The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has called on the Federal Government to place greater priority on agriculture and manufacturing to ease cost-of-living pressures and ensure Nigeria’s 3.98% GDP growth in Q3 2025 translates into real welfare gains for citizens especially vulnerable households.
In its policy brief on Nigeria’s latest GDP report, CPPE Director, Dr. Muda Yusuf, warned that without sustained efforts to remove structural bottlenecks in key productive sectors, the country risks failing to convert macroeconomic gains into meaningful economic relief.
According to the brief, the persistent cost-of-living crisis continues to erode social welfare. Dr. Yusuf noted that “the social outcomes of economic reforms continue to weigh on households,” stressing the need for targeted policies that directly address the rising cost of living. He emphasised that such interventions are crucial to ensure macroeconomic stability delivers tangible improvements to citizens’ lives.
The CPPE identified long-standing challenges across critical sectors. Agriculturewhich grew by 3.79%remains hindered by insecurity, weak rural logistics, low mechanisation, and declining purchasing power. Manufacturing also remains fragile, recording only 1.25% growth, with operators still battling high energy and logistics costs, expensive credit, reliance on imported inputs, and the influx of smuggled goods.
While the services sector continues to dominate economic activity at 53% of total output, trade growth remains weak at 1.98%, constrained by high import costs and subdued consumer demand. The textile and apparel industry also stayed in recession, contracting by 2.41%, while the paper and pulp sector shrank by 1.07%.
Despite these challenges, the CPPE noted that the 3.98% GDP growth confirms that the economy is on a path of “steady recovery and consolidation,” even though the figure slightly moderated from 4.3% in Q2. The organisation added that ongoing government reforms are helping stabilise the exchange rate, moderate inflation, improve fiscal conditions, and gradually restore investor confidence factors that are boosting business sentiment across sectors.
However, the group stressed that resolving cost pressures must now be a central policy priority. It urged all levels of government to sustain targeted interventions in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, transportation and energy, warning that without such support, citizens will struggle to feel the impact of current macroeconomic gains.
To bolster recovery, the CPPE recommended a series of strategic actions, including:
Tackling structural bottlenecks and improving port efficiency
Reducing energy and logistics costs
Expanding transport frastructure
Strengthening agricultural productivity through better security, irrigation, storage, rural roads, and mechanisation.
Enhancing manufacturing competitiveness via concessionary credit, reduced import duties on industrial inputs, and anti-smuggling measures.
The group also called for reforms in land administration, deeper mortgage markets, affordable housing initiatives, and increased funding for education and healthcare. Strengthened governance in social services, it added, will be key to improving long-term welfare outcomes.