Economists Recommend 2025 Budget Focus Areas

In the budget for 2025, several economists have advised the Nigerian government to give priority to infrastructure renovation, agricultural growth, and support for local production.

The recommendations, according to the experts, were meant to improve the current situation by accelerating the country’s economic growth.

Increasing funding for the agricultural sector could help ease the current economic difficulties, according to Mr. Okechukwu Unegbu, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

He clarified that doing so would encourage food production to become self-sufficient and lessen the need for imports.

“The agricultural sector is an area where our people have a comparative advantage and serves as a key driver of Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” Unegbu stated.

To empower young people, he asked the federal government to devote a sizeable amount of its budget to the information and communication technology (ICT) industry.

“The ICT sector has the potential to empower our teeming youth population and address developmental challenges, particularly in this era of artificial intelligence,” Unegbu added.

To speed industrialisation, he emphasized the necessity of allocating sufficient funds to the energy sector, particularly to electricity.

Additionally, the former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CITAN), Mr McAntony Dike, requested that the government set aside sufficient cash for infrastructure renovation.

“In particular, there should be more investment for road and railway infrastructure because of its pivotal role in the national economy,” He said.

He also advised the government to improve its approach to issues associated with oil theft in the Niger Delta region.

“This will enable the regulators to achieve the over two million barrels in the proposed budget and attain the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Country (OPEC) benchmark.

“Even the country will begin to earn more in foreign exchange to shore up its external reserves and enhance fiscal revenue,” Dike said.

The Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) National Coordinator, Mr Moses Igbrude, also urged the government to advance the budget in 2025 to benefit domestic production.

“Supporting mechanised agriculture and establishing agro-allied industry will boost our economy, particularly in areas where most of the people are into agriculture,” Igbrude said.

He further reminded the government on the need to invest more in the education sector to shape national workforce.

“The education sector should receive increased funding to meet the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) benchmark for developing nations, to which Nigeria is a signatory,” he emphasised.

He said that in addition to 3.46 percent GDP growth in the third quarter of 2024, there had been discernible signs of better security, healthcare, and education.

President Tinubu credited his administration’s economic reforms for the achievements thus far as he presented the N49.8 trillion 2025 appropriations bill to the joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The N49.8 trillion expenditure bill that the president predicted is 35% above the N28 trillion budget for 2024.

Manomsi Mallum/ NAN