By Otega Ogra and Temitope Ajayi
There is a particular kind of silence that greets progress in Nigeria—when food prices fall, inflation slows, the country is positively recognised, debts paid, or things begin to work. It is the kind of silence that would rather keep a good story buried than be told. But make no mistake. What we see in the market today is not magic. It is the outcome of vision, backed by execution, from the Tinubu-Shettima administration.
When President Bola Tinubu signed off on a six-month waiver to allow the importation of select food items, it was not an act of political showmanship. Rather, it was a visionary economic strategy at play. That singular decision broke a cartel of hoarders who had turned food insecurity into an immoral enterprise. But strategy alone does not and cannot lower the cost of rice. What does is when industry leaders respond with urgency.
Last week at The Aso Villa, the seat of the Presidency in Abuja, Abdul Samad Rabiu, did not just show up to thank President Bola Tinubu. He came prepared and showed up with results. He brought evidence—bag by bag, commodity by commodity—of how Mr. President’s policy met action. Rice that once sold for N110,000 for 50kg bag now sells for less than N70,000. Flour is down. Maize is down. And for once, the loudest people in the room are the ones who used to profit from scarcity, not the ones out to end the criminal profiteering.
What happened here was disruption. The BUA team, as well as other major Nigerian manufacturers and industrialists who heeded President Tinubu’s call, understood the assignment. They flooded the market, shattered the economics of hoarding, and exposed a truth few want to say: sometimes, the real enemy is not the system. It is the silence and sabotage that follow reform.
But Alhaji Rabiu did not stop at food. He announced a second move upon the advice of fellow billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote, which was just as consequential. In an economy that is recovering from FX volatility, energy price surges, and imported inflation, cement manufacturers have decided to freeze the price of cement, not for everyone, but for every contractor working under the government’s Renewed Hope infrastructure projects. This is not charity at play. This is alignment. Our two big businessmen understand the time, and they are doing their businesses conscious of the need to balance profitability with social responsibility. We have Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu to thank for leading the way and showing how to be worthy examples to Corporate Nigeria. The truth is that the business environment has been quite challenging. While this is so, there is also the problem of arbitrariness in how prices of goods and services have moved in the last two years. Many businessmen and women have taken undue advantage of Nigerians to engage in price gouging, unduly raising the cost of living for average Nigerians.
Cement isn’t just a product. It is the bloodline of infrastructure. By holding the price steady for public works under the Renewed Hope Agenda, Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, Lafarge, and new entrant like Mangal Cement didn’t just make a corporate gesture. They bought the government fiscal room, time, and momentum. That is what nation-building looks like when it wears a private-sector face.
It gets deeper. Working with Aliko Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu in the same spirit of putting country first, other cement manufacturers are partnering with the two prime movers in the cement manufacturing sector to resuscitate the Cement Technology Institute of Nigeria, pledging up to N20 billion annually to train artisans, real human capacity, not PowerPoint plans. We live in Nigeria, where, for the longest time, conversations about growth rarely touch skills. This novel move is, therefore, a bet on people because when people are trained, projects do not just get built but they endure.
President Tinubu alluded to something important during that meeting. He did not just commend BUA, he called the actions of the private sector who have taken a bet on Nigeria throughout this period, “economic patriotism.” Whilst many sit on the sidelines waiting for stability before they act, it matters when Nigerians step in to create it.
Nigeria does not just need big men, it also needs bold moves. What Rabiu, Dangote, and their peers are doing from freezing prices and disrupting hoarding to funding technical skills is not corporate PR. It is policy execution, and that is what separates firms that extract value from those that build it.
In this phase of Nigeria’s transformation, we will need more of the latter. Our country can make do with more businessmen and women who understand that the private sector is not a spectator sport; that stability is not gifted but engineered. And that to win the confidence of 250 million people, you must show, not tell, that the future of Nigeria is under construction.
And if we tell these positive stories loud enough and well, if we stop whispering good news while bad actors shout, we may just shift the national mood from that of despair and hopelessness to productivity.
We make bold this statement because, when industry starts to move like this, it is more than just a market correction. It is a clear signal that the tide is turning positively.
Our country must be a nation of strong, hopeful, and productive people. While some of the challenges of nation-building still persist, we must never shy away from telling those who take undue advantage of fellow citizens that businesses can still make fair and decent profit and not overburden citizens.
President Tinubu knew from his first day in office that the task of reforming and retooling our economy for optimum performance would not be easy. He also knew what would be his place in history if he refused to take the difficult but necessary decisions that would create medium – and long-term sustainability and prosperity for Nigerians.
Truly, the last two years have posed some economic challenges for Nigerians. As the reforms kick in, the macroeconomic variables are turning positive. The fiscal space is becoming more robust. National and subnational debts are being repaid, investors’ confidence growing faster at higher rate than last decade. Nigeria is getting more favourable credit rating from global institutions, inflation slowing down and the country is in stronger balance of trade position with more robust foreign reserves.
All these positive indicators point to how effective the policy prescriptions have been. The government is also working hard to tackle insecurity across the country with remarkable progress. At the same time, the government is investing in critical infrastructure such as roads, energy, rail, ports, irrigation, and social services.
Overall, the economy recorded 3.84% GDP growth in Q4 2024, the highest in three years. The President Tinubu-led administration restored a new wave of final investment decisions into the oil and gas sector by signing an executive order that shortened the contracting cycle and free up more fiscal incentives. On the back of these, the hydrocarbon economy has been bolstered by over $8 billion in new investments from SHELL, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies.
The economy prospects are very bright, and the shared prosperity promised by President Tinubu is crystalising. Nigeria only needs more patriotic and passionate citizens who will always commit to national development and advancement.
As the President has always said, the future of Nigeria will be one built by Nigerians, for Nigeria, and indeed, for Africa. No one, but ourselves, will build the Nigeria of our collective dream or Africa for us. The time to build together is now!
-Ogra and Ajayi are senior aides to President Bola Tinubu