• Bugudu says Tinubu’s reforms working
Nigeria’s capital importation surged to approximately $21 billion in the first 10 months of 2025, up from about $12 billion in 2024 and less than $4 billion in 2023, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has declared.

Oduwole’s declaration comes as the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, defends President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, insisting that the administration’s policies are already strengthening public finances and improving funding for states and local governments nationwide.

Speaking during the 2026 budget defence before the Joint House of Representatives Committee on Commerce in Abuja yesterday, Oduwole attributed the growth to renewed investor confidence and targeted reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

She attributed the recovery to deliberate ministry interventions, including the curation of over $5 billion in bankable projects, the establishment of sector-specific deal rooms, and the hosting of Nigeria’s inaugural Domestic Investors’ Summit.

According to her, these initiatives re-engaged domestic capital, unlocked financing pipelines, and resolved about 50 long-standing investor bottlenecks, thereby accelerating the transition of projects from proposal stage to implementation.

The minister disclosed that the ministry also undertook more than 100 bilateral investment engagements across key global markets, including the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

She added that sustained engagement under the Nigeria-UK Economic and Trade Partnership, which commenced in the second quarter of 2024, yielded tangible results, with UK investors accounting for approximately 65 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign capital inflows in 2025.

On trade performance, Oduwole said Nigeria recorded a trade surplus in 2025, with total trade valued at about N113 trillion in the first three quarters of the year.

She said exports increased by roughly 11 per cent year-on-year to $6.1 billion, the highest ever recorded in both value and volume.

Speaking on Arise News yesterday, Bagudu dismissed claims that the reforms had failed, arguing that the measures were unavoidable if Nigeria was to halt years of economic decline and weak fiscal management.

According to the minister, the government inherited deep structural problems, which made tough decisions inevitable.

He maintained that the reforms are already being felt, particularly in subnational finances.

“All the local governments in the north today are better funded. All the state governments in the north are better funded, like the rest of the country. It would not have been so without the reforms,” he said, stressing that improved allocations would help state and local authorities raise social and economic indicators.