First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has come out firmly in defence of her husband’s economic reforms, casting them as efforts to lay foundations that will serve generations of Nigerians still to come.

Briefing reporters after a session reviewing the second quarter work of the Renewed Hope Initiative at the State House, she said the administration had concentrated on rebuilding the structures needed for durable national development.

The President, she said, had taken on hard but unavoidable choices, fuel subsidy removal among them, to set the country up for long term growth and lasting legacies that would outlive his tenure.

She conceded the reforms had brought real hardship at first but credited Nigerians with resilience, acknowledging that the worst of the subsidy decision had been painful even if the country had not yet reached easier ground.

Mrs Tinubu encouraged young people to chase opportunities offered by government ministries and agencies, many of them now reachable online, and observed that several agencies were themselves being run by young Nigerians driving growth and innovation.