Today, Nigeria is 66.

I remember Independence Day while I was growing up. The march-past. The waving of flags on the streets. The celebrations.

Independence Day is usually a time when we celebrate our country, remember the sacrifices of those who came before us and speak about our hopes for the future.

But today, I want us to ask a different question:

Sixty-six years after independence, what kind of country have we built from what our founding fathers handed over to us?

If you watched my Independence Day message, I spoke about how nations, at different times, face different challenges.

No generation can predict every challenge that the next generation will encounter.

But nations are able to confront those challenges when their institutions are resilient and robust.

Which is why we must protect something fundamental that our founding fathers gave us: a Federal Republic.

So, the question we must ask ourselves today is this:

How well have we protected the system that was handed to us?

When practically every important decision must wait for Abuja, are we functioning as effectively as a federation should?

When a state identifies a problem affecting its people but lacks the authority to deal with it fully, does that help Nigeria?

When responsibilities are given to one level of government, but the authority or resources needed to fulfil those responsibilities lie somewhere else, can we reasonably expect good outcomes?

These are not abstract constitutional questions. These are questions that affect our security, how quickly infrastructure can be delivered, our ability to create jobs, develop our natural resources and grow local economies.

They affect our everyday lives.

And I am not speaking about this abstractly.

I am speaking about situations I have had to confront as the Governor of Oyo State.

There have been times when we knew what needed to be done. We had the will to act. We had the capacity to act. Yet the structure of our federation meant that the authority to take certain decisions rested somewhere else.

That cannot be the most efficient way to run a country of over 200 million people.

And this is why, when I speak about Reset Nigeria, I mean returning to the fundamentals, identifying what is no longer working and making the changes required to get the system working again.

As we journey down the road to 2027, you will hear many statistics about Nigeria.

GDP growth. Inflation dropping. Foreign reserves increasing. Government revenue increasing. Foreign investment increasing.

I believe strongly in making decisions based on data, science and logic.

But numbers must translate into something people can feel in their everyday lives.

Because what does economic growth mean to the Nigerian who can no longer afford three meals a day?

What does increased government revenue mean to the business owner who cannot afford to keep the lights on?

What does prosperity mean if the average Nigerian cannot feel it?

When governments speak about progress, Nigerians must be able to look at their own lives and say: Yes, I can see it. I can feel it. My life is better.

This is why the Reset Agenda will not simply tell Nigerians what we intend to do.

We will tell you what we expect to achieve within three years, how we intend to measure progress and what you should expect to see each year. Because one term is enough to deliver an institutional reset across key sectors.

I remain convinced that Nigeria can work.

I believe that deeply.

But Nigeria will not work simply because we love her.

It will not work because we are optimistic.

It will not work because we keep saying that things will get better someday.

Nigeria will work when we build the institutions that make progress possible.

That is the Nigeria I believe in.

That is the Nigeria worth fighting for.

And that, for me, is what resetting Nigeria is ultimately about.

Making Nigeria work for every Nigerian.

Happy Independence Day.