The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has backed the Federal Government’s economic reform programme, saying the measures have produced measurable improvements in Nigeria’s fiscal and macroeconomic position.

The group, however, said the gains would have limited meaning unless they translate into higher productivity, increased investment, more jobs and improved living standards for Nigerians.

The CPPE made the position known in a statement issued by its Chief Executive Officer, Muda Yusuf, on Sunday, five days after the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, presented the Federal Government’s economic reform scorecard.

The scorecard, presented on 19 August in Abuja, assessed the benefits, costs and potential harms prevented by the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The reforms, which include the removal of the petrol subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange market, have significantly altered Nigeria’s fiscal and economic landscape since June 2023.

While the government said the measures have strengthened public finances, improved foreign exchange stability, and restored investor confidence, they have also increased the cost of living and of doing business, with Nigerians continuing to contend with high food, energy, and financing costs.

Mr Yusuf said the government’s disclosure of the reform outcomes was important because transparency was necessary to build public confidence in the measures.

“Such transparency is critical to reform credibility,” he said, while welcoming what he described as the minister’s balanced acknowledgement of both the gains and adjustment costs of the reforms.

‘Stability must translate to better lives’

According to the CPPE, the reforms have delivered improvements in government revenue, foreign exchange market stability, external reserves, trade balance and investor confidence.

It noted that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product growth strengthened to 3.89 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, from 3.13 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2025.

However, Mr Yusuf said improved economic indicators should not become the ultimate measure of the reforms.

“Macroeconomic stability is a means, not an end.”

“The real test is whether stability translates into higher productivity, stronger investment, more jobs, lower poverty and improved living standards.”

He added that the transition remained incomplete, noting that households continued to face pressure on their purchasing power while businesses were dealing with high energy, financing, logistics and regulatory costs.

The CPPE therefore urged the government to make productivity and competitiveness the focus of the next phase of its reform programme.

The call comes against the background of the government’s own admission that household welfare remains an unfinished aspect of the reforms.

At the presentation of the scorecard, the minister acknowledged that the reforms had imposed high costs on Nigerians, including higher petrol prices and interest rates.

He said the Monetary Policy Rate had risen from 18.5 per cent in May 2023 to 26.5 per cent, while petrol prices increased from about N185 per litre before subsidy removal to between N1,100 and N1,400.

He also noted that poverty and household welfare recovery remained areas where the government could not yet claim victory.

States must show what higher revenues are achieving

The CPPE also raised concerns about how the increased fiscal resources available to state governments are being utilised.

It said the reforms had substantially expanded the fiscal space of state governments through increased statutory allocations and, in some cases, stronger internally generated revenue.

Mr Yusuf noted that the additional resources should result in visible improvements in public services.

“Citizens should demand measurable outcomes in roads, healthcare, public transportation, education, agricultural infrastructure, security, power and enterprise support,” he said.

He warned that higher revenues should not simply finance increased recurrent expenditure and prestige projects.

“Higher revenues must produce a visible development and welfare dividend.”

In its reform scorecard, the Federal Government said N15.8 trillion in subsidy savings accrued to the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.

Of that amount, N5.4 trillion went to the Federal Government, while state and local governments shared N10.4 trillion.

The CPPE said the increased fiscal space should therefore be reflected in better development outcomes at the subnational level.

Electricity, logistics, and financing remain major obstacles

Mr Yusuf said the government’s next reform priority should be the supply side of the economy, particularly the structural constraints that continue to make production expensive in Nigeria.

He identified electricity, logistics, insecurity, agricultural productivity, infrastructure, regulatory costs and access to affordable capital as major constraints to businesses.

The CPPE pointed to the contraction of the electricity sector by 15.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, compared with growth of 3.29 per cent in manufacturing and 3.15 per cent in agriculture.

It said stronger growth in the productive sectors would require a deliberate reduction in the cost of these critical inputs.

The group also called for a trade policy that protects industries and agricultural producers with genuine local capacity from unfair import competition, while ensuring that producers can access critical inputs that are not sufficiently available locally.

Mr Yusuf also raised concerns about the prevailing high-interest-rate environment.

He said that as inflation moderates, stronger coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities should create room for a gradual reduction in financing costs without undermining macroeconomic stability.

