Nigeria has never lacked economic ideas. Successive administrations have unveiled ambitious blueprints, introduced sweeping reforms and launched programmes to stimulate growth, attract investment and improve living standards. The country’s development story is littered with well-conceived policies that delivered only a fraction of their promise. The problem has rarely been the absence of reform. It has been the inability to translate policy into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
That reality has become even more apparent over the past three years. The removal of fuel subsidies, the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, tighter monetary policy and tax reforms were among the most consequential economic decisions in decades. Most economists agree that many of these measures were necessary to correct long-standing distortions. But reforms cannot be judged solely by their technical soundness. They ultimately stand or fall on whether they create jobs, raise incomes and improve living standards.
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