Prominent Nigerian business and economic leaders on Tuesday declared that current economic reforms and improving growth figures will amount to little unless they translate into higher household incomes, better living conditions, productive investments, and employment opportunities for millions of citizens.
They made their interventions on Tuesday at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference, themed, “Leadership for a Prosperous Future.”
Their perspectives converged on the need for a more inclusive growth model anchored on strong institutions, private sector investment, technological advancement, and human capital development.
Speakers included Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II; businessman and investment banker, Atedo Peterside; and former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh.
Others were former President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, as well as Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani.
They emphasised that the country’s economic recovery must be measured beyond headline Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, stressing that persistent poverty, weak investment, inadequate infrastructure, and institutional deficiencies continue to undermine the benefits of reforms.
Sanusi: GDP Growth Alone Could Conceal Deteriorating Economic Conditions
Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), cautioned against interpreting improvements in macroeconomic indicators as evidence that the economy was delivering prosperity to ordinary Nigerians.
He acknowledged that the economy had recorded growth of about 4.5 per cent and that some key indicators had improved following recent policy adjustments.
However, he questioned the quality and inclusiveness of the expansion, stating that GDP growth alone can conceal deteriorating economic conditions among households.
Sanusi pointed to the decline in GDP per capita since 2023, influenced by economic growth failing to keep pace with population expansion and the effects of currency depreciation, as an indication that aggregate economic performance did not necessarily translate into improved individual welfare.
He maintained that the real measure of economic progress should be whether Nigerians could afford quality education, healthcare, adequate nutrition, and decent housing, while accessing employment and better income opportunities.
The former CBN governor also cautioned against excessive dependence on portfolio investments, which he said could be volatile and driven largely by attractive short-term returns rather than long-term confidence in the productive economy.
According to him, sustainable economic recovery requires more than subsidy removal and foreign exchange policy adjustments.
He said the government must address structural weaknesses that constrained productivity and investment.
Sanusi called for greater infrastructure investment, transparency, accountability, and reliable economic data to support policy formulation and implementation.
He also warned that perceived imbalances in political appointments, particularly in sensitive national security institutions, could undermine national cohesion, urging the government to demonstrate fairness and inclusiveness in managing the country’s diversity.
Peterside: Growth Needs to Average 10 Per Cent Annually, Reforms Benefitting the Rich Only
For his part, Peterside stressed that the country should be targeting annual economic growth of at least 10 per cent, rather than celebrating expansion of about four per cent, given the country’s population, employment requirements, and development deficits.
He identified inadequate investment as a major obstacle to achieving the required growth, stating that Nigeria must substantially increase investment as a proportion of GDP to expand productive capacity and create enough jobs.
The businessman blamed corruption, political patronage, regulatory harassment, and the absence of a level playing field for weakening investor confidence and discouraging businesses from expanding.
He particularly criticised the treatment of small and medium-scale enterprises by some government regulators, alleging that arbitrary demands and bureaucratic harassment are imposing additional costs on businesses already struggling with difficult operating conditions.
Peterside also described abuses in public procurement as a major channel through which public resources intended for infrastructure and development were diverted, characterising the practice as “legalised theft”.
He warned that inflated contracts and politically connected interests were undermining the effective deployment of public funds.
Peterside said Nigeria could not attract the investment required for rapid economic expansion without confronting corruption and state capture.
The investment banker stated that economic reforms must distribute their costs and benefits more equitably, warning against a situation where ordinary Nigerians bear the burden of adjustment while politically connected individuals remain insulated.
In a separate appearance on ARISE Television’s Prime Time, Peterside expanded on the distributional consequences of the federal government’s economic policies, pointing out that the reforms under President Bola Tinubu are producing sharply different outcomes for wealthy Nigerians and low-income households.
He said individuals with substantial investments in the stock market and other financial assets might have benefited from improved investment returns, while low-income workers and vulnerable households were finding it increasingly difficult to afford basic necessities.
Peterside estimated that between 130 million and 140 million Nigerians were poor and becoming poorer. He said the government had failed to provide adequate social protection to cushion the effect of far-reaching economic adjustments.
He said the perception that the reforms were working largely depended on the economic circumstances of those assessing them.
According to him, the wealthy could point to improved investment income and rising asset values as evidence of progress, while millions of low-income earners struggling to afford two meals daily are experiencing a different reality.
He also used state-level poverty figures to illustrate the geographical dimensions of the crisis, stating that deprivation is particularly severe in the North-west and North-east, where poverty rates in every state exceed 50 per cent.
