As Nigeria prepares to welcome the New Year, stakeholders across key sectors—including manufacturing, academia, security, local government unions, and the Ijaw National Congress—have urged President Bola Tinubu to prioritize economic recovery in 2025.
While reflecting on the challenges of 2024, they expressed hope that the coming year would bring better prospects for Nigerians.
The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, highlighted the struggles faced by the manufacturing sector in 2024 and underscored the urgent need for transformative policies.
He called for the swift implementation of fiscal and tax reforms, stressing that the National Assembly’s approval is vital to achieving growth.
“The full implementation of fiscal policy and tax reforms is key,” Ajayi-Kadir remarked in an interview with Sunday PUNCH. He also urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilize interest rates and address the N2.4bn forex forwards owed to manufacturers. “We also look forward to the expansion of the government’s credit facility. The N75bn that has been disbursed is a start, but we are looking forward to the N1tn promised in the stabilisation plan, which should help cushion the impact of access to credit.”
Ajayi-Kadir emphasized tackling inflation by reducing logistics costs and fostering synergy between fiscal and monetary policies for sustainable economic development.
Similarly, President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, called for prioritizing education by creating a conducive learning environment in 2025.
He criticized the financial burdens placed on university students and warned against converting TETFUND into a loan scheme.
“Previous generations of leaders enjoyed free education and bursaries. Current students are burdened by financial encumbrances,” he said. “We should not close TETFUND, which supports tertiary education, and turn it into a loan scheme. They should cut down on their so-called high cost of governance and expenditures. Travelling abroad six times a year should be stopped.”
The Secretary-General of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Mohammed Abubakar, urged Tinubu to implement financial autonomy for local governments, emphasizing its potential to alleviate grassroots hardship.
“The implementation has to commence as soon as possible so that people at the grassroots will continue to feel the impact of the government. When there is money at the grassroots level, the hardship that people are talking about will reduce,” he said.
National President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, Akeem Ambali, echoed this sentiment, calling for the actualization of local government autonomy in 2025.
“The long-awaited local government autonomy should be actualised in 2025, and crediting local government accounts should be implemented without further delay,” Ambali asserted.
On the issue of security, the CEO of Beacon Consulting, Dr. Kabir Adamu, urged President Tinubu to uphold constitutional responsibilities by ensuring the safety of lives and property in the country.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s economic struggles, the National Publicity Secretary of the Ijaw National Congress, Ezonebi Oyakemeagbegha, described 2024 as a year marked by hardship.
“2024 was a tough year for Nigerians. Nigerians made a lot of sacrifices. It can be said to be a very bad year in terms of the economy,” he noted.
Oyakemeagbegha advocated for a reduction in petrol prices, proposing a pump price of N416 per litre.
“We have the crude and the raw materials here; we don’t see any reason for petrol to be this costly. We heard that the people doing bunkering get the crude and sell it at low rates,” he said.
He also emphasized the need to stabilize the naira’s exchange rate and improve power supply, which would bolster small businesses. Furthermore, he suggested relocating international oil companies’ headquarters to areas where raw materials are sourced.
As 2025 approaches, these stakeholders have set forth clear expectations for reforms that they believe are crucial for Nigeria’s recovery and growth.
