President’s New Year speech: LCCI seeks policy consistency, strategic reforms
Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry LCCI
Nike Popoola
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has responded to the President, Bola Tinubu’s Year address.
In a statement signed by the Director-General, LCCI, Dr. Chinyere Almona, LCCI noted that the President highlighted critical themes relevant to achieving the nation’s economic goals, becoming more relevant in the global economy through more collaborations with the international community, and improving the business environment for the private sector to thrive in 2025.
The statement said, “His address underscores both opportunities and challenges as we embark on the journey to achieving the ambitious goal of a one trillion-dollar economy.
“While we commend the government’s efforts so far towards achieving the successes highlighted in his speech, we reiterate our concerns about the consistency of policies and the reforms currently driven by the government. We expect the reforms to deliver on easing the high rate of inflation, the burden of high interest rates on businesses, business shutdowns, and job losses, and the resolution of persistent challenges facing power supply, national security, and food productionin our nation.”
The LCCI said, the National Credit Guarantee Company announcement represents a critical step toward unlocking access to credit, particularly for women, youth, and small-scale enterprises. If implemented effectively and efficiently, it can boost demand for goods from agro-producers and industries, and this can improve the capacity utilization of manufacturers and the capacity to create more jobs in the mid-term. It, however, emphasized the need for swift operationalization and a transparent framework to avoid bureaucratic bottlenecks.
It stated, “The President’s desire to work more collaboratively with the international community is a good idea. However, for Nigeria to really explore inherent opportunities in international relations, we must do more to create an enabling business environment attractive enough to boost our Foreign Direct Investments this year.
“All our diplomatic efforts should be geared towards boosting foreign trade, especially when we can boost our non-oil exports to the levels of recording trade surpluses in 2025. We need critical investments in the telecommunications sector to boost the digital transformation agenda of this government. Similarly, the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative requires huge investment in infrastructure. Both digital transformation and energy transition are quite critical to achieving the level of industrialization required to power a one trillion economy.”
The President’s focus on ethical citizenship and shared values underscores the role of social cohesion in nation-building. The upcoming National Values Charter and Youth Confab are commendable efforts to galvanize citizens and foster patriotism. For the business community, a stable and cooperative societal framework is foundational for sustained economic activity. Beyond the show of commitment to a charter of shared values, we believe that the rule of law remains the most important guarantee of human rights protection and the best template for justice and fairness in a democratic state.
“Let us do all within our means and power to institute a culture of avoiding controversies and uncertainties by charting a sure path for our policies, regulations, and budget implementation. The budget assumptions are ambitious but achievable if we consistently drive our economic agenda towards our set goals,” it stated.
