The 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja ended with a clear message: Nigeria must now move beyond macroeconomic stabilisation to growth that actually creates jobs, raises productivity, and improves living standards.
Held under the theme “Growth that Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and Shared Prosperity,” the summit brought together government, business leaders and development partners who agreed that while reforms have improved GDP growth, inflation and reserves, the gains are yet to reach households and businesses.
Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Chairman Niyi Yusuf described the nation’s economic performance as “a mixed picture,” saying that while key macroeconomic indicators are improving, significant constraints still prevent those gains from reaching businesses and households.
Nigeria has received about $23.2 billion from foreign investors so far in 2026, but most of it is short-term money put into stocks and bonds, not long-term investment in businesses and factories.
This shows a major worry for investors and government officials: money is coming back into Nigeria, but most of it is short-term and not being used to build factories, roads and other things that create real jobs.
“Nigeria’s economic performance presents a mixed picture,” Yusuf said. “Key macro indicators are improving, but significant constraints limit the transmission of these gains to businesses and households,” he added.
He acknowledged that the reforms have imposed considerable pressure on households and firms, but argued that they have also created an opportunity to rebuild the foundations of the economy.
The task now, he said, is to ensure that reform produces stronger enterprises, better jobs, more productive workers and rising living standards.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, defended the administration’s economic program as a necessary break from decades of underperformance.
The administration, he said, is attempting to “rewrite the story of a nation that has performed below its potential for far too long.”
“There is no shortcut to economic growth,” Shettima told the gathering, adding that the reforms are restoring confidence, strengthening economic foundations and laying the groundwork for sustainable growth.
The government said the economy is becoming less dependent on oil. Non-oil activities now make up 96.08% of the economy, manufacturing grew by 3.29% and the oil sector grew by 2.57%.
Money coming into the country from abroad also rose sharply to $10.37 billion in the first three months of 2026 — an 83.83% jump compared to the same period last year.
But the administration’s message also carried a warning about implementation.
“We must judge industrial policy by the competitiveness of our firms and investment incentives by the capital, technology, exports and jobs they attract,” Shettima said.
The summit’s central premise was that Nigeria must move beyond macroeconomic stabilization toward measurable improvements in employment, productivity and household welfare.
Organizers described the event as an effort to shift the national conversation “from reform to results.”
Discussions were organized around five priorities: Work Nigeria, aimed at creating a job-rich economy; Produce Nigeria, focused on productivity and industrialization; Invest Nigeria, centered on capital formation and social protection; Scale Nigeria, designed to spread growth beyond major cities; and Secure Nigeria, which links safety and stability to economic activity.
Participants argued that Nigeria needs to lift growth from roughly 4% toward 7% to 9%, a range considered necessary for faster poverty reduction.
They also called for raising investment from about 17% to 20% of national output to 30% to 40%.
The summit produced ten strategic priorities, ranging from a durable “economic accord” that survives electoral cycles to stronger trade competitiveness, support for small businesses, subnational fiscal reform and improved security.
Security and the Cost of Instability
Security emerged as one of the summit’s most economically consequential themes.
Participants linked insecurity to lower agricultural productivity, disrupted supply chains, weaker investment decisions and food inflation.
The discussions backed intelligence-led, locally responsive security arrangements and closer coordination between public institutions and businesses.
The proposed state policing framework received particular attention, with emphasis on professional standards, independent oversight and safeguards against political interference.
Oxford University economist Stefan Dercon delivered perhaps the summit’s starkest warning: sustained growth will require Nigeria’s political, business, military and civil-service elites to abandon a system that protects a privileged few and commit to a development agenda serving the broader national interest.
“For Nigeria to achieve sustainable economic growth, its political, business, military and civil service elite must forge a common front, abandon the status quo and commit to a development agenda that serves the broader national interest,” he said.
Dercon cautioned that the transition would be difficult because beneficiaries of the existing arrangement are likely to resist changes that threaten their interests.
Nigeria, he argued, needs a coalition committed to economic expansion, peace and stability 5not merely the preservation of entrenched privilege.
The summit’s message was clear: Nigeria has begun to stabilize its economy, but stabilization is not prosperity.
The next phase will be judged not by policy announcements or headline growth figures, but by whether firms become more competitive, workers find productive jobs and households see their living standards rise.
As the incoming NESG Chairman, Omoboyede Olusanya, put it, the real challenge is to turn a stable economy into faster growth, and turn that growth into better lives for ordinary Nigerians.
