The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), has urged the Federal Government not to reverse some of the economic reforms introduced by the present administration, as the move will result in severe economic consequences and pains for the country.
Head of Research, NESG, Dr. Joseph Ogebe, who gave the warning at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Monday, suggested to the Federal Government to consolidate on the recent macro-economic gains and ensure they translate into tangible improvements and results in the lives of the citizenry.
“What we see is that growth could go to around two to three per cent, if the policies are being reversed.” He said.
Ogebe noted that while reforms implemented over the past 30 months had begun to yield results, reversing them would worsen fiscal pressures, weaken investment, and deepen poverty in the country.
While describing 2026 as a “make-or-break” year for Nigeria’s economy, he underscored the need for Nigeria’s economy to grow beyond three percent.
“We need to move beyond 3.9 percent to at least 6 percent growth. That is the level required to achieve meaningful poverty reduction,” he said.
He warned that growth remains narrow and is driven mainly by a few sectors, such as finance, ICT, and oil and gas, while job-creating sectors like agriculture and manufacturing lag behind.
According to him, critical sectors with high job creation potential, including agriculture and manufacturing, have continued to underperform.
“Manufacturing grew by just 1.5 per cent in 2025, while agriculture recorded about 2.2 per cent growth. These are weak figures, especially when population growth is around 3 per cent.”
He warned that such trends could worsen poverty levels, as economic expansion is not broad-based enough to generate employment and improve livelihoods.
Ogebe acknowledged the growing calls for policy reversal amid global uncertainties, stressing that past subsidy regimes forced the government to borrow to finance consumption rather than development.
He said: “We were actually borrowing to pay for the subsidy. There was no money to spend on capital and development projects. That is not where we should go now.”
Also speaking, the Chief Economist and Director of Research at NESG, Olusegun Omisakin, said Nigeria is currently in a consolidation phase following a near-collapse of the economy in recent years.
According to him, while reforms such as subsidy removal have generated mixed outcomes, reversing them could worsen inefficiencies in the system.
“If today we announce that the subsidy should be reversed, you’re still going to see what we used to see before where the government had no money for capital development. And there was a lot of inefficiency in the system,” Omisakin said.
He maintained that reforms were not automatic in delivering results, stressing that outcomes depended largely on institutional efficiency, transparency, and strategic spending.
According to him, the focus should be on strengthening institutions rather than abandoning reforms under short-term pressure.
“The attention should be towards creating a system that makes reforms work rather than reversing systems that we’re not seeing working for now,” he said, citing examples of countries such as Ghana, where policy reversals worsened economic conditions.
Omisakin noted that improvements in foreign exchange access and capital inflows as early signs of recovery, but cautioned that decisions taken at this stage would determine the country’s long-term trajectory.
NESG, therefore urged the Federal Government to remain committed and consistent to ongoing reforms as well as ensure that the gains of the reforms are felt across all sectors of the economy.
