NES#32: Making economic growth work for Nigerians

By Emeka Anaeto

As Nigeria moves from economic stabilisation to the harder task of delivering jobs, productivity and shared prosperity, the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit is placing outcomes, not reforms alone, at the centre of the national conversation.

For more than three decades, the Nigerian Economic Summit has provided a platform where government, business, development partners, academia and civil

society come together to debate the direction of the Nigerian economy. But as the country prepares for the 32nd edition of the Summit, the conversation is taking on a sharper sense of urgency.

The question before NES#32 is no longer simply whether Nigeria can reform its economy. It is whether those reforms can translate into tangible improvements in the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians.

That distinction lies at the heart of the theme of NES#32: “Growth that Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and Shared Prosperity.”

The Summit, scheduled for October 26–27, 2026, at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, will bring together more than 2,000 expected delegates and over 100 speakers for two days of high-level dialogue, policy engagement and action-oriented discussions.

The choice of theme reflects a critical juncture in Nigeria’s economic journey. The country has undertaken major reforms, including exchange-rate unification, fuel subsidy removal and banking-sector recapitalisation. These measures have been positioned as foundations for greater macroeconomic stability.

But stabilisation, by itself, does not guarantee prosperity.

As the NESG puts it, “reform implementation alone is not enough.” The real test is whether economic reforms can produce jobs, raise productivity, expand investment and improve living standards.

This is the challenge that NES#32 seeks to confront.

From reform to results Nigeria’s economic debate has for years been dominated by macroeconomic indicators: inflation, exchange rates, fiscal deficits, debt, interest rates and GDP growth. While these remain important, NES#32 seeks to broaden the definition of economic success by asking a more fundamental question: What does economic growth mean for the average Nigerian?

The answer, in the architecture of NES#32, is straightforward: growth must create productive employment, make businesses more competitive, attract investment, strengthen human capital, improve resilience and reach communities across the country.

The Summit therefore adopts a performance-driven framework built around five interconnected priorities: Work Nigeria, Produce Nigeria, Invest Nigeria, Secure Nigeria and Scale Nigeria. These tracks are designed to move the national conversation beyond aggregate growth towards the economic conditions experienced by households, workers and businesses.

The first priority, Work Nigeria, confronts one of the country’s most pressing challenges: how to create enough productive and decent jobs for a rapidly expanding workforce. Nigeria’s demographic profile presents both an enormous opportunity and a significant economic risk. With a predominantly young population and millions of new entrants into the labour market every year, economic growth that does not generate employment risks deepening poverty, inequality and social vulnerability.

NES#32 will therefore examine how labour-intensive sectors, MSMEs, skills development and stronger labour-market systems can help move Nigeria from a model of growth that produces insufficient employment to one capable of absorbing its growing workforce. It will also address the persistent disconnect between education outcomes and labour-market demand.

The second priority, Produce Nigeria, focuses on the supply side of the economy.

Nigeria cannot sustainably improve living standards without increasing the quantity, quality and competitiveness of what it produces. This means confronting

the structural constraints that make production expensive and inefficient.

Manufacturing, agriculture, agro-processing, energy and services will all be important to the conversation, alongside digital technology, innovation and infrastructure.

The objective is not merely to produce more, but to build stronger domestic value chains, attract productive investment and create industrial ecosystems capable of competing in regional and global markets.

The third track, Invest Nigeria, recognises that growth requires capital—but also that investment must extend beyond physical infrastructure into people and institutions. The Summit will examine how Nigeria can crowd in private capital, strengthen investor confidence, improve access to finance and mobilise investment into infrastructure, industry and innovation. At the same time, it will focus on human capital, health, education, skills and social protection as essential components of a resilient economy.

This is particularly important because an economy cannot achieve shared prosperity if its most vulnerable citizens are unable to participate in, or withstand the shocks associated with, economic transformation.

Security as an economic imperative

The fourth priority, Secure Nigeria, places security firmly within the economic policy conversation.

Insecurity is not simply a law-and-order issue. It affects whether farmers can access their land, whether goods can move across the country, whether businesses can operate, whether infrastructure can be protected and whether investors are willing to commit capital.

The NESG identifies insecurity as a binding constraint on economic participation, with implications for production, investment and labour mobility. NES#32 will therefore examine ways to protect critical economic infrastructure, secure production corridors, improve access to farmland and rebuild confidence for enterprise and investment.

The fifth priority, Scale Nigeria, addresses another structural weakness: the concentration of economic activity in a relatively small number of locations and sectors. For growth to be genuinely inclusive, it must spread across states, regions, sectors and communities. This requires stronger subnational economies, better connectivity, regional value chains, local investment coordination and infrastructure capable of supporting distributed economic activity.

The emphasis on scaling also reflects a recognition that Nigeria’s economic transformation cannot be driven solely from Abuja or Lagos. States and communities must become active centres of production, investment and innovation.

