Nigeria Needs $100 Billion Annual Investment to Meet 2050 Growth Ambitions — Minister Bagudu
Nigeria must secure at least $100 billion in investments every year to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming a middle-income nation by 2050, according to Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu. Speaking on Tuesday at a policy dialogue on “Deepening Legislative-Executive Synergy for Effective Economic Governance in Nigeria,” organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja, Bagudu emphasised that the country’s growth agenda cannot be achieved without unprecedented capital inflows.
Bagudu defended the Nigeria Agenda 2050 as “a realistic pathway to prosperity” rather than an overly ambitious programme. He noted that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has already taken bold steps to reverse years of weak fiscal capacity and systemic distortions. These reforms, he added, are designed to build investor confidence and unlock both private and public sector funding on an unprecedented scale.
According to the minister, the Agenda 2050 framework is structured into six medium-term plans, starting with 2021–2025 and advancing in five-year phases until 2050. Each phase outlines reforms aimed at diversifying the economy, boosting productivity, and improving governance to make Nigeria more attractive to investors.
Bagudu also highlighted Nigeria’s progress on fiscal reforms, revealing that the country’s revenue-to-GDP ratio rose from 9 percent in June 2023 to 16 percent. However, he stressed that Nigeria still lags behind peer economies in public spending. “Brazil, a federation like Nigeria, has a federal budget of about $700 billion, while ours is just $36 billion,” he said. “Japan, with roughly half of Nigeria’s population, spends more than $20 trillion annually. These disparities explain why outcomes are inevitably different.”
The minister’s remarks come at a time when Nigeria is facing falling oil exports and increased competition for global investment. Analysts say that achieving the $100 billion annual investment target will require deep policy consistency, improved infrastructure, and stronger legislative-executive collaboration to sustain reforms and attract long-term capital.
source: business day