The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned that the country cannot industrialise or expand manufacturing without solving its electricity challenges. It called on the Federal Government to refocus Nigeria’s development strategy on engineering, technical skills and a reliable power supply.

The President of the LCCI, Leye Kupoluyi, said Nigeria’s failure to prioritise engineering capacity and technical competence continues to weaken the manufacturing sector and slow industrial growth.

In an interview with The PUNCH, Kupoluyi stated that countries classified as developed earned that status through their engineering strength, manufacturing capacity and skilled human capital, despite mineral resources.

He said, “When an economy is an industrial economy, we say this country is a developed country. For a country to qualify as a developed country, it must have strength in engineering and technical knowledge. That is basic.”

Kupoluyi, an engineer, said nations that dominate global trade built their influence on manufacturing and technical skills, stressing that no country can become developed by relying on imports.

“You can’t take over the world without having that skill, without having that technical edge, without having engineering capacity. It’s not just possible,” he said.

The LCCI president noted that excessive dependence on imports prevents any country from being regarded as developed, regardless of its natural resource endowment.

“When you have to import everything that makes your economy tick, nobody will ever refer to that country as a developed country. Mineral resources would not qualify any country to be a so-called developed country,” Kupoluyi said.

He added that global examples show that countries with limited mineral resources but strong manufacturing bases are consistently ranked as developed economies.

“It is human resources, it is technical, it is engineering, it is skill, it is manufacturing. We don’t need to contest that at all,” he said.

Kupoluyi also linked engineering development to youth empowerment, citing Nigeria’s success in technology-driven sectors such as financial technology.

He said, “Take FinTech in Nigeria. That has been 100 per cent taken over by our youth. We have more than five unicorns in FinTech.”

He added that young Nigerians are driving innovation and wealth creation through technology-based enterprises, highlighting digital platforms transforming services such as food delivery and logistics.

“That is the power of technology. That is the power of knowledge. That is what we just need to focus on,” Kupoluyi said.

On power supply, the LCCI president said electricity remains a major constraint to manufacturing and engineering businesses but noted that the decentralisation of power is a positive step.

He said, “What the government has done to decentralise power is a good step in the right direction. Sub-nationals should take advantage of it, being able to provide power in their own environment.”

Kupoluyi urged the government to encourage off-grid and renewable energy solutions, arguing that leaving the national grid is not necessarily a sign of failure but an economic decision.

“You can go off the grid for economic reasons. When you can produce power cheaper than what you are getting from the grid, what do you do? You move out,” he said.

He disclosed that his organisation operates off-grid using solar energy, with significant installed capacity, stating, “We are off the grid here. Everything is here. I have close to 100 kVA solar power.”

Kupoluyi called for incentives to support the adoption of renewable energy, including tax reliefs, import incentives for batteries and possible cashback schemes.

“There might be an incentive to go green. There might be an incentive for bringing those batteries to Nigeria. In some cases, they will give you a cashback incentive,” he said.

He argued that widespread adoption of decentralised power solutions would boost production and support industrialisation.

“That is where they need this power. Tomorrow, at your apartment, you will put it on solar. I think that is the way to go,” Kupoluyi added.

Meanwhile, power sector challenges undermined industrial growth, according to a policy brief by the Director of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf.

Yusuf said Nigeria’s power sector remains one of the most difficult areas of economic reform, despite several interventions.

“Nigeria’s power sector remains one of the most challenging areas of the country’s economic reform agenda,” he said.

He noted that the sector faces “deep structural, financial, and governance challenges,” including tariff distortions, weak investor capacity, transmission bottlenecks, and a persistent liquidity crisis.

Yusuf said the failure to implement cost-reflective tariffs has entrenched subsidy dependence and widened the sector’s financing gap, pushing sector debt to about N4tn.

“The current trajectory, characterised by rising sector debt, is fiscally unsustainable without deeper structural corrections,” he warned.

He added that weaknesses across the power value chain, from gas supply to distribution, continue to limit electricity supply and reliability.

Yusuf called for phased tariff reforms, stronger governance, recapitalisation of distribution companies, transmission reforms and greater support for decentralised and renewable power.

He said, “Power sector reform remains central to Nigeria’s economic competitiveness, industrial growth and social welfare.”

International Money Transfer Operator inflows into Nigeria fell by 11.78 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period of last year, according to new figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest Quarterly Statistical Bulletin.

An analysis of the data showed that IMTO receipts totalled $2.07bn between January and June 2025, down from $2.34bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2024. This represents a decline of about $275.93m year-on-year, showing pressure in an important non-oil foreign exchange source at a time the monetary authorities are banking on remittances to support market liquidity.

A monthly breakdown of the figures seen by our correspondent showed that the decline was uneven over the period, with only one month recording growth. In January 2025, IMTO inflows dropped to $281.97m from $390.86m in January 2024, a 27.86 per cent decline.

February receipts also weakened, declining by 11.65 per cent to $288.82m from $326.91m a year earlier. The downward trend continued in March, when inflows fell to $317.60m compared with $363.76m in March 2024, representing a 12.69 per cent decline.

However, April bucked the trend. Inflows through IMTOs rose sharply to $597.44m in April 2025 from $466.11m in April 2024, indicating a 28.18 per cent year-on-year increase. This was the strongest month in the six-month period and the only month to record positive growth.

The rebound did not last. In May 2025, inflows fell back to $288.17m from $404.75m recorded in the same month of the previous year, a 28.80 per cent drop. June also posted a decline of 25.02 per cent, with receipts slipping to $292.25m from $389.79m in June 2024.

The April spike helped to moderate the scale of the half-year fall but was not enough to offset weaker inflows across the other five months. International money transfers from Nigerians in the diaspora form a key plank of the country’s external receipts.

