WorldStage– Nigeria’s experience with fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange liberalisation and tax reform offers valuable lessons for African countries seeking sustainable growth, stronger regional trade and improved living standards, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has said.
Oyedele spoke at the Africa’s Golden Future Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, where he stressed the importance of sequencing economic reforms, maintaining consistent policy communication and building public trust to achieve sustainable results.
He identified fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange liberalisation and tax reform as key pillars of Nigeria’s economic reform programme, noting that the timing and order of policy implementation could significantly influence their impact on households and businesses.
According to him, removing the fuel subsidy before liberalising the foreign exchange market helped manage the effects of rising costs, while strong institutions and effective communication remained critical to sustaining reforms and securing public confidence.
Oyedele said Nigeria’s reforms were laying the foundation for inclusive growth, job creation and economic expansion, but urged African countries to tackle structural barriers restricting trade and investment across the continent.
He called for the removal of trade barriers, improved infrastructure and stronger regional integration to maximise opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The minister said Nigeria was developing an economic policy framework to align trade, fiscal and monetary policies, improve coordination and strengthen the effectiveness of government interventions.
He identified energy, logistics, storage and processing infrastructure as critical to improving Africa’s competitiveness, adding that Nigeria’s National Single Window initiative was designed to simplify border procedures and enhance trade efficiency.
On the social impact of reforms, Oyedele stressed the need for effective social protection measures to shield vulnerable citizens from rising costs.
He said Nigeria’s cash transfer programme had reached more than 10 million households, while over 1.5 million students had benefited from education support.
Also speaking, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Sidi Ould Tah, called for practical implementation of economic reforms across Africa, stressing that policy commitments must translate into measurable outcomes.
Ould Tah said the bank had supported reforms in Nigeria and Egypt through budget support and was collaborating with development partners to expand electricity access across the continent.
He cited Mission 300, an initiative launched with the World Bank and other partners to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030, as an example of the scale of cooperation required to address the continent’s infrastructure deficit.
According to him, more than 30 African countries had signed energy compacts requiring coordinated reforms, infrastructure investment and private sector participation to expand electricity access.
The AfDB president said intra-African trade accounted for about 15 per cent of the continent’s total trade, compared with 40 per cent and 60 per cent in other regions, highlighting the need to deepen regional economic integration.
He added that the bank devoted more than 60 per cent of its financing to infrastructure, including regional projects designed to improve connectivity and promote continental integration.
Ould Tah further said the African Development Fund’s regional financing mechanism could cover up to 90 per cent of eligible regional projects involving more than two African countries, helping to close financing gaps that often constrain cross-border infrastructure development.
