Nigeria’s National Economic Council has endorsed a 90-day economic action plan intended to address cost-of-living pressures and improve food affordability. The decision was taken at the council’s 161st meeting, held virtually on Thursday 22 October and chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima. The Finance Ministry put the plan before the council.
The endorsement sets a short-term policy framework rather than confirming that household costs have already changed. The council has identified areas for action over the period, while the practical measures, timing and results will depend on delivery by the institutions involved.
Five areas for action
The plan identifies five priorities: food affordability, tax harmonisation, completion of high-impact projects, resolution of investment bottlenecks and regulated household support. Taken together, the list combines immediate household pressures with measures intended to make investment and project delivery work more effectively.
Food affordability is placed alongside the broader aim of reducing the cost of living. The investment strand is directed at attracting capital and removing barriers to economic activity, while the project strand is intended to speed up completion of schemes said to bring direct benefits to Nigerians. The terms made public do not identify particular projects or set out funding allocations for them.
Regulated household support is named as a priority, but the endorsement does not itself set out eligibility rules, the form that support will take or when any individual measure would begin. The same distinction applies across the plan: approval of the framework is a decision, whereas the effect on families and businesses will be determined by subsequent implementation.
National project dashboard approved
The council also approved the establishment of a national dashboard to track ongoing projects across the federation. It is intended to support transparency and accountability, with reporting on how proceeds from the removal of fuel subsidies are being used. That gives the council a monitoring mechanism alongside the 90-day plan.
The announcement does not mean that a public dashboard is already operating or that the projects it will cover have been completed. Nor does it specify the information it will publish, how often it will be updated or the date on which it will become available. Those details will matter if the tool is to show how stated priorities are moving into delivery.
Federal and state role
Shettima told state governors and relevant government institutions that the gains claimed from economic reforms should be translated into better living conditions. The council’s approach therefore depends on coordination between federal and state bodies, rather than on a single central action.
The presentation to the meeting also linked the next phase of reform to targeted interventions, improved fiscal coordination and the removal of obstacles to investment. These are objectives of the plan, not confirmed outcomes. The council has not announced that food prices, transport costs or other household expenses have fallen as a result of its endorsement.
For now, the confirmed development is the council’s approval of a 90-day programme and a national project-tracking dashboard. The first test will be whether the responsible institutions turn the five priorities into identifiable measures and provide clear reporting on progress during the period ahead.
