Nigeria must nearly triple its current economic growth rate to 10 per cent to generate enough jobs and lift millions out of poverty, according to prominent economic leaders who warned that rising gross domestic product alone would not improve living standards.
The speakers, including the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and businessman Atedo Peterside, said the country needed to tackle corruption, boost investment and raise productivity to achieve sustainable economic expansion.
They spoke on Tuesday at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference in Abuja, alongside former African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Akinwumi Adesina; Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani; and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director-General, Arunma Oteh.
Sanusi, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, said Nigeria’s economic recovery should be measured by its impact on households rather than headline growth figures.
He acknowledged that the economy was expanding by about 4.5 per cent and some macroeconomic indicators had improved, but warned that the decline in GDP per capita since 2023 raised concerns about the welfare of citizens.
According to him, meaningful economic progress should reflect improvements in household incomes, employment, healthcare, education, nutrition and poverty reduction.
He also cautioned against excessive reliance on portfolio investments, which he said could reverse when market conditions changed, urging the government to deepen structural reforms, invest in infrastructure and strengthen accountability.
Peterside said growth of about four per cent was insufficient to address Nigeria’s development challenges, arguing that the economy needed to expand by as much as 10 per cent.
He blamed corruption, political patronage and regulatory harassment for discouraging investment and weakening private businesses.
The businessman also criticised alleged abuses in public procurement, describing them as “legalised theft” that diverted funds from infrastructure and essential public services.
He said Nigeria would struggle to attract the capital needed for rapid growth unless it addressed corruption and ensured fair treatment of businesses.
Adesina, meanwhile, urged the government to invest in young people through education, healthcare, nutrition, technical skills and access to finance.
He said Africa’s growing population should be treated as an economic asset, but warned that demographic expansion would not automatically translate into prosperity without deliberate investment in human capital.
Tijani identified technology and artificial intelligence as key drivers of productivity, saying Nigeria needed digital infrastructure, skilled workers and research capabilities to turn innovation into economic value.
He disclosed that the Federal Government was pursuing a 90,000-kilometre open-access fibre-optic network backed by an estimated $2bn investment.
The minister also highlighted the 3 Million Technical Talent programme and plans to develop a Nigerian large language model that would support local languages, including Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.
Oteh called for increased mobilisation of private capital, pension funds and capital markets to finance infrastructure and productive businesses.
She said governments alone could not provide the funding required to expand economic capacity, urging wider participation in capital markets and investment in education, skills and employment.
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