Firms return to profit despite policy shifts – Report

The Independent Media and Policy Initiative has said recent economic reforms have coincided with improved revenue performance among companies in Nigeria’s real sector.

In a policy brief signed by its Chairman, Omoniyi Akinsiju, the group stated that firms in productive sectors appear to have adjusted to the evolving policy environment, with stronger annual returns.

The think tank said it had reviewed economic developments since 2023 and observed an improvement in the performance of privately managed companies. It added that public criticism of the reforms has not been sufficiently supported by data.

According to the statement, “We have followed with concern the bewildering polemics with which Nigeria’s political opposition is deliberately scandalising the public space to demean the economic reforms being implemented by the President Bola Tinubu-led federal administration as ill-considered and inconsequential.

“From our standpoint, we surmise that the opposition’s propagation of bellicose intent against the federal government’s reforms lacks empirical validation and is generally pivoted on abysmal, commonplace, and sentimental generalisations.”

IMPI said its assessment of economic trends indicates that reforms have contributed to renewed activity in the real sector, although it acknowledged implementation challenges.

“Contrary to the frequent public espousal of reform failure by the opposition, our reading of the national economic trajectory since 2023 strongly indicates otherwise.

“While we acknowledge the inevitability of some challenges inherent in the implementation of any body of reform policies, we assert that the Tinubu policies have, in significant ways, accomplished the first purpose of a sovereign’s economic rejuvenation: the resuscitation and strengthening of the real sector of the economy,” the statement said.