Reversing Nigeria’s economic reforms would undermine investor confidence, weaken fiscal stability, and destabilise the foreign-exchange market, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has warned, urging the Federal Government to sustain the reform trajectory while refining its implementation.
The warning was contained in CPPE’s assessment of the Federal Government’s economic reform scorecard, where the private-sector advocacy group said abandoning the reforms could reintroduce the distortions they were designed to correct and trigger significant economic dislocation.
According to Muda Yusuf, chief executive officer of CPPE, the reforms have delivered measurable macroeconomic gains, including stronger government revenues, greater stability in the foreign-exchange market, improved external reserves, an expanded trade surplus, and a recovery in investor confidence.
Real GDP growth also strengthened to 3.89 percent in the first quarter of 2026, from 3.13 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
However, CPPE said the gains in macroeconomic stability have yet to fully translate into improved welfare for households and lower operating costs for businesses.
‘Macroeconomic stability is a means, not an end,’ the group said, noting that the ultimate test of the reforms would be their ability to deliver higher productivity, stronger investment, more jobs, lower poverty, and improved living standards.
CPPE said purchasing power remains under pressure, while businesses continue to grapple with high energy, financing, logistics, and regulatory costs.
It therefore called for the next phase of reforms to focus more strongly on productivity and competitiveness, arguing that Nigeria’s structural constraints must now take centre stage.
Supply-side constraints threaten growth
The organisation identified electricity, logistics, insecurity, agricultural productivity, infrastructure, regulatory costs and the cost of capital as major structural constraints that need urgent attention.
It pointed to the 15.3 percent contraction in the electricity sector in Q1 2026, even as manufacturing grew by 3.29 percent and agriculture expanded by 3.15 percent.
CPPE said accelerating productive-sector growth would require a decisive reduction in these structural costs.
It also urged the government to pursue trade policies that support domestic productive capacity by providing calibrated protection to industries and agricultural producers with credible local capacity against unfair import competition, while maintaining competitive access to critical inputs that cannot yet be adequately sourced locally.
On financing costs, CPPE said the prevailing high-interest-rate environment remains a major challenge for businesses.
It argued that moderating inflation, alongside stronger fiscal-monetary coordination, should create room for a gradual easing of financing costs without jeopardising macroeconomic stability.
States urged to turn higher revenues into development
CPPE also raised concerns about the use of increased fiscal resources at the subnational level.
It noted that reforms have significantly expanded the fiscal space of state governments through higher statutory allocations and, in many cases, stronger internally generated revenues.
The group said the additional resources should translate into visible improvements in roads, healthcare, public transportation, education, agricultural infrastructure, security, power, and enterprise support.
‘Higher revenues must produce a visible development and welfare dividend,’ CPPE said, warning against allowing increased revenues to simply finance higher recurrent expenditure and prestige projects.
While CPPE rejected any reversal of the reforms, it stressed that the policy framework must remain flexible enough to respond to emerging economic realities.
The organisation said reform instruments should be continuously recalibrated based on evidence, implementation experience, and their impact on businesses and households.
Its position emphasizes Nigeria’s next reform phase on moving beyond headline macroeconomic indicators towards tangible improvements in productivity, incomes and living standards.
‘The next phase must move decisively from stabilisation to productivity; from higher government revenues to better development outcomes; and from improving macroeconomic indicators to tangible gains in jobs, incomes, and living standards,’ CPPE said.