•Dr Jumoke Oduwole
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has complained about the proposed ₦2.72 billion capital allocation for the ministry in the budget 2026.
The Minister bore her mind on behalf of the 15-16 ministries, departments and agencies under her ministry ,during the budget defence session she had with the Senate, recently.
Dr Oduwole told Senator Umar Sadiq, APC, Kwara North, led Senate Committee on Trade and Investment that the amount was grossly inadequate to deliver the scale of programmes required to drive Nigeria’s industrialization, trade expansion, and investment-attracting agenda.
Oduwole, who outlined the ministry’s achievements over the past two years, affirmed that the results recorded so far justified increased capital support, disclosed that Nigeria recorded about $21 billion in capital importation in the first 10 months of 2025, compared to $12 billion in 2024 and under $4 billion in 2023.
She attributed the improvement to deliberate ministry interventions, including the development of over $5 billion in bankable investment projects, sector-focused deal rooms and Nigeria’s first Domestic Investor Summit.
The Minister who appealed to the National Assembly for a targeted increase in capital funding stressed that without adequate resources, the ministry’s ability to support President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the push for a trillion-dollar economy would be severely constrained.
