By Sam Otuonye 

Nigeria’s experience with economic reforms offers valuable lessons for African countries seeking sustainable growth, stronger regional trade and improved living standards, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has said.

Oyedele spoke at the Africa’s Golden Future Forum on Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand, where he highlighted the importance of carefully sequencing reforms, communicating policy decisions consistently and building public trust.

He identified fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange liberalisation and tax reform as major components of Nigeria’s economic reform programme, noting that the order in which policies are implemented can influence their impact on citizens and businesses.

According to him, removing the fuel subsidy before liberalising the foreign exchange market helped manage the effects of rising costs. He stressed that effective communication, strong institutions and consistent policies were essential to sustaining reforms and building public confidence.

Oyedele said Nigeria’s reforms were laying the groundwork for inclusive growth, job creation and economic expansion, adding that African countries must also address structural barriers that limit trade and investment across the continent.

He called for the removal of trade barriers, improved infrastructure and stronger regional integration to unlock the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Minister said Nigeria was developing an economic policy framework to align trade, fiscal and monetary policies and improve coordination. He also identified energy, logistics, storage and processing infrastructure as critical to strengthening African trade and competitiveness.

He highlighted Nigeria’s National Single Window initiative, designed to simplify border procedures and improve trade efficiency.

Oyedele also stressed the need to protect vulnerable citizens from the effects of economic reforms through effective social protection measures.

He said Nigeria’s cash transfer programme had reached more than 10 million households, while over 1.5 million students had benefited from education support.

Also speaking, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Sidi Ould Tah, called for the practical implementation of reforms across Africa, stressing that policy commitments must translate into tangible results.

Ould Tah said the bank had supported reforms in Nigeria and Egypt through budget support and was working with development partners to expand electricity access across the continent.

He cited Mission 300, an initiative launched with the World Bank and other partners to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030, as an example of the scale of cooperation required to address Africa’s infrastructure gaps.

According to him, more than 30 African countries had signed energy compacts requiring coordinated reforms, infrastructure investment and private sector participation to expand electricity access.

The AfDB President noted that intra-African trade accounted for about 15 per cent of the continent’s total trade, compared with 40 per cent and 60 per cent in other regions.

He said the bank devoted more than 60 per cent of its financing to infrastructure, including regional projects aimed at improving connectivity and promoting continental integration.

Ould Tah added that the African Development Fund’s regional financing mechanism could cover up to 90 per cent of eligible regional projects involving more than two African countries, helping to address financing gaps that often hinder cross-border infrastructure development.

By Sam Otuonye 

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, and the Governor of the Central Bank, Olayemi Cardoso, have said that Nigeria was entering into a new phase of turning macroeconomic stability into faster growth, more private investment and stronger domestic revenues, after reviewing the progress of Nigeria’s reforms with the President of the World Bank Group, Mr Ajay Banga.

The meeting which took place on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday, also discussed how Nigeria could make greater use of World Bank guarantee instruments to unlock financing for infrastructure and draw more private capital into the domestic market. 

Banga commended the progress of Nigeria’s reforms, noting the rise in private capital inflows from about $300 million in 2023 to nearly $6 billion in 2026, a twentyfold increase.

Oyedele highlighted the rising economic growth and Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio rise from about 7 per cent to 12.5 per cent over the same period, noting that this gives the government more room to fund public investment without resorting to deficit monetisation.

Power infrastructure and human capital were also identified as priorities for continued public investment, given their importance to business competitiveness, productivity and job creation, as well as the quality of public spending, so that each naira delivers measurable economic and social returns.

The meeting was part of the Federal Government’s wider engagement with development partners to lock in reform gains and attract new investments, create more jobs and better living standards for Nigerians. 

Presidential Candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Dr Esther Okereke, says adoption of community policing and state police are critical solutions to Nigeria’s security challenges.

Okereke said this when she appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) personality interview series on Sunday in Abuja.

She ​‌‍​‌‍‌‍⁠⁠‍​‌⁠‍​⁠‍​‌​advised the Federal Government to rethink the country security framework, and invest in localised defence mechanisms to ensure the safety of lives and property across the country.

Okereke said that local security personnel were best positioned to defend their communities due to their deep understating of the local terrains.

She added that effective intelligence gathering and swift response mechanisms could only be achieved by empowering those at the grassroots level.

“I have said it before: Community policing is key. Equip the community vigilance groups, the forest guards, the hunters, fund and train them.

“Nobody can defend the community better from those that know the terrains,’’ Okereke said.

The NRM presidential flagbearer likened local crime to insider sabotage, describing community policing as one of the best mechanisms not only to weed out local collaborators, but effectively tackle the menace.

“My mother used to say that it is the rat inside the house that tells the one outside that there is fish in the basket,” she said.

Okereke expressing her support for the establishment of state police, dismissed the fears that state governors would abuse such initiative.

She said that the use of structural checks and balances, a strict chain of command, and clear jurisdictional boundaries would help to prevent political overreach in a decentralised policing system.

“There are clauses, they have their jurisdictions. They have who they report to. They have the chain of command. You can’t just come and say, Oh, I give all the veto power to the state to do everything or take your decision. No.

“When we say fund it, empower them does not mean you should give them the whole power to make decisions, to carry out judgment and sentences, no. It’s not done like that.

“Even in the federal, you can’t do it like that. I mean, that’s why you still have chain of command starting from the president down to the grassroot “It should still be like that. Still curb and curtail what they can do and what they cannot do. It’s as simple as that,’’ Okereke said.(NAN).