The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria are aligning fiscal and monetary policies to achieve President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s $1 trillion GDP target by 2037. At the CBN’s 2025 Annual Executive Policy Seminar, Minister of State for Finance Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite and CBN Governor Mr. Olayemi Cardoso discussed strategies for taming inflation, sustaining growth, and boosting household income through coordinated reforms. Assistant Editor Nduka Chiejina reports.
When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in 2023, he set a bold target: to grow Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to $1 trillion by 2037. It was an audacious goal that immediately raised questions about policy coherence, macroeconomic discipline, and the capacity of institutions to deliver sustained growth over more than a decade.
To drive that vision, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have launched an unprecedented effort to synchronise fiscal and monetary policy. Both institutions now describe their partnership as the “twin engines of stability” powering the Nigerian economy toward inclusive prosperity.
At the recent CBN Seminar themed “Deepening Reforms: Paths to Dis-Inflation and Sustainable Growth”, key policymakers — Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite; CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso; and economic analyst, Dr. Simon Galadima — offered insights into how a unified framework of reforms, discipline, and coordination could turn that trillion-dollar ambition into measurable progress.
Their messages converge on one idea: Nigeria’s economic recovery will depend not on short-term interventions, but on coherent structural reforms built around productivity, competitiveness, and policy credibility.
The fiscal perspective: building the architecture for sustainable prosperity
Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of State for Finance, framed her presentation around a new national strategy known as the Dis-Inflation and Growth Acceleration Strategy (DGAS) — a comprehensive framework jointly developed by the Ministry of Finance and the CBN.
She described DGAS as “the second wave of reforms” following the administration’s initial decisions to remove fuel subsidies and liberalise the foreign exchange market.
According to her, those earlier measures “restored market integrity and confidence,” while DGAS aims to provide “the architecture to unlock sector productivity, expand domestic output, and generate inclusive prosperity.”
At the heart of this framework is a vision to achieve GDP growth of above 7 percent while bringing inflation down to single digits through supply-side expansion rather than demand suppression.
Uzoka-Anite argued that “traditional monetary tightening alone cannot deliver sustainable recovery, nor can fiscal expansion in isolation produce the scale of impact our people require.”
Instead, she called for “a unified national framework that integrates both monetary and fiscal levers to drive non-inflationary growth and structural transformation.” That framework, she explained, is now embodied in DGAS — a policy blueprint that unites fiscal intent with monetary execution.
DGAS: Nigeria’s blueprint for coordinated growth
DGAS proposes nine coordinated policy pillars designed to deliver both short-term stabilisation and long-term structural transformation. These include capital mobilisation, sectoral growth acceleration, energy expansion, digital infrastructure, human capital development, consumer credit, policy alignment, regulatory streamlining, and continental integration.
The Minister described the DGAS as “a practical and measurable design that turns policy ambition into implementable actions.”
Uzoka-Anite said Nigeria needs “stable, concessionary, long-term debt and private capital for effective implementation.” A new development finance framework, she disclosed, is being designed to mobilise domestic and international funding through dual-stakeholding diaspora funds, global institutional funds, and guarantee-backed instruments. These mechanisms, she explained, will “reduce reliance on short-term credits and volatile portfolio flows.”
According to her, DGAS will focus on high-impact sectors such as agriculture, energy, technology, manufacturing, creative industries, health, tourism, trade, and education. Each sector will receive “customised fiscal incentives, credit enhancement, and targeted infrastructure support” to drive competitiveness and job creation.
She cited the Dangote Refinery as an example of value-chain localisation: “If we replicate the Dangote refinery story in multiple sectors, it will result in sharp rises in job creation, tax earnings, and wealth transfers to households, investors, and entrepreneurs.”
DGAS also prioritises energy diversification — expanding oil, gas, hydro, solar, wind, and biomass capacities — while aligning with global carbon markets to attract green capital.
Uzoka-Anite described technology as “the backbone of modern competitiveness.” DGAS will promote AI-ready data centres, automation in manufacturing and agriculture, and the creation of a new generation of tech-skilled workers.
She said the government plans to enroll “over 10 million young Nigerians annually in technical, vocational, and device-linked programmes tied directly to our priority sectors.”
DGAS, she noted, “redefines the role of the Nigerian consumer as a catalyst for growth.” By expanding consumer credit access for housing, education, healthcare, and household goods, “200 million Nigerians will become active participants in national prosperity.”
Uzoka-Anite acknowledged that “buried within our laws and bureaucratic systems are deadly constraints on growth.”
She argued that “at least 40 percent of our existing rules and regulations can be stripped out and removed” to allow entrepreneurs to thrive.
She urged federal, state, and local governments to “view themselves as capability forces, enabling and accelerating the private sector.”
