The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), yesterday, raised fresh concerns over Nigeria’s rising debt profile, warning that the burden has reached “uncomfortable levels” and that the growing cost of servicing it is choking infrastructure funding.

Presenting the Chamber’s quarterly review of the economy in Lagos, LCCI President, Leye Kupoluyi, said Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N159.28 trillion as of December 31, 2025, representing an increase of N24.98 trillion or 18.6 per cent from N134.3 trillion recorded a year earlier.

“Clearly, Nigeria’s debt figures are reaching uncomfortable levels, but the Chamber is more concerned about the debt servicing cost strangulating capital spending in the face of a huge infrastructure deficit,” he said.

The Chamber also urged the Federal Government to take a clear decision on the future of the country’s state-owned refineries, insisting that they have become almost dead assets on Nigeria’s balance sheet.

“We urge the government to take decisive action on its refineries – to sell or to revamp. They are presently almost becoming dead assets in Nigeria’s balance sheet. We have always advocated generating revenue by commercialising dead or comatose assets,” he said.

LCCI further expressed concern over the World Bank’s latest Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria, which found that 79 per cent of Nigerians remain vulnerable despite ongoing economic reforms.

According to the Chamber, the report reinforces the urgency of prioritising job creation as the country’s most effective pathway out of poverty.

To address the challenge, it urged the government to support productive sectors with strong employment potential, pointing to the expansion programmes of BUA Foods and the Dangote Refinery as examples of investments that can stimulate economic growth and reduce import dependence.

It also called for greater government spending on sectors such as construction, real estate, food production, fashion and entertainment, saying they have demonstrated significant capacity to create jobs.

The Chamber appealed to the government to immediately settle outstanding payments owed to contractors to enable them to complete infrastructure projects, retain workers and expand operations.

“With more jobs, consumers’ purchasing power is improved, leading to increased demand for companies’ products and services. This, in turn, helps companies sustain operations and expand their businesses, thereby absorbing more workers and generating more government revenue through taxes,” Kupoluyi said.

On monetary policy, the Chamber welcomed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to retain the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 26.5 per cent, describing it as a cautious approach aimed at preserving price stability and exchange rate stability amid global uncertainties and the approaching election period.

It noted that headline inflation eased slightly to 15.91 per cent in June from 15.93 per cent in May, while the naira remained relatively stable, appreciating to N1,372.75 against the dollar at the official market by the end of June.

To sustain the moderation in inflation, LCCI urged the government to increase investment in agriculture, improve security in farming communities, expand access to quality inputs and affordable financing, and strengthen transport and storage infrastructure to reduce food distribution costs.

The Chamber also called for incentives to expand gas infrastructure for local fertiliser production while urging government to sustain exchange rate stability, raise crude oil production and increase non-oil exports to curb imported inflation.

While acknowledging improvements in the foreign exchange market, LCCI urged the CBN to sustain market-driven reforms that promote transparency and investor confidence, while improving access to foreign exchange for manufacturers and other productive sectors.

It also called for reforms to strengthen budget implementation, lamenting that many projects captured in previous budgets remain incomplete or unimplemented.

According to the Chamber, the government should establish measurable performance indicators, strengthen project monitoring and improve transparency and accountability to ensure budgetary allocations translate into infrastructure, public service delivery and jobs.

LCCI also warned that Indonesia’s tighter export controls on palm oil could worsen supply shortages and increase food inflation in Nigeria, which consumes between 2.5 million and three million tonnes yearly but produces only about 1.4 million tonnes.

It said the development should serve as an opportunity for the government to support local producers with incentives that would enable them to scale up production and reduce the country’s dependence on imports.

The Chamber welcomed Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production, which reached a 74-month high of 1.735 million barrels per day in June, surpassing the country’s OPEC production quota.

To sustain the momentum, it urged the government to provide incentives to new Petroleum Prospecting Licence holders and support private investment in the upstream sector to achieve its production targets of two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million barrels per day by 2030.

LCCI also called for stronger oversight of petrol pricing, saying consumers and businesses have continued to bear the burden of rapid increases in pump prices whenever international crude oil prices rise, while corresponding reductions are rarely reflected when crude prices decline.