Edun: FG Achieved 85% Capital Expenditure Execution in 2024, Pushes Global Competitiveness

•IMF warns against policy reversal, urges Nigeria to stay the course on reforms

Nume Ekeghe

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has announced that the federal government achieved 85 per cent performance in capital expenditure in the 2024 fiscal year, underscoring what it described as improved budget execution and stronger public finance management. Edun disclosed this yesterday in Lagos at the launch of Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook.

He stressed the need to position Nigeria as a competitive economy both regionally and globally.

That was as International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned Nigeria against reversing recent economic reforms, warning that renewed government intervention in price and volume controls would be unsustainable and could undermine hard-won macroeconomic gains.

Equally speaking at the outlook presentation, Nigeria’s IMF Country Representative, Dr. Christian Ebeke, said the authorities must remain committed to the current fiscal and monetary policy path.

Ebeke stressed that while progress had been made, the reform agenda was far from complete. He said inflation remained in double digits, limiting policy flexibility and underscoring that “the job is not done”.

Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Muhammad Abdullahi, stated that as Nigeria’s bank recapitalisation programme moved into its final phase, CBN’s priority was no longer just building bigger banks, but also ensuring that stronger capital positions translated into productive credit for the real economy.

Abdullahi said the recapitalisation exercise was designed to create a more resilient banking system capable of supporting Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar economy, particularly through improved access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and growth-critical sectors.

Speaking on the budget, Edun said the outcome followed the extension of the 2024 budget implementation period, which allowed the government to complete critical projects rather than abandon them midstream.

He said the decision reflected growing discipline and transparency in fiscal operations.

Edun stated, “In terms of the capital budget, the budget, at the end of the day, is a law of the National Assembly. They extended the 2024 budget for the full year to ensure that projects were completed.”

He explained that the extension resulted in strong execution levels with aggregate capital expenditure reaching 85 per cent by year-end, an improvement on outcomes recorded in previous years.

“In aggregate, capital expenditure in 2024 reached 85 per cent performance,” he stated.

While acknowledging that capital spending in 2025 would be lower, the minister said the government deliberately chose to consolidate gains by completing ongoing projects rather than initiating new ones, given prevailing fiscal constraints.

Edun also dismissed concerns about fiscal sustainability. He stated that the government met all its statutory obligations, despite the tight environment.

“Despite these fiscal challenges, all the statutory obligations, foreign debt service, domestic debt service, salaries were all met by the government,” he said.

The minister added that the capital expenditure performance was part of broader reforms anchored on fiscal discipline, transparency, and prudent management.

He said Nigeria’s fiscal position had shown notable improvement.

“Nigeria’s fiscal position did demonstrate resilience, and I would say marked improvement, reflecting discipline, management and transparency focused reforms,” he stated.

According to the minister, sustained capital spending remains critical to easing food prices, lowering the cost of capital, expanding mortgage financing, boosting electricity supply and accelerating road construction key drivers of inclusive economic growth.

Edun said the country had moved from crisis management into a phase of stabilisation and consolidation, but cautioned that reform momentum must be sustained to translate stability into long-term growth.

Looking ahead, he said the 2026 budget, tagged Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity, was designed to convert macroeconomic stability into tangible benefits for citizens.

Edun explained, “After two years or so of implementing what we all agree are transformative and-politically difficult reforms, this administration has delivered what I would say is significant macroeconomic stabilisation.

“When you look at the growth trajectory and at the success in terms of the monetary aggregates we are now at the threshold of stabilisation, consolidation.

“But it is a phase that demands resolve, discipline and policy consistency as we go forward, and the central message is that Nigeria cannot afford to pause, cannot afford to retreat, cannot afford to sleep, and that is a big undertaking.

“And success will determine whether stability is converted into sustained growth, whether growth delivers productive jobs and whether poverty is reduced at scale.

“So, we need to position the Nigerian economy as a competitive regional and global player capable of feeding itself, housing itself, and, of course, powering the Nigerian economy.”

On his part, Ebeke identified complacency as one of the most immediate risks facing the economy, particularly at the subnational level.

With state governments enjoying improved fiscal space following recent reforms, he warned that pro-cyclical spending, especially in the build-up to elections, could reverse gains achieved by the federal government and key economic managers, including the finance minister and CBN Governor.

Ebeke said, “Government intervention in controlling prices and volumes is no longer sustainable for Nigeria. The objective going forward must be to stay the course on both fiscal and monetary policy.”

He added, “There is still what I would describe as unfinished business. Inflation remains in double digits, and while the deputy governor will speak more on this, it is clear that the job is not yet done.

“In my view, Nigeria currently faces two key risks. The first is the risk of complacency—of believing that the job is already done. This risk is not necessarily at the federal level; I see it more at the subnational level.

“Fiscal space has increased significantly for states, and in a pre-election year, the temptation towards pro-cyclical fiscal policy becomes a very acute risk.

“That could easily undo the gains achieved by the minister of finance, the central bank governor, and other members of the economic team.”

Ebeke said, “The second risk is what we refer to as home-grown volatility. This is self-inflicted—policy mistakes that introduce unnecessary pain into the system.

“A return to exchange rate controls, for example, would be a major mistake at this point. It would deplete reserves, distort market signals, and negatively impact market confidence. In short, Nigeria is facing difficult policy trade-offs.”

CBN’s deputy governor (economic policy) said the recapitalisation exercise was designed to create a more resilient banking system capable of supporting Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar economy, particularly through improved access to credit for SMEs and growth-critical sectors.

Abdullahi, speaking on a panel, stated, “At the inception of the capitalisation programme, the major focus is how do we ensure that we have stronger banks that can support our drive towards a trillion-dollar economy. And the only way to get there is through the credit-review sector, to SMEs, to businesses that require funding at good rates.

“So, as we close up towards March, I mean, the efforts have been quite impressive. We have about 20 banks that have already met it. A number of banks are meeting it every day.”

He explained that much of the intervention-style financing previously undertaken by the CBN was essentially fiscal in nature and not sustainable as a permanent monetary policy tool.

As a result, Abdullahi said CBN had held deep consultations with Ministry of Finance to reposition development finance within a broader growth strategy, with fiscal authorities taking the lead going forward.

According to him, CBN and Ministry of Finance have been working on a new definition of growth strategy.

“Now, we’ve done a lot of work in that space to understand what are the links in the development finance.,” he said.

Abdullahi stated, “Nigeria needs about N230 trillion in terms of development finance for various sectors. The capitalisation on average for all of the development finance institutions combined is not up to N9 trillion. So, there’s a huge gap in terms of that.

“So how do we crowd in private sector capital globally and domestically? How do we ensure that when that capital comes in that it’s used efficiently, that people don’t deploy it to other uses?”

The CBN deputy governor said, “So, we’ve done a lot of work on it, and the fiscal will be leading on this going forward. And then to see that as much as possible we’re able to crowd in finance from global partners and global investors, but also domestically to rechannel it.

“And then there’s a clear programme to then see how do we correct the incentives in each of the DFIs to ensure that when people give up money it’s not seen as government money that should just be wasted.

“So, there’s a lot of work in the background for that, and we are hoping that over the next few months we’ll see some movement in that space.”