NESG Urges Government to Maintain 2.2 mbpd Oil Production for 2025 Budget
By Patience Ikpeme
The Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) has advised the federal government to sustain a crude oil production level of 2.2 million barrels per day to ensure the feasibility of the 2025 budget.
Speaking to the press in Abuja on Friday, NESG CEO Tayo Aduloju stated that, “You do need to be hitting your 2.2 million barrels per day crude production no matter what the price of crude is for your budget to even look realistic.”
He added that, “The government has shown since it came in, Nigeria’s crude production moved from 1.1 million barrels to 2.2 million barrels all the way to 2.8 million barrels a day showing that the government can do 2.2 million barrels per day if your trajectory is an incremental movement in oil production a day means it’s possible.”
Aduloju, at the release of the NESG’s 2025 macroeconomic outlook report on Friday, noted, “That’s why for us at NESG again we think that 2.2 million is not ambitious it’s within the arc of the possible.”
He said that achieving this production level requires political stability in the Rivers state and continued funding of government security improvement plans. Aduloju expressed the NESG’s belief that 2.2 million barrels per day was attainable.
He also stated that “Effective implementation of stabilization reforms efforts could accelerate Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to 5.5 percent in 2025.”
The report, titled “Stabilization in Transition: Rethinking Reforms Strategies for 2025 and Beyond,” acknowledged the government’s efforts to address cross-sectoral challenges. It mentioned the anticipated positive effects of improved electricity supply and fuel availability, which are expected to reduce business disruptions, particularly for Nano, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (NMSMEs), thereby boosting productivity and economic performance.
“Additionally, improved foreign exchange availability will sustain operations in the manufacturing sector, which depends on imported raw materials and intermediate inputs. In agriculture, addressing financing, storage, warehousing, and logistics challenges will bolster sectoral performance. The oil and gas sector will remain critical, not just for growth but also as a significant contributor to foreign exchange inflows, external balances resilience, and government revenue. Furthermore, the manufacturing sector is projected to expand due to stabilization policies that address power supply challenges and reduce input costs,” the report stated.
The NESG report forecasts a decline in inflation to 24.7 percent under optimal stabilization efforts, indicating an improvement in Nigeria’s macroeconomic stability.
The report identified effective coordination of fiscal and monetary policies as essential for driving the anticipated reduction in inflation.
It also noted that a relatively stable foreign exchange market, resulting from increased forex supply and reduced speculative demand, will play a crucial role in curbing inflation.
“The anticipated enhanced productivity dynamics across key economic sectors, particularly agriculture, are expected to contribute significantly to the projected ease in inflationary pressure in 2025. Increased agriculture output will improve food supply, address scarcity, and ease food pressure, which constitute significant drivers of inflation in Nigeria. Additionally, improved security in major food-producing regions will ensure better access to farmlands and supply chains, further stabilizing food prices,” the NESG stated.
