President Bola Tinubu has explained why his administration established the N200 billion intervention fund to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and manufacturers. He said it became necessary to assist them in boosting competitiveness and addressing structural challenges.
He said beyond the GDP growth of 4.23 per cent recorded in September 2025, the economic reforms spearheaded by his administration had started yielding tangible results across sectors, citing projections from multilateral agencies and indigenous economic experts.
This is as the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) launched its landmark report, “From Hustle to Decent Work: Unlocking Jobs and Productivity for Economic Transformation in Nigeria, at the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit. The report calls for a bold, coordinated national agenda to tackle unemployment, raise productivity, and unlock sustainable economic transformation.
The report reveals that Nigeria’s working-age population will rise to 168 million by 2030, requiring the creation of 27 million new formal jobs, an average of 4.5 million jobs per year to keep unemployment at current levels.
President Tinubu stated this in Abuja on Monday when he officially opened the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit. He noted that the belief in the nation’s economic experts had been the magic wand behind his administration’s ongoing reforms.
Represented at the summit by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President maintained that all decisions his administration took had been “guided by the pursuit of balance between economic logic and public expectation.”
He restated his administration’s resolve to rekindle hope for poor, vulnerable, and jobless Nigerians by creating corridors for them, especially the youth, to access loans, grants, and equity investments.
His words: “As a people-oriented government, our priority remains restoring hope to the unemployed, the poor, the excluded, and the vulnerable. We have created pathways for young Nigerians to access grants, loans, and equity investments of up to 100,000 dollars to scale their enterprises, innovate, and build sustainable livelihoods.
“We established a N200 billion intervention fund to support micro, small, and medium enterprises and manufacturers, helping them overcome structural challenges and enhance competitiveness.
“Our expansion of digital micro-loan access has improved financial inclusion, empowering small businesses and stimulating community-level productivity. These efforts underline our commitment to an economy that works for all Nigerians.”
The NESG warns that without urgent action, unemployment and underemployment could double by the end of the decade, leaving millions trapped in low-skilled, low-income work.
“The challenge before us is to move decisively into the consolidation phase, embedding reforms that drive jobs, growth, and inclusion, while laying the foundations for long-term transformation that secures prosperity for every Nigerian,” Niyi Yusuf, chairman, NESG said.
Presenting the report at the summit, senior economist at the NESG, Dr Wilson Erumebor, stated: “This is not just a labour market issue; it is a huge development challenge. Without decisive reforms to create decent and productive jobs, an entire generation risks being trapped in vulnerable work that neither lifts families out of poverty nor moves the nation forward”.
The Jobs and Productivity Report identifies five key challenges: limited depth of Nigeria’s private sector; skills mismatch and weak human capital development; poor learning outcomes in education; growth concentrated in low-employment sectors; and structural bottlenecks such as inadequate infrastructure and high energy costs.
To address these, the report introduces the Nigeria Works Framework, which is a blueprint for a Jobs and Productivity Agenda that emphasises: skills for productivity, sectoral engines of growth, enterprise-led growth, especially small business support, upgrading the informal economy, data and institutional reforms and productivity for prosperity.
The NESG concluded that productivity must become the central metric of national competitiveness. It must be tracked, measured and elevated as the foundation of shared prosperity.
The report showed that over 90% of Nigeria’s workers are in informal employment, while over 80% are engaged in low-productivity sectors/activities. It called for the country to prioritise four sectors—manufacturing, construction, ICT, and professional services—that hold the greatest potential for large-scale job creation and productivity growth.
In the report, the NESG said six strategic pillars would make up the Nigeria works framework. The sectors are skills for productivity, sectoral engines of growth, enterprise development, upgrading the informal economy, institutions and data, and productivity for prosperity.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu, attributed the significant progress his administration has made so far in stabilising Nigeria’s economy and rescuing public finance to the patience and sacrifices made by Nigerians.
“As economic experts, you know more than the average citizen that the stability in our foreign exchange market is not accidental. It reflects deliberate choices guided by the same economic wisdom that gatherings such as this embody.
“Along with subsidy removal, these decisions have rescued our public finances, stabilised the economy, and reassured investors at home and abroad. We owe this progress to the sacrifices of Nigerians, whose patience and understanding have been the bedrock of our endurance. To them, I say: the better days we promised are already within sight,” he stated.
The President acknowledged what he described as a “resounding consensus” that his administration’s ongoing reforms have stabilised the nation’s macroeconomic environment, with the economy “expanding to N372.8 trillion in 2024, up from N309.5 trillion in 2023.”
Outlining some of the progress made so far in reviving the economy, President Tinubu said, “Our total revenue collection also rose from N19.9 trillion in 2023 to N25.2 trillion in 2024, and as of August 2025, it had reached N27.8 trillion, surpassing the revenue target of N18.32 trillion.
“These triumphs and projections are guided by the promise we have made to the nation—to grow Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio from 97 per cent, where we met it, to a sustainable level.
“Aside from the good news that this ratio has now reduced to less than 50 per cent, I am proud to share that this performance, in our early days in office, inspired Fitch to upgrade Nigeria’s sovereign rating to B with a stable outlook, and Moody’s to lift our issuer rating to B3 with a stable outlook. Both praised our improved economic foresight and clearer policy direction as their barometers.”
For non-oil revenues, the President said it grew by 411 per cent year on year in August this year, with the tax-to-GDP ratio now nudging 13.5 per cent, “up from barely 7 per cent a few years ago.
“Our debt-to-GDP ratio now stands at 38.8 per cent, far below the limits set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act at 60 per cent, and those of ECOWAS and the World Bank at 70 per cent,” he added, noting the numbers speak volumes of a nation prepared for the present, just as they represent the promise his administration made to Nigerians.
On why his administration increased monthly federal allocations to states, enabling them to fund critical projects and social interventions, President Tinubu said he came to office “fully aware that the secret to a successful federation lies in empowering each federating unit with the resources and autonomy to pursue development peculiar to its needs.”
The President noted that every reform introduced by his administration had been inspired by a “deep reflection and the courage to act in the interest of the nation.”
He thanked the nation’s economic experts and stakeholders in public policy for staying with his administration through turbulent tides, providing insights, offering criticism, and reminding the government that “our collective goal is not comfort in divergence, but progress in convergence.”
The President further assured that the four Tax Reform Acts he recently signed into law “will boost domestic revenue mobilisation, reduce dependence on oil, and simplify compliance.
“These reforms protect low-income earners, ensure fairness in corporate taxation, and strengthen digital innovation in tax administration. By promoting transparency and coordination among all tiers of government, we are laying the foundation for a fairer and more prosperous Nigeria,” the President added.
