During the South-West Labour Summit 2025 in Lagos, Comrade Festus Osifo, the President General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has said Nigeria must embrace agriculture as a key driver of sustainable growth and economic transformation.
He expressed concern about Nigeria’s economic dependency on crude oil.
Osifo criticized the political leadership for not fully tapping into the country’s vast resources, calling it a sign of “laziness.” He stressed the need for structural reforms and greater productivity, urging Nigerian governments to shift focus from oil to sectors like agriculture to improve the economy.
“Nigeria as a country is very poor, but we have a huge potential to be wealthy. Nigeria has a budget of slightly above N50 trillion. We should never allow the trillions of Naira to keep confusing us. Because across the world, there is a common denominator with which we carry out our comparisons. And that is the U.S. Dollar.”
He explained how, despite the large size of Nigeria’s national budget, its value in U.S. dollar terms has remained relatively low.
“If we value our budget in terms of the U.S. dollar over the last 10 years, we are going to realise that it is somewhere about $13-35 billion,” he added.
Osifo further highlighted the country’s infrastructural needs, stating that the estimated cost to rebuild Nigeria’s federal roads is around $120 billion.
He noted that this figure is four times the size of Nigeria’s annual budget, and that this doesn’t even account for other essential sectors like education, healthcare, and pensions.
He drew comparisons with the endowment funds of international universities, noting that the funds of institutions like Harvard and Stanford exceed Nigeria’s entire budget.
“A tiny piece of a university like Harvard, for example, has an endowment fund of about $50 billion; Stanford, over $35 billion, more than our budget as a country.”
Osifo attributed Nigeria’s lack of progress to inadequate leadership, particularly at the local government level.
He criticized the lack of visible leadership, citing that many local government chairmen are rarely seen until funds are being distributed.
“So, we live in a country where we have vast potential resources, where we have resources, but they are not being harnessed.”
“We have fertile land in Niger, Borno and across the country wasting away. The Netherlands makes twice Nigeria’s crude earnings from agriculture on far less land. Why can’t we?”
Osifo stressed that the solution lies in prioritizing agriculture and creating a commercial farming environment.
He noted that governments should lead by example and create an enabling environment for large-scale farming.
On behalf of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Afolabi Ayantayo, the Commissioner for Establishment and Training in Lagos, also addressed the summit.
He stressed the need for Nigerian embassies to actively promote exports and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to drive economic growth.
Ayantayo reiterated Lagos State’s commitment to workers’ welfare, noting that the government was dedicated to ensuring fair pay, safe workplaces, and the continued collaboration with labor unions to address inflation and the cost of living.
“Lagos State is proud to partner with all labour unions, employers and stakeholders in this important mission,” Ayantayo said. “We understand just how crucial workers are to the heartbeat of our economy. Your hard work, skills and determination are the pillars upon which our progress rests.”
He further emphasized that regional transformation would require broad collaboration beyond just government and labor, involving all sectors of society.
“Real regional transformation happens through partnership, not just between the government and labour, but across all sectors of society.”
