the data.

And then he spoke.

The Diversification That Nobody Believed Was Possible

“Let me tell you what this government did,” he began, his voice steady, his Oxford-trained mind laying out facts like a surgeon laying out instruments.

“We removed the fuel subsidy.”

The room shifted. Some nodded. Some gasped. Everyone listened.

He explained that for decades, subsidy was a cancer eating trillions of naira, enriching smugglers, and leaving the poor with nothing but polluted air and broken roads.

When President Tinubu took the knife and cut it out, the world predicted chaos.

What did Nigeria get instead?

A foreign reserve surge of more than 30 billion US dollars.

Not a projection. Not a promise. A reality.

He broke it down: The subsidy removal redirected funds into critical infrastructure, stabilised the exchange rate arbitrage, and sent a signal to international investors that Nigeria was finally serious about fiscal discipline.

Oil and Non-Oil Export: The Numbers That Will Silence Critics

Then came the numbers that made even the bankers in the room pull out their notepads.

Sunday Dare revealed:

Oil export earnings – Nigeria recorded a staggering $36.8 billion in crude oil and gas exports in the last fiscal cycle, driven by renewed production discipline and the cracking down on pipeline theft.

· Non-oil exports – The sector that everyone said would never grow. Today, it stands at over $5.2 billion, with agriculture, solid minerals, and manufactured goods leading the charge. Cashew, sesame seeds, cocoa, and even locally assembled vehicles are now crossing borders with “Made in Nigeria” stamped on them.

He paused. Let the numbers breathe.

“These are not political figures,” he said. “These are audited, verified, and presented to the world.”

Rebranding the System for a New Global Reality

Sunday Dare didn’t stop at numbers. He talked about the system itself.

“The world has changed,” he said. “Post-COVID, post-supply chain shocks, post-inflationary spikes everywhere—Nigeria had to rebrand its economic architecture to survive and thrive.”

He explained how the Tinubu administration has:

· Digitised government procurement to reduce leakages.
· Automated tax collection to bring informal traders into the net without harassing them.
· Merged multiple regulatory agencies to make it cheaper and faster to register a business.

The result? Nigeria moved up 15 places in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index in just 18 months.

Lagos: The Laboratory of Possibility

Then he focused on Lagos. Because if Nigeria is the engine, Lagos is the turbocharger.

“The business-enabling environment in Lagos today is unrecognisable from three years ago,” Dare said passionately.

He listed the changes:

· 24-hour business processing for company registration via the Lagos State Business Portal.
· Single window clearance for imports and exports at Apapa and Tin Can ports, cutting clearing time from 21 days to 7 days.
· Youth and SME hubs – over 12 innovation centres now operating with government-backed funding, mentorship, and tax holidays for the first two years.

He looked directly at the young entrepreneurs in the room.

“This government is not just accommodating you. It is chasing you. We want your ideas, your energy, your grit. The old Nigeria of ‘who you know’ is dying. The new Nigeria runs on ‘what you can do’.”

The Strategy to Make Business Thrive

Sunday Dare outlined the government’s four-pillar strategy:

1. Monetary stability – Taming inflation through coordinated fiscal and monetary policy.
2. Infrastructure revolution – Railways, roads, and digital fibre optics being fast-tracked under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
3. Security for investment – Specialised police units for industrial corridors and agricultural zones.
4. Export expansion grants – Small businesses get up to 50% funding support to meet international standards and enter global markets.

“We are not asking for charity,” he said. “We are asking for partnership.”

A Call to the World: Come Invest in Nigeria

And then came the invitation warm, firm, and impossible to ignore.

“To every foreign company listening: Nigeria is open. Not as a backup. Not as a risk. As a priority destination.”

He named the sectors:

· Renewable energy
· Agro-processing
· Light manufacturing
· Digital services
· Healthcare infrastructure
. Marine & Blue Economy

“We have the market over 200 million people. We have the youth the most entrepreneurial on the continent. We have the reforms painful but necessary. Now we need you. Come. Invest. Grow with us.”

The room applauded. Not the polite clap. The kind that says, “I’m actually considering this.”

The Oxford Spirit: Connecting Friends, Building Nations

But what moved me most was not the data. It was the atmosphere.

Sunday Dare, as a panelist and proud Oxford Business University alumnus, was visibly emotional—in a good way. He watched as business leaders from across the world walked up to each other, exchanged cards, laughed, debated, and made plans.

Countries represented included:

· Puerto Rico
· Spain
· China
· Japan
· Turkey
· Across Europe and Asia

There were no flags waved in anger. No divisions. Just human beings who understood that trade builds what politics destroys.

Dare said, with a voice that cracked just slightly:

“This is why I love my Oxford alumni family. We don’t just talk about the world. We touch it. Today, I saw a Nigerian fintech founder exchange ideas with a Turkish logistics giant. I saw a Spanish renewable energy firm promise to visit Lagos next month. This is not networking. This is nation-building.”

TNM DG’s Final Takeaway

I walked out of that hall with a different feeling about my country.

For too long, we have been fed stories of collapse. But Sunday Dare, armed with facts and fuelled by genuine belief, gave us a different narrative—one of resilience, reform, and realistic hope.

The fuel subsidy removal hurt. Yes. But the reserves are now above $30 billion.

The exchange rate floated. Yes. But exports are booming like never before.

The youth are impatient. Yes. But for the first time, the government is building tables for them to sit at, not walls to keep them out.

To the World: Watch Nigeria

And to every Nigerian reading this: Do not let cynicism rob you of the truth.

Change is ugly before it becomes beautiful. The Tinubu administration is in the ugly phase. But the foundation being laid the numbers, the policies, the international credibility is real.

Sunday Dare proved that today.

And I, Hon Abiodun “AbbeyGovernor “ Bolade with my Colleague Kabiru Saje, are proud to have witnessed it.

Vote of thanks to the entire Presidential Media Team from Chief Information and Strategist Bayo Onanuga with over 40yrs experience in journalism to Federick Nnufe, Tunde Rahman , Otega, Tope Ajayi and Según Dadá
fór an excellent well done job in the media portraying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Renewed Hope Agenda in the limelight.

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#RenewedHope