Nigeria must overhaul policies to end economic stagnation — Adedeji

Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), has said that Nigeria should be free from decades of stagnation by shifting from short-term oil revenue management and protectionism to a long-term, complex-driven economic strategy.
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‎Delivering the 1st Faculty of Administration Distinguished Personality Lecture with the theme, “From Potential to Prosperity: Export-Led Economy”, at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Adedeji said Nigeria’s three-decade-long stagnation “is not an accident of fate, but a consequence of our strategic choices” and called for a complete overhaul of trade, industrial, and fiscal policies.
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‎According to Adedeji, Nigeria must prioritise complexity, make strategies based on the product space, and adopt export-orientation as the core organising principle.

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‎He said the first five years should focus on stabilisation and clearing self-inflicted hurdles that make trade difficult, including rationalising tariffs, reducing Customs levies from 4% to 1%, implementing a five-year moratorium on major tariff changes, fully operationalizing the Single Window Project by 2026, running ports 24/7, repairing access roads, and overhauling technical and vocational education and training.
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‎”Nigeria needs to move beyond generic industrial plans. The Ministry of Trade and Industry should commission a detailed analysis of our Product Space to identify a priority list of 10 to 15 products that are adjacent to what we already do. These should be products that are more complex than our current exports but are within our reach. Think about moving from raw leather to finished leather goods. or refining raw chemicals into industrial inputs”, he noted.
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‎Adedeji disclosed that N400 billion would be available in 2026 through the Nigeria Tax Act of 2025 for agencies including NASENI, the National Information Technology Development Fund, and the National Board for Technological Incubation, with the majority earmarked for R&D and technical capacity building.
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‎He also talked about the long-term vision aimed at deepening industrial base and integrate Nigeria into global economy.
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‎”President Bola Tinubu has already begun the difficult work of rebuilding our economy. The goal now must be to transform Nigeria into a nation that possesses the collective knowledge to produce, to innovate and to compete,” Adedeji added.