GDP: Nigeria Targets 7% Growth To Slash Poverty, Drive Transformation
Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has set an ambitious target of seven per cent annual GDP growth, a bold step aimed at lifting millions out of poverty and accelerating economic transformation.
The government’s projection of 4.6 per cent growth for 2025, he asserted, did not align with its broader vision for national development.
Speaking at the Arise/KPMG Budget Day, which was monitored by our correspondent, Edun emphasised that sustained high growth was essential to tackling poverty and fostering long-term economic stability.
He pointed to a combination of declining inflation, improved macroeconomic conditions, and a more business-friendly environment as key drivers of the administration’s strategy. He said: “We projected growth at 4.6 per cent, but that is not our ambition,” Edun stated.
“Our goal is to reach seven per cent as soon as possible, because it is at that level that real poverty reduction begins.” To achieve this, the government is pursuing structural reforms and fiscal strategies aimed at bolstering revenue, increasing oil production, and capitalising on savings from the removal of fuel subsidies.
Edun underscored that Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit— estimated at $100 billion annually—required significant private sector investment, as government funding alone is insufficient. “It is not the government budget that will fund, for example, the infrastructure deficit.
The President’s commitment is to attract private sector investment,” he explained. Key initiatives include fasttracking infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships (PPPs), with major road networks such as the Benin-Asaba Highway and Lagos-Abeokuta Road expected to enhance connectivity and cut travel time by up to 75 per cent.
On the external front, Edun highlighted positive economic indicators, including a stable exchange rate, a trade surplus equivalent to 13 per cent of GDP, and foreign reserves exceeding $40 billion.
These achievements, he said, reflected coordinated policy efforts between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders to strengthen investor confidence.