The DGAS also positions Nigeria as “a continental leader in trade, technology, and investment,” through new transport corridors, aviation hubs, and maritime gateways that integrate with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The DGAS document places special emphasis on policy coherence between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. Uzoka-Anite described this relationship as a “joint performance framework” where fiscal and monetary instruments are aligned to deliver real growth and measurable outcomes.
“The Central Bank remains the cornerstone of macroeconomic stability, monetary discipline, and financial system confidence,” she said. “The Ministry of Finance, on the other hand, encodes fiscal policy, budgetary prioritisation, and capital mobilisation. Under DGAS, this partnership evolves into a joint performance framework where fiscal and monetary instruments are designed to reinforce, not counteract each other.”
Key performance indicators under this framework include: Reducing inflation to single digits within 24 months; Achieving non-oil GDP growth above 7 percent by 2027; Ensuring minimum 30 percent annual credit growth to productive sectors; Doubling export diversification by 2028; and creating at least five million jobs through DGAS-linked interventions.
The Minister said these metrics will be “tracked quarterly and tied to performance incentives for implementing institutions.”
The Central Bank’s perspective: from crisis to sustainable growth
CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, provided a complementary monetary perspective at the same seminar. He described the annual policy forum as “a strategic avenue for reflection, recalibration, and renewed commitment to guiding Nigeria’s economy toward resilience, stability, and inclusive prosperity.”
He recalled that the 2024 seminar’s theme, “From Crisis to Sustainable Growth”, was rooted in Nigeria’s earlier economic challenges, including fiscal imbalances and distortions in the foreign exchange market. Cardoso noted that recent reforms — such as FX market unification, the reduction of ways and means advances, and tighter monetary controls — were necessary to restore discipline and credibility.
While acknowledging the short-term pains that followed those adjustments, Cardoso said they were essential “to reposition the economy on a more sustainable trajectory.”
He argued that the new phase of reforms must focus on price stability and credible inflation targeting. “Investors run away from lack of predictability,” he said. “The more predictability, the greater the incentive for investors to come to your market. Once you get the fundamentals right, investors naturally get attracted.”
Anchoring dis-inflation: the case for predictability
Cardoso reiterated that inflation targeting remains central to the CBN’s policy shift. By setting clear targets and communicating them effectively, the CBN aims to stabilise prices, guide expectations, and anchor long-term investment decisions.
He described the new monetary framework as a disciplined, transparent system that encourages investment confidence and reduces the need for arbitrary interventions. “Where interventions flew all over the place with no results — that should never happen again,” he said.
He further emphasised shared accountability: “Nigerians need to wake up to the fact that the economy belongs to everybody. No one person or group should feel that they have a monopoly of our economy.”
To deepen institutional credibility, Cardoso said the CBN is decentralising its human resource management to expose staff to all regions of the country: “Gone are the days where you’re posted to a branch and forgotten there. We want staff who have seen it all — capable of making informed decisions.”
Beyond institutional reforms, Cardoso called for collective responsibility in sustaining macroeconomic stability. He reminded participants that the CBN’s interventions must now be carefully targeted, transparent, and performance-driven.
“We must protect all the gains that have been made in the past two and a half years,” he said. “A frightening ways-and-means to GDP ratio should never happen again.”
He urged Nigerians to see the reform journey as a shared responsibility: “It’s a collective effort. We’ve all got to put everything together to ensure that, at the end of the day, we bake a bigger pie. Our GDP today relative to our population isn’t where we want it to be. But that pie can be baked.”
Cardoso’s remarks reflected a clear shift from reactive monetary measures to coordinated policy actions that complement fiscal reforms. “We’re not just talking for the sake of it,” he said. “We need to educate, we need to inform, and we need to keep these issues on the burner.”
Independent view: aligning policy for sustainable outcomes
Dr. Samson Galadima Simon, Chief Economist at ARKK Economics and Data Limited, Abuja, provided an independent perspective that bridged both the fiscal and monetary narratives. He observed that Nigeria’s macroeconomic challenges — inflation, unemployment, and income inequality — require coordinated action between fiscal and monetary authorities.
“The monetary authorities on one hand and the fiscal authorities on the other must coordinate to achieve the five major macroeconomic objectives of growth, price stability, full employment, balance of payments equilibrium, and equitable income distribution,” Galadima said.
He described DGAS as “a unified economic framework where both the CBN and the Ministry of Finance collaborate to stimulate growth and tackle inflation pressure by achieving a 7% GDP growth rate and single-digit inflation rate.”
According to him, the strategy’s supply-side orientation — focused on production, energy expansion, capital mobilisation, and digital infrastructure — offers a realistic path to both disinflation and poverty reduction. “It’s a framework that lifts millions out of poverty by ensuring robust growth and stable prices,” he noted.
