‘Policy uncertainty is an invisible tax on enterprise that destroys value and discourages investment,’ Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Finance, said, stressing the need for policy certainty as a critical driver of Nigeria’s economic growth.
Oyedele said predictable government policies are essential to boosting investor confidence and creating an environment for businesses to thrive while presenting the Nigerian Economic Policy Framework on Tuesday at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.
‘If we do not decide and develop a framework to guide how we make policies, regulations, guidelines, rules, co-create them with the people, implement them with humility, and make corrections when they become necessary with full transparency, it will be self-sabotaging,’ he said.
‘Our collective efforts will yield less than the optimal results; this is exactly what we are starting from today. Whether it’s to do with tax and tariff, industrial policies, investment policy, and subsidies,’ he said.
The minister said when there is an economic policy framework as a national consensus, it may no longer be necessary for political parties to issue manifestos.
He said Nigerians can then channel their energies into asking politicians how they want to implement the country’s economic policy as developed by the people.
‘The defining advantage of any great nation is neither the oil under its soil nor the size of its population. It is the capacity to make sound, disciplined decisions and sustain them across generations,’ he said. ‘Nigeria has the talents, the enterprise; what we must now build together is policy certainty.’
Oyedele said over the past four decades, Nigeria has produced numerous economic blueprints, development plans and reform programmes.
‘If development plans alone created prosperity, Nigeria would already be among the wealthiest nations on earth,’ he said.
He said the challenge has never been a shortage of ambition or good ideas, but the absence of an enduring economic philosophy, consistent policy-making and disciplined implementation.
‘Too often, the progress achieved through one reform is undermined by another policy, while our economic direction is reinvented with changing administrations,’ he said.
Oyedele said the consequences of not having a consistent and predictable economic policy framework are that businesses cannot plan with confidence, investors hesitate, and capital becomes more expensive.
‘Opportunities are lost, and jobs that could have been created never materialise,’ he said.
‘Policy uncertainty is an invisible tax on enterprise, and unlike most taxes, it generates no revenue for governments. It only destroys value and discourages investment.’
He said the proposed Nigerian economic policy framework seeks to address that fundamental challenge.
‘Today, on behalf of the federal government, I present for public consultation the Nigerian policy framework,’ he said.
Oyedele said the framework Nigeria needs must be proven on the ground, citing a graduate securing productive employment, a farmer recording higher yields with low post-harvest losses and a small business scaling without being crushed by overlapping taxes, arbitrary regulation and punitive financing costs.
‘The GDP growth matters, but per capita income matters even more. Investment announcements look good on paper, but actual domestic capital formation transforms lives,’ he said.
To guide the transformation, he said the framework organises priorities around seven interconnected systems including stability, productivity, enterprise, capital, people, markets and institutions.
To ensure accountability, he proposed an annual national economic scorecard published every year on or before Independence Day showing whether real wages are rising, whether productive jobs are multiplying and whether poverty is retreating.
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‘What gets publicly measured cannot be quietly ignored,’ he said.
He said the document is a consultation draft, not yet approved government policy, and was first brought to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group because the platform embodies institutional dialogue required to build national consensus.
‘Beginning today, November 27, 2026, this framework is open for public scrutiny across 17 core questions via the Ministry of Finance portal, http://finance.gov.ng,’ he said. ‘Following validation, it will proceed to the Federal Executive Council for approval and to the National Economic Council for endorsement.’