By Adedapo Adesanya

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has advised the Nigerian government to position recent stabilisation results to drive job creation for Nigerians.

She made the remarks on Wednesday at Nigeria House during the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

The former Nigerian Minister, in her presentation at a panel discussion titled From Scale to Capital: Financing Nigeria’s Role as Africa’s Digital Trade and Infrastructure Anchor, stressed that rising geopolitical tensions, particularly between the United States and China, have accelerated supply chain diversification.

“Firms are increasingly adopting China+1 sourcing strategies to reduce single-country risk, although China remains deeply embedded in many global value chains.

“In addition, tariffs and trade restrictions have incentivised companies to reconsider reliance on dominant suppliers, prompting the relocation or diversification of production hubs,” she said.

According to her, these disruptions present an opportunity for Nigeria to capture a share of global supply chains.

She, however, noted that this would require aggressive marketing of the country to prospective investors.

“As you said, some good reforms are being pursued right now. I think they need to yield to job creation. That was what I said to His Excellency [President Bola Tinubu]—that we need to move from stabilisation to job creation, because that is where we are lacking. It is not going to be overnight, but they are moving in the right direction. What I think they need to do is map where the opportunities are.

“What I would like to see is a continued effort to attract investment into the country, because there is an opportunity now to attract these supply chains. If there is one thing I would say, it is that everything we can do to showcase Nigeria as a country worthy of investment is what we should be doing.

“And we should deliberately have strategies to go after those investments and investors, to go to China, the US, whatever it takes, to come and invest in our country. As companies seek to diversify supply chains, a lot of that movement is still within Asia.

“Diversification is moving from China but still within Asia, and India is another destination. We should attract a sizeable chunk of that. I’m not saying all.

“Let’s build solar panels in Nigeria. We are importing, but we can also manufacture. We have the renewable capacity. In fashion, let them come to invest. Every time I buy a piece of wax (textile), I check to see where it’s made.

“Let’s attract investment to make it at home rather than elsewhere. Many of the shiny new textiles we are wearing now are not made in Nigeria; a lot of them are imported,” she said.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, voted to hold interest rate at 27 per cent at the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

The committee members were split on whether to cut interest rates or keep them unchanged when they met in November, but the central bank chief broke the ice with a hold vote.

Minutes of the MPC meeting held on November 25 revealed a split vote across the 11 members, with five members supporting a hold at 27 per cent and five members favouring a rate cut. One member abstained.

Mr Cardoso, as the 12th man and chairman of the committee, said holding rates was a deliberate signal to reinforce macroeconomic stability and acknowledge that the current monetary policy stance was beginning to deliver the intended outcomes.

It had been widely expected that the MPC would cut the rate after headline inflation declined for the seventh consecutive month to 16.05 per cent in October 2025, down from 18.02 per cent in September, at the time.

“In my view, holding is a clear signal of reinforcing stability and acknowledgement that the current policy stance is having the desired effect,” Mr Cardoso said.

The committee also retained the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for deposit money banks at 45 per cent, merchant banks at 16 per cent and 75 per cent for non-Treasury Single Account (TSA) public sector deposits, while the liquidity ratio was kept at 30 per cent.

Mr Cardoso noted that the improved anchoring of overnight market rates within the standing facilities corridor demonstrated stronger transmission of monetary policy to the wholesale market, describing this development as a positive outcome.

According to him, the effective transmission of policy provided room for further technical adjustments to the corridor in response to evolving liquidity conditions and sustained price action in the benchmark government securities market.

He added that the proposed asymmetric adjustment of the monetary policy corridor widening the floor while keeping the ceiling tight was designed to absorb persistent excess liquidity without undermining the Central Bank’s control over short-term interest rates.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has challenged the federal government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to set out a clear, realistic and workable timeline for the long-delayed revival of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, warning that billions of dollars in public funds have yielded no tangible results.

Nigeria’s three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, yet remain largely non-operational years after repeated rehabilitation efforts.

PETROAN claimed that over $4 billion has been spent on turnaround maintenance and rehabilitation over time, including the most recent contracts, without restoring sustained production.

“Despite this huge expenditure of taxpayers’ money, Nigerians are yet to see tangible results,” PETROAN said, raising concerns over efficiency, accountability and project delivery in the refinery rehabilitation programme.

The association said Nigerians and industry stakeholders are now asking a critical question: when will the refineries resume production, and what has become of the billions of dollars committed to their rehabilitation?

While acknowledging NNPCL’s disclosure that it is conducting project appraisals and sourcing strategic partners, PETROAN insisted that such efforts must be backed by definite timelines and measurable milestones.

“Every serious project must be guided by a clear timeline with deliverables. Nigerians deserve to know exactly when these refineries will return to operation,” the association stated.

According to PETROAN National President, Mr Billy Gillis-Harry, warned that delays could worsen as the country approaches another election cycle.

“Nigeria is fast approaching another election season, and we know that governance and project execution often slow down during such periods,” Mr Gillis-Harry said. “That is why decisive action must be taken early in the year to avoid another round of delays.”

He stressed that reviving domestic refining capacity is critical to easing the burden on the economy and consumers.

“The operationalisation of Nigeria’s refineries will significantly reduce the cost of petroleum products,” Gillis-Harry said. “Local refining will drastically cut importation, conserve foreign exchange, strengthen the naira and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the petroleum value chain.”

PETROAN reaffirmed its willingness to support the Federal Government and NNPCL in reviving the refineries, noting that credible foreign technical and financial partners are ready to collaborate.

“We are prepared to work with all stakeholders to achieve this national objective, but it must be driven by transparency, accountability and a clear roadmap,” the association added.