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By Merit Ibe
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has described the ‘Nigeria First’ policy as a national economic security agenda with the potential to drive inclusive growth and structural transformation across multiple sectors.
Director of the Centre, Dr. Muda Yusuf, stated this in a brief on the ‘Nigeria First’ policy, where he lamented that despite the nation’s abundant natural and human resources, Nigeria continues to grapple with deep structural economic weaknesses, including heavy import dependence, weak domestic production, low value addition, and a fragile foreign exchange position.
According to Yusuf, the policy is a bold and strategic initiative aimed at tackling these vulnerabilities by placing domestic economic interests at the heart of national development.
He explained that the policy would reduce reliance on imports, strengthen the country’s economic base, and protect it from global market shocks.
Beyond being an industrial strategy, Yusuf said the initiative would conserve foreign exchange, help stabilize the naira, enhance macroeconomic stability, and minimize external exposure.
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“Localizing production will boost economic resilience during global disruptions such as pandemics, geopolitical tensions, or supply chain breakdowns,” he noted.
Yusuf emphasized that expanding domestic value chains across agriculture, manufacturing, services, and extractive industries would create millions of direct and indirect jobs, stimulate MSMEs, encourage entrepreneurship, and improve workforce skills. He added that prioritizing Nigerian labour and enterprises would build long-term productive capacity, reduce unemployment, and strengthen local participation in the economy.
According to him, the policy will also promote backward and forward integration, linking upstream and downstream industries, encouraging local sourcing, and boosting industrial competitiveness and technology transfer.
He described the policy as a strategic turning point in the nation’s economic development journey, capable of reducing import dependence, conserving foreign exchange, strengthening industrial capacity, creating decent jobs, and promoting inclusive, broad-based growth.
However, Yusuf maintained that the success of the policy would hinge on strong political will, a robust legal and institutional framework, effective coordination across government tiers and sectors, and close collaboration with the private sector.
“Transforming this policy from vision to measurable impact will mark a decisive step toward economic sovereignty and sustainable national development.”