3 pillars holding the agenda together

Running across these five priorities are three core pillars: Productivity, Human

Capital and Resilience. Productivity addresses the fundamental question of how Nigeria can make it cheaper, faster and more efficient to produce goods and services. It brings infrastructure, technology, innovation, industrialisation and regulatory efficiency into the centre of the economic conversation.

Human capital focuses on the people who will drive and benefit from economic transformation. The issue is not simply whether Nigerians are educated, but whether they possess the relevant skills to participate productively in a changing economy and whether the economy itself generates sufficient opportunities for them.

Resilience, asks whether the gains from growth can survive economic, social and environmental shocks, and whether vulnerable Nigerians have adequate protection when those shocks occur.

Together, the three pillars provide the connective tissue between the Summit’s five thematic priorities.

The outcome must be action

Perhaps the most significant feature of NES#32 is its emphasis on implementation.

The Summit is being positioned not simply as another forum for diagnosing Nigeria’s problems, but as a platform for identifying practical pathways from policy discussion to measurable results.

This expectation was reflected during the inauguration of the Joint Planning Committee for NES#32, where NESG Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Tayo Aduloju, described the Summit as a platform for building consensus, strengthening public-private dialogue and advancing Nigeria’s economic reform priorities. He also pointed to slow growth, rising living costs, unemployment and inequality as challenges requiring urgent attention.

The Federal Government and NESG have consequently placed considerable emphasis on ensuring that the Summit’s deliberations result in actionable recommendations.

The Joint Planning Committee is responsible, among other things, for reviewing previous Summit outcomes, developing the programme, mobilising stakeholders and coordinating the production of the Summit’s Green Book, which is intended to capture clear and actionable policy recommendations.

This emphasis on action is important because Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of policy ideas. Over the years, numerous reports, strategies, committees and reform programmes have identified the country’s major economic constraints.

The more difficult question has always been implementation.

NES#32 therefore seeks to narrow the distance between what Nigeria knows it must do and what Nigeria actually does.

A new social contract around growth

At its core, the Summit is also about redefining the relationship between economic growth and the Nigerian citizen.

For too long, GDP growth has sometimes been treated as an end in itself. But growth that does not create employment, raise household incomes, improve productivity or expand opportunity will struggle to command public confidence.

This is why the phrase “growth that works” is particularly significant.

It suggests that economic performance must ultimately be judged by outcomes: a young person finding productive work; a farmer gaining access to markets; a manufacturer producing competitively; a small business accessing finance; an investor finding a predictable operating environment; a household gaining greater economic security; and a community becoming connected to new opportunities.

The objective is not growth for its own sake. It is growth that improves the productive capacity of the country while expanding opportunity.

What should Nigerians expect from NES#32?

By the end of the two-day Summit, the expectation is for a stronger national consensus around the transition from stabilisation-led recovery towards investment-productivity-jobs-led growth. The NESG has identified five broad objectives: driving job-rich growth, raising productivity and competitiveness, strengthening the investment climate, advancing human capital and ensuring inclusive prosperity.

The expected outcomes therefore extend beyond the conference hall.

They include clearer policy priorities for job creation and labour absorption; stronger strategies for boosting domestic production and industrial competitiveness; practical approaches to mobilising investment; improved alignment between skills development and labour-market demand; stronger social protection; greater attention to economic security; and mechanisms for scaling opportunities across states and communities.

The Summit is also expected to deepen collaboration between the public and private sectors. Nigeria’s economic challenges are too interconnected and complex for any single institution to address alone. Government provides policy, regulation and public investment; businesses drive production, employment and innovation; development partners provide financing and technical support; and citizens remain the ultimate beneficiaries and participants in the economic transformation process.

That is why the Nigerian Economic Summit remains relevant after more than three decades. Its enduring value is not simply that it brings influential people into the same room. It is that it creates a structured platform for government and the private sector to confront difficult economic questions together and build consensus around what needs to change.

At NES#32, the central question will be whether Nigeria can convert the foundations of reform into an economy that delivers tangible opportunities at scale. Professor Stefan Dercon of the University of Oxford, who will deliver the Summit’s keynote address, is expected to bring a comparative global perspective to this challenge, focusing on the relationship between state capability, productive transformation and shared prosperity. That focus captures the larger ambition of NES#32.

Nigeria has already demonstrated that it can undertake difficult reforms. The next test is whether those reforms can become the foundation for an economy that produces more, employs more people, attracts more investment and distributes opportunity more widely.

As the country gathers in Abuja on October 26 and 27, the conversation will therefore be less about whether Nigeria can grow, and more about how Nigeria can make growth work. That is the promise, and the test of NES#32.

NES#32 will hold on October 26–27, 2026, at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, under the theme “Growth that Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and

Shared Prosperity.” It will convene government, business leaders, development partners, experts and other stakeholders for two days of policy dialogue, sectoral discussions, investment conversations and action-oriented engagement aimed at shaping a more productive, competitive and inclusive Nigerian economy.

The post NES#32: Making economic growth work for Nigerians appeared first on Vanguard News.