Guidance on Nigeria's Economy
NNOLI SYLVESTER CHIKELUE@sylvesternnoli140312
4 days ago
Your Excellency,
I write to you as a Nigerian journalist in the diaspora, deeply committed to the progress, dignity, and economic future of our nation. I commend the resolve your administration has shown in undertaking difficult reforms aimed at stabilising our economy. Such courage in leadership is neither common nor easy.
Yet beyond stabilisation lies the greater calling of transformation.
Nigeria’s persistent dependence on crude oil revenue remains the central structural weakness of our economy. It exposes us to global volatility, constrains job creation, weakens our currency, and limits broad-based prosperity. In an era of global energy transition, this dependence is not merely risky; it is unsustainable.
I respectfully urge the adoption of a focused National Drive for Non-Oil Industrial and Agricultural Transformation.
First, Nigeria must prioritise value-added production over raw commodity exports. Agro-processing, light manufacturing, solid minerals beneficiation, pharmaceuticals, and the digital economy possess enormous capacity for export expansion and job creation. Structured industrial clusters supported by reliable power, efficient ports, and streamlined regulation would attract investment and stimulate growth.
Second, agriculture must evolve from subsistence to enterprise. With mechanisation support, rural storage infrastructure, accessible credit, and improved logistics, we can shift from exporting raw produce to exporting processed goods. This will simultaneously strengthen rural incomes, reduce food inflation, and increase foreign exchange earnings.
Third, incentives must reward productivity. Targeted tax relief and accessible industrial credit tied directly to export performance and employment generation will produce measurable outcomes and expand our tax base sustainably.
Your Excellency, Nigeria is rich in land, talent, enterprise, and youthful energy. What we require is alignment of policy with production, reform with execution, and vision with disciplined implementation. A decisive shift toward non-oil industrialisation would stabilise the naira organically, generate employment at scale, and anchor long-term economic resilience.
History reserves its highest honour for leaders who convert reform into renewal and potential into prosperity. With strategic focus and coordinated execution, this administration can lead Nigeria into a new era defined not by dependence, but by production; not by volatility, but by stability; not by promise, but by performance.
I submit these reflections in humility and in hope.
Yours faithfully,
Sylvester Chikelue Nnoli
