The First Deputy President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Professor Adesoji Adesugba, says Nigeria must accelerate investment in manufacturing, improve electricity supply and strengthen productivity to achieve its ambition of building a one-trillion-dollar economy.
Speaking at the 20th anniversary lecture of the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) in Abuja, Adesugba said recent macroeconomic improvements must translate into increased industrial output, job creation and poverty reduction.
He warned that economic stabilisation alone would not deliver the desired transformation.
Adesugba described the one-trillion-dollar economy target as “a mobilisation goal that would depend more on effective policy implementation than government announcements.”
“The $1 trillion economy is best understood not as a forecast but as a mobilisation target, and it will be won or lost on the quality of implementation rather than the quality of announcements,” he said.
Adesugba acknowledged improvements in Nigeria’s economic indicators, citing real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, a decline in headline inflation to 14.63 per cent in September and foreign reserves of $55.25 billion.
However, he warned that the gains had yet to translate into sufficient long-term investment in productive sectors. He cited foreign direct investment of $135.08 million, representing just 1.3 per cent of the $10.37 billion in capital importation recorded in the first quarter of 2026.
According to him, “the concentration of capital inflows in the banking sector, alongside limited investment in manufacturing and agriculture, highlights the need to convert investor confidence into productive capacity.”
“Portfolio capital stabilises the currency; direct investment builds factories and jobs. We are attracting the former in abundance and the latter in trickles,” he said.
The Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr Charles Odii, disclosed that the agency was exploring collaboration with CICAN on a fundraising initiative aimed at improving access to affordable financing for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Odii, who was represented by SMEDAN’s Head of Corporate Communications, Moshood Lawal, highlighted opportunities for stronger engagement between the agency and business journalists to promote entrepreneurship, job creation and productivity.
He said the proposed initiative would explore the possibility of providing single-digit interest-rate financing to MSMEs, subject to the applicable programme framework and communication arrangements.
Odii stressed that Nigeria’s economic success would ultimately depend on its ability to translate stability into productivity, investment into factories, public revenue into infrastructure, and economic growth into jobs and improved living standards.
Also speaking, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr Tunji Bello, represented by the commission’s Assistant Director of Corporate Affairs, Nicholas Utsalo, reaffirmed the importance of media partnerships in promoting public awareness of issues affecting businesses, commerce and consumer protection.
“We value the cordial relationship between the commission and the media, and celebrate CICAN’s contribution to Nigeria’s economic discourse,” he said.
Utsalo added that the media played a vital role in communicating the activities of public institutions and ensuring that issues affecting the economy received adequate public attention.
Earlier, CICAN Chairman, Gabriel Kuma, reflected on the association’s growth since its registration in June 2006, likening its early years to the development of a child.
Kuma stressed that reporting commerce and industry required journalists to go beyond reproducing official statements and examine the relationship between government policies, investment, employment and industrial production.
“It demands understanding the connections between policies and people, between investments and jobs, between industrial production and national prosperity,” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of cooperation among government, industry and the media in advancing economic growth, noting that the participation of public officials and private-sector stakeholders at the anniversary demonstrated the value of sustained engagement.
