Economy
Nigeria’s Business Environment Shows Signs of Improvement
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A marginal rise of 0.6 points was recorded by the business environment in Nigeria in September 2025, data from the NESG-Stanbic IBTC Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) showed.
It was disclosed that last month, the index read 107.9 points, in contrast to the 107.3 points achieved in August 2025.
The positive trajectory was driven by a rebound in agriculture, supported by the harvest season, and steady activity in the services sector, with the sectoral review confirming that all five broader economic activities stayed in the expansion zone.
Agriculture posted the strongest recovery, rising sharply to 107.3 from a contractionary 95.6 in August, while Non-manufacturing (114.5), Trade (107.6), and Manufacturing (102.5) all expanded, albeit at a slower pace compared to August.
Key BCM sub-indices, such as investment, exports, access to credit, and prices, registered marginal gains relative to August 2025, pointing to improving sentiment in capital formation and external trade.
Importantly, recent improvements in cost of doing business and input prices suggest a gradual moderation of inflationary pressures on firms. However, this positive trend remains fragile, as financing constraints, erratic electricity supply, high commercial property costs, unclear policy signals, and persistent insecurity continue to undermine business confidence and investment appetite.
In the report, Stanbic IBTC estimated that the oil and non-oil sectors may have grown by 14.3 per cent y/y and 4.4 per cent y/y, respectively, translating into overall GDP growth of 4.5 per cent y/y in Q3:25.
“We now lift our 2025 growth forecast to 4.0 per cent y/y, from 3.5 per cent y/y, after fully accounting for the impact of GDP rebasing, and after surprisingly good Q2:25 GDP growth.
“Going into 2026, the non-oil sector’s growth should remain strong amid a likely reduction in interest rates and low inflation, both of which should support aggregate demand and private investment.
“Further, a likely less exchange rate volatility in 2025 and 2026 based on our current estimates should support growth across trade, manufacturing, real estate, and construction.
“Aside from that, the forward-linkage impact of Dangote Refinery should benefit manufacturing growth in the medium term.
“The IMF expects the Dangote Refinery to increase non-oil GDP growth by c.1.5 per cent in 2026. Oil refining has already grown for a third consecutive quarter, to 15.78 per cent y/y in Q2:25, from 11.51 per cent y/y in Q1:25, although its contribution to the manufacturing sector remains insignificant, at 0.1 per cent,” it stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