While making his intervention, Dr. Yusha’u Aliyu of the Institute of Professional Economists and Policy Management Abuja stated that the recent conversation between the CBN and the Federal Ministry of Finance is a welcome development in Nigerian fiscal and monetary performance.
According to him “In recent times the apex bank is succeeding with monetary measures especially controlling excess liquidity in reducing inflation to 18.2%in September with a 27% MPR.
However, in sustaining the achievement, the monthly FAAC sharing must be professionally redesigned to assist the adopted monetary measures. In addition the national financial inclusion strategy requires both the contributions of the CBN and the ministry of finance in educating citizens the opportunities of banking capitalisation and access to reliable funds.”
Deepening reforms: from blueprint to execution
The challenge, as both Uzoka-Anite and Cardoso acknowledged, lies in execution. To that end, DGAS proposes a Delivery and Performance Unit jointly supervised by the Ministry of Finance and the CBN.
The Minister explained that “implementation will be anchored on incentive-based performance, strict monitoring, and clear compliance mechanisms.” Institutions that meet targets will receive access to conditional fiscal and monetary incentives, while those that fall short will face corrective measures.
DGAS also aims to institutionalise transparency and accountability through quarterly public scorecards tracking job creation, capital deployment, and sectoral outputs.
Uzoka-Anite described this as a “move from policy declaration to measurable transformation.”
Private sector as growth engine
Both the Minister and the CBN Governor recognised that the government cannot single-handedly drive economic growth. The private sector, they argued, must be empowered to invest, produce, and innovate.
Uzoka-Anite noted that “government must now see itself as an enabler, not a barrier.” Through instruments like the Bank of Industry and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the state will focus on mobilising patient capital to crowd in private investment.
Cardoso, on his part, said “collaboration with fiscal authorities to reduce costs and incentivise production remains a key imperative.”
He also identified the creative and services sectors — including music, film, and digital design — as emerging export frontiers.
“I’m particularly happy,” he said, “that we were part of the journey which saw the Nigerian Arts Theatre finally taking off. That is a major platform for creative players to reach the global community.”
Bridging the financing gap
Access to finance remains one of Nigeria’s most stubborn constraints. Cardoso admitted that financing constraints for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have limited job creation and innovation.
“The Bank is committed to playing its catalytic role in expanding access through innovative credit frameworks, improved risk-sharing mechanisms, and deepening credit infrastructure,” he said.
Uzoka-Anite’s DGAS complements this with a Consumer Credit and Prosperity Framework, which seeks to expand credit to households for essential needs like housing, education, and healthcare. Together, these efforts are designed to unlock domestic demand, stimulate production, and build a self-reinforcing cycle of growth.
From stabilisation to transformation
The underlying message from all three speakers is that Nigeria has moved from crisis management to structural reform. The initial phase of removing distortions in fuel pricing and exchange markets has laid the groundwork for a more resilient macroeconomic framework.
Uzoka-Anite put it succinctly: “We have stabilised the fundamentals, redefined our fiscal priorities, and restored credibility to our monetary regime. What remains is to connect these strengths to unified action — action that moves beyond short-term stabilisation toward long-term transformation.”
She described DGAS as “the instrument through which we can harmonise fiscal policy, monetary coordination, and private sector innovation to deliver measurable and inclusive growth.”
The road ahead: challenges and optimism
Despite optimism, the road to sustainable growth is fraught with challenges — from global headwinds to domestic structural weaknesses. But the speakers agreed that discipline, transparency, and political will are non-negotiable.
Uzoka-Anite warned that success “hinges on governance discipline, transparency, and sustained political backing.” Cardoso added that Nigerians must remain engaged and informed: “We must be bold enough to defend what is rightfully ours and what belongs to generations coming behind us.”
Galadima, for his part, concluded that DGAS represents a credible path toward aligning Nigeria’s fiscal and monetary policies for inclusive, sustainable growth. “If implemented faithfully,” he said, “it could achieve low, stable, and predictable inflation while stimulating production and lifting millions out of poverty.”
Conclusion: a new era of policy coordination
Nigeria’s quest for a $1 trillion economy by 2037 is not just a slogan — it is an economic reengineering project that demands institutional coherence, disciplined execution, and citizen participation.
Through DGAS, the Ministry of Finance and the CBN have outlined a clear roadmap linking disinflation, productivity, and inclusive growth. But translating strategy into results will depend on sustained collaboration, credible data, and unwavering commitment to reform.
As Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite aptly concluded, “Together, the Ministry of Finance and the CBN will ensure that our shared objectives — price stability, productive expansion, job creation, and competitiveness — are no longer aspirations but realities.”
If this partnership endures, Nigeria may yet find its path from disinflation to sustainable prosperity — and from ambition to achievement.