CPPE warns against reversing reforms

Despite its concerns about the costs and implementation of the reforms, the CPPE said reversing them would be damaging to the economy.

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Mr Yusuf said abandoning the reform trajectory could undermine investor confidence, weaken fiscal stability and destabilise the foreign exchange market.

“Reversing the reforms would be profoundly damaging to the economy.”

He, however, called for the government to continuously adjust the reform instruments based on evidence, implementation experience and their impact on businesses and households.

“The reform trajectory should therefore be sustained, while implementation is continuously refined in response to emerging realities,” he said.

According to the CPPE, the next phase of the reforms should move decisively from economic stabilisation to productivity, while ensuring that higher government revenues translate into better development outcomes and that improving macroeconomic indicators eventually result in higher incomes, more jobs and better living standards.

Deborah Moses, a graduate trainee at United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), has described her interaction with the UBA chairman Tony Elumelu as a long-cherished dream.

Ms Moses attracted the attention of the bank’s Chairman, Tony Elumelu, after she shared observations and ideas on how the lender could address recurring problems faced by its customers.

Ms Moses made the observations on Thursday during a question-and-answer session at UBA’s Graduate Management Accelerated Programme (GMAP), where she spoke about her experience during her on-the-job training (OJT).

She told Mr Elumelu, who is finishing his tenure as the bank’s chairman in August, that many UBA customers repeatedly encounter similar problems but often do not know the documentation required to resolve them before visiting a branch.

According to her, this often leaves customers having to return home to obtain the required documents before their complaints can be addressed, creating frustration and discouraging some from returning to the bank.

“During my OJT, I observed that our customers all have repetitive problems. They will come back for the same complaints, and then most of them do not know the required documentation that they need to bring so that their problems would be attended to smoothly.

“Mostly, they will realize that the customer service will now tell them, so you need this and you need that. Please, can you go back and bring it? And they’ll be like, I don’t have time. I cannot come back to this bank again. That’s a very big problem,” she said.

Ms Moses therefore suggested that the financial institution introduce a “UBA journey guide” for customers during onboarding, containing information on the documents and steps required for different banking-related complaints and requests.

“So I want to suggest, how about we have a UBA journey guide for our customers during onboarding, when they are registering with us. We give them maybe a PDF that contains what you need to do at a particular time,” the graduate trainee said.

She explained that the guide could be available in both digital and hard-copy formats, particularly to accommodate customers who are less comfortable with digital products.

The guide, she said, could cover issues such as changing a phone number and the documents customers need to bring to the bank to ensure prompt and smooth responses to their requests.

“And we can also have it in hard copy for some of our customers who do not really like the digital product.

“This way, they are informed of what they need to bring to the bank. They don’t always have to come and go back or have to come,” she said.

Ms Moses, an agricultural economics and extension graduate, also proposed that the lender create a department responsible for capturing customers’ experiences in real time across its branches.

She said such a system would enable the bank to track the number of customers visiting its branches, those attended to and those who were not, while identifying recurring complaints.

“At the end of the day, we know this number of people came to the bank; these people were attended to, and these were not, at the branch level. Daily reports, in a way, will help us know the recurring problems, the ones that are the highest, and then we will know how to solve them and reduce inflow,” she said.

Reacting to Ms Moses’ suggestions, the UBA chairman, Mr Elumelu, invited the graduate trainee to the podium, extolled her ideas and exchanged a handshake with her.

“If we hand over to people like you in UBA, we will be safe,” Mr Elumelu said, expressing his enthusiasm to continue monitoring her career at the bank.

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post on Friday, Ms Moses said the moment reinforced her belief that ideas, initiative and the courage to speak up can create an impact, regardless of where one is in their career journey.

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“I always imagined the day I’d shake hands with the outgoing Chairman. Yesterday, I got more than a handshake; I got a hug, encouragement, and his recommendation.

“During my GMAP OJT, by the Grace of God, I identified a problem, suggested a solution, and dared to speak up. He loved the idea.

“That moment reminded me that ideas matter, initiative matters, and your voice can create impact; regardless of where you are in your journey,” Ms Moses added.

The UBA graduate trainee previously worked as a Human Resources Assistant at Bank of Agriculture (BOA) after graduating in 2023. She also worked with NEAT Microcredit before joining the UBA internship programme.