Nigeria must turn reforms into jobs, production – BUA chief

The Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has credited President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms with improving investor confidence, but said Nigeria must urgently expand its industrial base to translate the changes into jobs, production and better living standards.

Rabiu said Nigeria needed at least 100 more indigenous industrial groups like BUA to drive growth across manufacturing, agriculture, mining and technology, arguing that the country could not achieve broad-based prosperity without a substantial increase in productive investment.

“But the question we must ask ourselves is not simply how BUA can continue to grow. It is how Nigeria can create another 100 BUAs,” he said.

Rabiu spoke on Tuesday while delivering the keynote address at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, where he acknowledged improvements in foreign exchange access and other reforms under the Tinubu administration, while calling for sustained policy stability, long-term financing and infrastructure investment to support industrial growth.

He said the removal of petrol subsidies, foreign exchange reforms, fiscal and tax changes, efforts to strengthen the banking sector and infrastructure investments had begun to address longstanding obstacles to business expansion.

Rabiu singled out access to foreign exchange as a significant improvement for manufacturers, recalling that businesses previously struggled to obtain dollars for machinery and raw materials even when they had sufficient naira to finance their investments.

“Legitimate businesses can now access foreign exchange through the market at prevailing exchange rates, rather than depending on direct allocations from the Central Bank,” he said.

He said the change had made investment planning more predictable, adding that he had met the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, only a handful of times since Cardoso assumed office, unlike the previous period when businesses frequently approached the apex bank for foreign exchange allocations.

The BUA chairman, however, cautioned that reforms would have limited impact on ordinary Nigerians unless they led to higher production, job creation and improved living standards.

“We must move from reform to results, from stabilisation to expansion, and from economic adjustment to shared prosperity,” he said.

Making the case for the scale of investment possible in Nigeria, Rabiu disclosed that BUA Foods and BUA Cement, both listed on the Nigerian Exchange, had a combined market capitalisation of more than $17bn. He put BUA Foods’ value at over $10bn and BUA Cement’s at approximately $7bn.

He said the group was expanding its operations in flour milling, pasta, noodles, edible oils, rice milling and animal feed, with projects expected to be completed in 2027 and double production capacity across the relevant operations.

“These investments will strengthen Nigeria’s food security, create jobs, support farmers and suppliers, and expand our capacity to serve markets across Africa. Our ambition is not simply to become bigger. It is to make Nigeria stronger,” he said.

Rabiu identified access to affordable, long-term capital as one of the major constraints on the creation and expansion of large industrial businesses. He said investments in manufacturing often required between 10 and 20 years to realise their full potential, making reliable financing essential.

He urged banks, pension funds, insurance companies, development finance institutions and capital-market operators to mobilise more funds for productive investment, rather than leave businesses struggling to secure financing for projects with long gestation periods.

He also called for policy consistency and continued infrastructure development, arguing that businesses needed a stable environment in which to make long-term commitments.

Using Nigeria’s cement industry as an example, Rabiu said sustained domestic investment had transformed the country from one that imported almost 80 per cent of its cement consumption into a self-sufficient producer and net exporter.

He argued that similar investment in other sectors could reduce dependence on imported finished goods, create domestic value chains and expand Nigeria’s export capacity.

Rabiu cited BUA’s integrated sugar project in Lafiagi, Kwara State, as an example of the potential of agricultural processing and value addition.

“Nigeria must not remain simply a supplier of raw materials or a market for finished products. We must become a nation that processes, manufactures and exports,” he said.

He urged the government and private sector to establish a new economic accord built around policy stability, productive investment, human capital development, access to long-term capital and shared prosperity.

He also called on Nigerian businesses to take advantage of opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area, saying the country’s industrial future depended partly on its ability to compete in regional and international markets.

While expressing confidence in Nigeria’s economic prospects, Rabiu said the country needed to convert its natural resources and entrepreneurial capacity into measurable economic output.

“But potential alone is not prosperity. It must be organised, financed and converted into production,” he said.

“No one will build Nigeria for us. We must build it ourselves.”

The 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit, organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, brought together Vice-President Kashim Shettima, government officials, state governors, business leaders and policymakers to discuss ways to accelerate economic growth, productivity and shared prosperity.