Business
Ministry lists priority sectors to drive investment this year
Year 2025 marked a defining phase in Nigeria’s economic repositioning under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) delivering critical reforms and results that deepened industrial capacity, expanded exports, and restored investor confidence.
Guided by this national vision, FMITI said it executed a coordinated reform programme across investment attraction, trade expansion, export diversification, and institutional strengthening.
It noted that progress recorded in 2025 reflects strong collaboration across government agencies, the private sector, and development partners, translating policy intent into tangible and measurable economic outcomes.
Collectively, these results, the FMITI said, affirm that “2025 marked a decisive inflection point for Nigeria, restoring investor confidence, strengthening competitiveness, expanding exports, and laying the foundation for sustained and inclusive growth.”
The Ministry announced that building on this momentum, it is, this year, transitioning from inflection to transformation pathways, with a strong and sustained focus on execution and empirically verifiable impact to support domestic businesses to produce more and accelerate exports.
The Ministry, which made these known in its review of 2025 and outlook for the current year, titled, ‘2025: A Defining Year for Nigeria’s Industry, Trade and Investment,’ said it will continue to drive investment attraction and retention through the rollout of investor playbooks in four priority sectors.
FMITI, in the document released on Tuesday and made available to The Nation, listed the four priority sectors to include solid minerals industrial value chains and trade infrastructure investment, digital trade and investment, the creative economy, and climate-smart investment and green industrialisation.
Furthermore, FMITI stated that it’s investor transformation agenda is being reinforced by strengthening investor facilitation at Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC’s) one-stop shop investor desk, customised digital investment portals and enhanced coordination across key ministries, departments, and agencies, with a whole-of-government approach to effectively achieve project delivery.
It also assured that the newly released National Industrial Policy will be effectively operationalised nationwide, translating strategy into measurable industrial outcomes.
Importantly, the Ministry’s African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Roadshow and Export Facilitation Programme, targeted at every ward across the country, will drive coordinated export facilitation in collaboration with relevant FMITI agencies.
The agencies include Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Bank of Industry (BOI), and Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM).
According to the document, execution will be advanced through targeted stakeholder engagements across all six geopolitical zones, convening domestic and foreign businesses and investors around priority value chains aligned with Nigeria’s industrial and trade ambitions under the AfCFTA framework.
Taken together, FMITI said these efforts underscore its commitment to building a more predictable business environment, unlocking long-term investment, accelerating job creation, and delivering shared prosperity for Nigerians everywhere.
Recalling some of the tangible and measurable economic outcomes that signposted 2025, FMITI said Nigeria recorded strong progress in export-led growth and diversification in 2025, with non-oil exports growing by 21 per cent to reach $12.8 billion in H1 2025.
It noted that the figure was nearly double the $6.5 billion target and contributed to a N12 trillion trade surplus during the same period. Overall trade value also expanded by 14 per cent, with further gains expected as trade
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