During the weekly Executive Council meeting, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, disclosed the Federal Government’s initiative on increasing non-oil revenue streams while attempting to deal with the economic impacts of trade tariffs set by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The Economic Management Team (EMT) is scheduled to meet to discuss the consequences of a 14 percent duty on Nigerian imports to the US and how to mitigate negative impacts on the economy.
Edun, who was speaking at the Corporate Governance Forum organized by MOFI, noted that Nigeria remains exposed to risks of a decline in oil prices due to some factors in the international markets, but steps are being taken to increase crude oil production as well as explore new revenue streams outside of oil revenue. In April, Trump announced tariffs on some countries but exempted certain minerals, which include oil. Edun emphasized that Nigeria’s main weakness will now depend on the price oil is trading at in the international market rather than other export sanctions that may be placed on Nigeria.
The functions of the EMT, according to Edun, constitute the evaluation of changing global economic risk factors and the counsel that could be offered to the government while formulating policy directions for such situations.
He pointed out Nigeria’s persistent trade surplus with the United States between 2022 and 2024, primarily because of oil and mineral exports, which made up 92% of the N5.5 trillion total exports in 2024. Their non-oil counterparts, albeit quite low at N0.44 trillion, are still an area of focus with great potential.
In a bid to cushion the effects of oil market fluctuations, the government intends to focus on the oil revenue side first through FIRS and Customs, budget reallocation, and new financing channels. Edun also spoke of the need for strong governance over state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve transparency, investment, and sustainable growth in vital sectors like energy and infrastructure.
From the conclusion of the minister’s remarks, it appears that navigating the changes to global trade is one of many concerns to balance with harnessing the relative strength of Nigeria’s economy, which relies on maintaining fiscal robustness.
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