Peterside said only 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had poverty rates below the 50 per cent threshold, in his assessment, with most of the states in that category concentrated in the South-west.
He warned that policymakers, who largely operated between Abuja and Lagos, risked overlooking the severity of poverty in other parts of the country, urging the government to look beyond national averages when assessing the effect of its policies.
Oteh: Domestic Capital Mobilisation Key to Long-term Development
Oteh stated that the challenge of capital mobilisation required a coordinated development strategy involving government, businesses, investors, financial institutions, and citizens, rather than isolated interventions by individual institutions.
The convener of the conference and former director-general of SEC said Nigeria must mobilise domestic capital more effectively to finance long-term development. She stressed that the capital market could play a bigger role in expanding investment opportunities and distributing the benefits of economic growth.
She advocated wider retail participation in the capital market, stating that ordinary Nigerians should have greater opportunities to invest in productive businesses and participate in wealth creation.
Oteh also identified pension funds as an important source of long-term domestic financing. She said properly structured investment frameworks could enable pension assets to support infrastructure and other productive ventures while providing safeguards for contributors.
She called for greater decentralisation of economic development and public service delivery, stating that communities and subnational governments should have more capacity to respond to local needs.
Citing electricity distribution in Aba, Abia State, she pointed to the potential of decentralised approaches to infrastructure management and service delivery.
Oteh also stressed that access to finance, reliable infrastructure, regulatory certainty, and skilled manpower remained essential to creating an environment in which businesses could thrive.
She cited international investor interest in the proposed public offering of the Dangote Refinery as an illustration of the capacity of Nigeria’s capital market to attract capital beyond its domestic investment base.
Adesina: Africa’s Youth Could Drive Economic Transformation If Supported
Adesina, in his intervention, stressed that Africa’s rapidly expanding youth population could become a major driver of economic transformation if governments invested adequately in their capabilities.
He stated that Africa was projected to account for approximately a quarter of the world’s population by 2050, warning that the demographic expansion could become an economic liability if not matched by investment in education, healthcare, nutrition, and skills.
According to him, the continent’s real demographic advantage would not lie simply in the number of young people but in their ability to innovate, establish businesses, develop technologies, and contribute to productive economic activities.
The former AfDB president urged governments to prioritise technical and digital education, affordable financing, and infrastructure to enable young people to convert their ideas into viable enterprises.
He also called for stronger investment in artificial intelligence and digital capabilities, warning against Africa remaining primarily a consumer of technologies developed elsewhere.
Tijani: Knowledge and Technology As Magic Wand
Tijani said Nigeria’s capacity to apply knowledge and technology to its natural and human resources would be decisive in determining its long-term economic prosperity.
He stated that possessing natural resources was insufficient to guarantee wealth, stressing that countries achieve economic advancement by developing the technological and institutional capabilities to maximise the value of their resources.
The minister cited Nigeria’s telecommunications liberalisation and the introduction of GSM services in 2001 as evidence of how deliberate government policy, private sector participation, and competition could transform an industry and generate wider economic opportunities.
He said artificial intelligence represented another major productivity frontier, but warned that Nigeria must first develop the capacity to absorb and deploy emerging technologies effectively.
Tijani identified connectivity, computing and data infrastructure, research, skills development, innovation, and effective institutions as critical foundations for building that capacity.
He disclosed that the federal government was pursuing approximately 90,000-kilometre open-access fibre-optic network backed by an estimated $2 billion investment to expand broadband connectivity across the country.
He also highlighted plans to strengthen shared computing infrastructure and develop a Nigerian large language model capable of supporting local languages, including Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo, alongside Nigerian-accented English.
The minister said the government’s 3 Million Technical Talent programme was designed to equip Nigerians with the skills required to participate in the global digital economy, while the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy would guide the country’s adoption and development of the technology.
He also cited differences in agricultural productivity between Nigeria and countries, such as Brazil and Argentina, to demonstrate the economic costs of inadequate technology adoption.
According to him, Nigerian maize yields generally range between 1.5 and 2.5 tonnes per hectare, compared with approximately 10 tonnes per hectare in the South American countries, reflecting differences in the application of precision agriculture and improved farming practices.
He urged businesses to take advantage of the digital infrastructure being developed by the government and convert such investments into commercially viable products, services, and employment opportunities.
Emmanuel Addeh, Michael Olugbode and James Emejo in Abuja
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