‘Tinubu’s Reforms Bold, But Brought Pains on Citizens, Businesses’

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) yesterday said President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the last two years has been characterised by bold macroeconomic reforms and significant policy shifts.

The LCCI, however, said the measures have imposed short-term hardships on businesses and households, particularly Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which remain the backbone of the Nigerian economy.

The Director General of LCCI, Dr Chinyere Almona, stated this on Thursday in Lagos in the LCCI’s second year anniversary message to President Tinubu.

Dr Almona asserted that the bold reforms were aimed at correcting long-standing structural distortions.

She said while these reforms came with significant short-term socio-economic costs, they offered the potential for long-term macroeconomic stability and inclusive growth.

“These measures have also imposed short-term hardships on businesses and households, particularly Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which remain the backbone of the Nigerian economy,” she said.

Addressing the country’s macroeconomic outlook, Almona noted that Nigeria had recorded Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

She said the growth, while positive, was yet to be even as manufacturing and agriculture continued to struggle due to high production costs, insecurity, and logistical inefficiencies, limiting business competitiveness.

The LCCI also stated that inflation remained a critical challenge, at 23.71 per cent as at April 2025 due to fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange liberalisation.

She said while these reforms improved the fiscal outlook, they increased business operating expenses, particularly logistics, agro-processing, and retail SMEs.

Almona said the current macroeconomic landscape reflected a nation in transition.

“There are also growing concerns about policy coordination.While monetary authorities target inflation, fiscal policy expands through borrowing and recurrent expenditure.

“This divergence has weakened the impact of economic interventions,” she said.

Almona said in order to realise a better business environment, the government must consider enhancing its policy coordination with greater synergy between monetary and fiscal policies.

She stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance, and the development finance institutions should work in tandem to manage inflation without stifling productive investment.

The DG also noted the need to strengthen the Ease of Doing Business framework by streamlining regulatory processes, eliminating multiple taxation and expanding digitisation of government services.

“We call for the full implementation of the tax reforms recently approved by the National Assembly and many other policy reforms.

“Government must scale up targeted SME Support by introducing concessionary loan schemes tied to output targets for agro-processing, tech innovation, and light manufacturing sectors.

“We also advocate improved infrastructure, expanded social safety nets, the promotion of local content and value addition, sustained reforms in the foreign exchange market and deepened stakeholder engagement,” she said.

Almona said, “The second anniversary of the Tinubu administration is both a moment of reflection and a call to action. Nigeria stands at a pivotal juncture where the right mix of policy coherence, institutional reforms, and stakeholder collaboration can unlock the nation’s vast economic potential.”

Also speaking with our correspondent, Dr Muda Yusuf, foremost economist and Chief Executive Officer of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), said the administration came in at a time when the fundamentals of the economy were “practically broken.”

Dr Yusuf said the first two years of the administration had been devoted largely to fixing these fundamentals and stabilising the economy.

He, however, admittedly said the reforms have inflicted significant pains on the citizens.

Yusuf said while some businesses collapsed as a result of the shocks of the reforms, others exited Nigeria.

“But it’s also important to say that as important and as imperative as the reforms were, the reforms inflicted significant pains on the citizens.

“It adversely impacted businesses. It affected profit margins. Cost of production escalated. Many businesses were thrown into lost positions. A few other ones, particularly the large ones, had to exit the country. Some businesses in fact collapsed as a result of the shocks of the reforms.

“So, the cost of the reform has been very phenomenal. And at the individual level or at the welfare level, the reforms had a devastating effect on the welfare of the people. We had an aggravated situation with poverty as a result of the spike in inflation, the collapse of purchasing power. And that created a major problem in the past two years,” he said.

He said the good news is that some progress has been made in terms of stabilising the economy, following the reforms.