Council identifies agriculture, energy, manufacturing, mining and digital economy as priority sectors for faster economic growth…..
The National Economic Council has directed relevant authorities to develop fiscal and monetary measures to reduce high interest rates and make credit more accessible to businesses.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this after the Council’s meeting, saying members reviewed the state of the economy and agreed on the need to convert recent macroeconomic gains into stronger economic growth and improved living standards.
According to Oyedele, the Council expressed particular concern about the impact of high interest rates on businesses and instructed that measures be considered to moderate borrowing costs.
He said agriculture, energy, manufacturing, mining and the digital economy had been identified as priority sectors requiring greater attention because of their potential to create jobs, accelerate growth and reduce poverty and inequality.
Oyedele noted that 81.4 per cent of Nigerians are employed in agriculture and non-tradable services, stressing the need to focus economic policies on sectors where the majority of the population earns a living.
The minister said the Council believed accelerating growth in these areas would help lift more Nigerians out of poverty while narrowing the inequality gap.
Giving an assessment of the economy, Oyedele said Nigeria had recorded significant improvements in several key macroeconomic indicators, although translating those gains into broad-based prosperity remained a major challenge.
He said real Gross Domestic Product grew by 3.89 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 3.13 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025, while full-year growth is projected to exceed four per cent.
Headline inflation also fell to 15.43 per cent at the end of July, from 24.94 per cent a year earlier.
Food inflation, however, remained elevated at 20.31 per cent, although this was lower than the 26.2 per cent recorded in the same period last year.
Oyedele said the country’s external reserves had risen to 51.96 billion dollars, the highest level since January 2009 and representing a 38 per cent increase year-on-year.
He also reported that the naira had appreciated by 13.5 per cent year-on-year by the end of the first half of 2026, with the exchange rate trading below 1,400 naira to the dollar.
Federation account revenues, he said, increased by 44 per cent from 15.2 trillion naira in 2024 to 21.9 trillion naira in 2025, with revenues projected to rise by at least another 50 per cent in 2026.
Nigeria’s trade surplus also nearly doubled, rising from 17.7 trillion naira in 2025 to 34.7 trillion naira in the first quarter of 2026.
Total public debt stood at 159.28 trillion naira, representing less than 37 per cent of GDP, while the debt-service-to-revenue ratio fell from almost 100 per cent in 2022 to below 60 per cent in 2025.
Oyedele further noted that Nigeria had received sovereign credit rating upgrades from Fitch, Moody’s and S&P between April 2025 and May 2026.
He said the country’s exit from the Financial Action Task Force grey list in October 2025 and the European Union’s anti-money laundering deficiency list in January 2026 had also helped reduce barriers to international capital flows.
Oyedele described FTSE Russell’s decision to reclassify Nigeria from “unclassified” to “frontier market” status as another positive development for the economy.
The reclassification is expected to take effect from September 21, 2026.
The minister said the new classification would make Nigeria eligible for investment by a wider pool of international institutional investors whose mandates restrict them to specified market categories.
He said the Nigerian capital market had already delivered more than 60 per cent returns in dollar terms over the past year, even before the FTSE Russell decision.
Oyedele said the government expected the reclassification to encourage increased foreign portfolio investment while also creating conditions for stronger foreign direct investment.
He acknowledged recent corrections in the equities market but described them as part of normal market activity, insisting that the underlying outlook remained positive.
Despite the positive economic indicators, the Council warned that significant risks remained, including geopolitical tensions, commodity price shocks, persistent food inflation, election-related fiscal pressures and vulnerabilities associated with possible reversals in foreign portfolio flows.
Oyedele stressed the need for the government to maintain policy consistency, warning that the gains recorded under the ongoing reforms could be reversed if reforms were abandoned.
He said Nigeria could not afford “reform fatigue,” populist policy reversals or fiscal slippages as political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections intensify.
The Council also called for stronger complementary reforms at the state level, particularly in agriculture and land administration.
States were urged to improve rural roads, storage facilities and transport links, while strengthening security around farming communities to boost agricultural production and food security.
The Council further backed a Jobs and Productivity Compact aimed at directing private investment towards agriculture, agro-processing, housing, logistics and light manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa said the Council received an update on the rehabilitation of 13 police training institutions across the country.
He said contracts had been awarded for the rehabilitation, with about 80 per cent of contractors already receiving their award letters.
According to him, the work is expected to be completed within three weeks to pave the way for the resumption of police training programmes.
Aiyedatiwa said improved police training was critical to tackling insecurity and that minimum training standards must be maintained across the police system, regardless of ongoing discussions around state policing.
Enugu State Deputy Governor Ifeanyi Ossai said the outstanding funds required to pay the contractors were expected to be released by the following week.
He added that the rehabilitation programme would be followed by sustained training and retraining of police personnel.
The Council also approved a revised National Social Protection Policy aimed at promoting inclusive economic development and strengthening support for vulnerable Nigerians.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said the review became necessary because of changes in the economy since the first policy was adopted in 2017 and the objectives of the 2026–2030 National Development Plan.
The plan targets the development of a one-trillion-dollar economy while ensuring that economic growth is inclusive.
Bagudu said NEC reaffirmed that social protection is a shared responsibility of the federal, state and local governments.
The Council approved an assessment of existing social protection programmes to improve their coordination, targeting and expansion in collaboration with state and local governments.
The revised policy will also complement the Renewed Hope Ward Development Plan, which has mapped Nigeria’s 8,809 wards to identify their economic and social needs and opportunities.
NEC also approved the reconstitution of the National Social Protection Council, to be chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima and comprising six governors and relevant federal ministers.
The Council said the overall objective was to ensure that economic stability at the federal level translates into tangible improvements in livelihoods and living standards at the state and local levels.
