Nigeria’s ‘boldest economic reforms’ in decades yielding results

Vice President Kashim Shettima has described Nigeria’s current economic reform programme as one of the boldest in the country’s history, saying the measures are already delivering early results in stability and growth.

On Wednesday at the opening of the 32nd Annual Meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Abuja, Mr Shettima said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was committed to promoting resilience, transparency, and long-term economic transformation.

“Our administration is pursuing one of the boldest economic reform agendas in Nigeria’s history,” the vice president said in a speech delivered by his Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Tope Fasua.

“Because resilience is not passive — it must be planned, built, and protected.”

Mr Shettima said the government had taken deliberate steps to address structural weaknesses and restore confidence in the economy, including the unification of the foreign exchange market, the removal of fuel subsidies, and the implementation of targeted infrastructure projects.

“We have unified the exchange rate, eliminating multiple FX windows to restore transparency and investor confidence. We have phased out fuel subsidies, saving billions in leakages and reinvesting in social protection and infrastructure,” he said.

He noted that the administration had also launched a compressed natural gas transition programme, and was advancing large-scale capital works such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Eastern rail corridor.

In the oil sector, the VP said the government had introduced real-time export tracking and improved revenue assurance through the Petroleum Cargo Declaration Scheme.

Support for SMEs, growth outlook

Mr Shettima said support for small and medium enterprises had been restructured using digital platforms aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area, positioning Nigeria to benefit more from regional integration.

“These actions, while difficult, are already yielding impact. GDP is projected to grow at 4–4.5 per cent in 2025. Inflation is stabilising. Reserves are strengthening. Our economy is on a firmer, more diversified footing,” he said.

The vice president praised Afreximbank’s continued support to Nigeria, noting that the country had received over $52 billion in disbursements from the bank, the highest of any nation on the continent.

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He listed several Afreximbank-backed initiatives in Nigeria, including the African Trade Centre in Abuja, the newly opened African Medical Centre of Excellence, Quality Assurance Centres in Kaduna and Ogun States, a $300 million export manufacturing initiative across four states, and a $3 billion intra-African petroleum trade facility.

“These are not merely projects — they are strategic investments in resilience, in sovereignty, and in shared prosperity,” Mr Shettima said.

Call for collaboration

Mr Shettima used the occasion to urge African nations to move beyond basic resilience and focus on renewal by investing in digital trade, regional value chains, and strong financial institutions.

“The past three decades have taught us that resilience is not just survival, it is the capacity to adapt, to lead, and to reinvent… The future is not something we wait for, it is something we must build,” he said.

He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to collaborating with Afreximbank and other African nations to drive development across the continent.

“Nigeria stands ready, ready to lead, ready to collaborate, and ready to deliver,” he said.