By: Tijani Salako.
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has commended the Federal Government’s economic reforms, saying they have delivered notable macroeconomic gains, but stressed that the next phase must prioritise productivity, job creation and improved living standards for Nigerians.
This was made known by the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, explaining the organisation’s stance on the Federal Government’s economic reform scorecard while assessing the impact of the reforms on the economy.
CPPE said the scorecard presented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy provided greater clarity on the fiscal and macroeconomic outcomes of the reforms, adding that such transparency was critical to strengthening public confidence in the reform agenda.
The organisation noted that the reforms had strengthened government revenues, stabilised the foreign exchange market, improved external reserves, expanded Nigeria’s trade surplus and restored investor confidence. It also highlighted that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth increased to 3.89 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, compared to 3.13 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025.
While acknowledging these achievements, CPPE maintained that macroeconomic stability should not be seen as the final objective of the reforms.
According to the organisation, the real measure of success lies in whether the reforms translate into higher productivity, stronger investments, more employment opportunities, reduced poverty and improved welfare for citizens.
It observed that many households still face declining purchasing power, while businesses continue to grapple with high energy costs, expensive financing, logistics bottlenecks and multiple regulatory burdens.
CPPE also called for greater accountability from state governments, noting that the reforms had significantly increased statutory allocations and internally generated revenues across states.
It said citizens should begin to demand visible improvements in roads, healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture, power supply, security and enterprise support, insisting that higher revenues must translate into tangible development outcomes rather than increased recurrent expenditure.
On the productive sector, the organisation identified electricity, infrastructure, insecurity, agricultural productivity, logistics and the cost of capital as the country’s major structural challenges.
It pointed out that the electricity sector contracted by 15.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, while manufacturing and agriculture recorded modest growth of 3.29 per cent and 3.15 per cent respectively.
CPPE urged the government to adopt trade policies that protect industries and agricultural producers with credible local capacity from unfair import competition, while ensuring manufacturers retain access to critical production inputs unavailable locally.
The organisation further appealed for stronger coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities to gradually ease interest rates as inflation moderates, thereby reducing financing costs for businesses without undermining macroeconomic stability.
CPPE warned against reversing the reforms, describing such a move as potentially damaging to investor confidence, fiscal stability and the foreign exchange market.
It added that the reform agenda should be sustained while implementation is continuously refined to respond to emerging realities, concluding that the next phase of reforms must move from stabilisation to productivity, from higher government revenues to better development outcomes, and from improved macroeconomic indicators to meaningful gains in jobs, incomes and living standards.