Remittances support household consumption, savings, investment, and foreign exchange supply. They have also become more important in recent years as the economy sought to diversify away from volatile oil earnings.

Fluctuations in the FX market, global economic conditions, and domestic purchasing power may all be playing a role in shaping remittance behaviour. While the bulletin did not provide reasons for the decline, the pattern suggests that inflows remained sensitive to both domestic and international economic headwinds.

The dip in IMTO receipts comes despite wider policy reforms aimed at stabilising the foreign exchange market and rebuilding confidence. In January 2024, the central bank removed the cap on exchange rates quoted by IMTOs, which had previously limited rates to within ±2.5 per cent of the previous day’s closing rate.

The CBN also increased the IMTO licence application fee from N500,000 in 2014 to N10m in the updated guidelines, representing a nearly 1,900 per cent increase over 10 years. Also, a minimum operating capital requirement of $1m was set for both foreign and local IMTOs.

While IMTOs were initially barred from purchasing foreign exchange from the domestic market, recent circulars indicate that this restriction has been lifted, allowing them to trade on the official market.

The CBN established a Collaborative Task Force reporting directly to CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, aiming to double remittance inflows by increasing competition, engaging diaspora communities, and improving transparency in FX transactions.

Also, the CBN recently granted 14 new Approval-in-Principle licences to IMTOs, as confirmed by the Bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali. The reforms have streamlined regulatory procedures, onboarded more IMTOs, and enhanced measures to increase the supply of foreign currencies.

However, while these steps likely contributed to the significant growth in remittance inflows in 2024, the increase has not been sustained in 2025. Although the CBN has repeatedly emphasised its commitment to attracting non-oil FX, the latest figures indicate that the remittance pipeline remains uneven.

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria has renewed its call for the privatisation of Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries, urging the Federal Government to transparently conclude the process by the first quarter of 2026.

The association said the timely privatisation of the refineries operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited would eliminate the recurring fiscal burden on the government, improve operational efficiency, attract private capital and technical expertise, and align Nigeria’s refining sector with global best practices.

In a statement, the PETROAN National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said sustained public funding of the refineries has failed to deliver optimal results over the years, making private sector-led management inevitable if the country is to achieve energy security and stability in the downstream petroleum sector.

Gillis-Harry stressed that privatisation, if properly executed, would encourage competition, ensure sustainable refinery operations, reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products, conserve foreign exchange, and support job creation across the value chain.

PETROAN also linked refinery reform to broader sectoral growth, noting that increased domestic refining capacity would complement ongoing investments in upstream production and strengthen the country’s overall energy outlook.

“PETROAN renewed its call for the privatisation of Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries, advocating that the process be transparently concluded by the first quarter of 2026. The association noted that timely privatisation will improve efficiency, encourage competition in the sector, eliminate recurrent fiscal burdens on government, attract private capital and technical expertise, and ensure sustainable refinery operations in line with global best practices,” the statement said.

The association expressed confidence that the 2026 Budget, which is based on a crude oil production target of 1.84 million barrels per day and an oil price benchmark of $64–65 per barrel, provides a strong framework for implementing key reforms, including refinery privatisation.

It maintained that decisive action on refineries, alongside improved security for oil and gas infrastructure, effective host community engagement under the Petroleum Industry Act, and adequately funded regulators, would significantly enhance investor confidence and sector performance.

PETROAN further argued that the successful privatisation of the refineries would free government resources for critical areas such as security and infrastructure, while allowing the private sector to drive efficiency and innovation in refining and petrochemical development.

The association concluded that refinery privatisation remains central to achieving a stable downstream sector and maximising the benefits of Nigeria’s oil and gas resources under the 2026 budget framework.

“PETROAN expressed confidence that a well-implemented Nigeria 2026 Budget, anchored on security, host community inclusion, regulatory efficiency, private sector participation, and decisive refinery sector reforms, will strengthen the oil and gas sector, enhance national energy security, boost government revenue, and support sustainable economic development,” the statement concluded.

Calls for the privatisation of the refineries intensified following the shutdown of the 60,000-barrel-per-day Port Harcourt refinery in May this year, six months after it was declared operational.

The Warri refinery was also shut down one month after the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, declared it open in December 2024. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria said the refineries were a drain on the country’s economy, calling on the Federal Government to sell them off.

The PUNCH reports that the Federal Government has consistently expended resources on the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, which became moribund many years ago. It was gathered that $1.4bn was approved for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery in 2021, $897m was earmarked for Warri, and $586m for the Kaduna refinery.

N100bn was reportedly spent on refinery rehabilitation in 2021, with N8.33bn monthly expenditure. A total of $396.33m was allegedly spent on turnaround maintenance between 2013 and 2017. Despite all the financial allocations, the refineries remain unproductive as of the time of this report.

The new GCEO of NNPC, Bayo Ojulari, rejected calls for the sale of the refineries, expressing confidence that the three plants would be revamped. When the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the government refineries might never work again, Ojulari said the plants would come back to life.

Ojulari recently said the company was assessing the operational and commercial viability of its three refineries to determine whether to overhaul or repurpose them for enhanced efficiency and profitability.

According to him, the ongoing technical and commercial review is part of a broader plan to reposition the refineries as sustainable, revenue-generating assets that can meet Nigeria’s fuel demand and align with international operational standards.

He stated that the review marks the beginning of a new era in Nigeria’s refining sector. According to Ojulari, NNPC Limited is currently in the “Technical and Commercial Review” phase, aimed at assessing the operational state of all three refineries and determining whether to upgrade or repurpose the facilities for optimal performance and long-term sustainability.

In November, the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said the NNPC imported a significant quantity of petrol. Marketers said this was largely due to the dormancy of the government refineries.