The NEPAD Business Group Nigeria (NBGN) has called for a sweeping overhaul of the country’s economic planning model, urging a shift away from a centralised government control toward state-led regional industrialisation.
The resolutions emerged from the group’s recent Quarterly Webinar, themed “Global Challenges Survival Strategies, Building Resilience and Driving Sustainable Prosperity.”
Economists, private sector leaders, and development experts gathered to chart a path toward long-term economic resilience amid mounting fiscal pressures.
Central to the group’s resolutions is the demand that federal and state governments clear regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles to attract private investment, which the forum says must account for 81% of the $1.74 trillion required by 2030 to close the country’s infrastructure and financing gap.
The webinar also called for a phased ban on exporting unprocessed agricultural and mineral commodities. Instead, participants urged the rapid establishment of Special Agro-Processing zones and mineral processing hubs for commodities including gold, iron ore, lithium, and zinc, aiming to keep value addition onshore.
Other resolutions pushed Nigeria toward a circular bioeconomy, converting agricultural and municipal waste into renewable energy, fertilizers and biofuels.
The group also endorsed a “Triple Helix” model linking universities, industry, and government to commercialise local research, alongside calls for deeper financial inclusion through unified banking and fintech credit systems informal traders.
The forum further stressed upgrading Free Trade Zones into high-value hubs backed by reliable power and logistics infrastructure and called for data-driven policies to help nurture homegrown technology unicorns among Nigeria’s youth.
NBGN outlined a phased rollout of its plan. The communique will be distributed within 14 days to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
A joint public-private advisory group with the Bank of Industry (BOI) is slated for the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by an Academic-Industry Commercialisation Desk in the first quarter of 2027. A rolling series of state-level SME capacity-building workshops is also planned.
