Nigeria demands bold global action, domestic reform ahead of UN devt financing confab

Ahead of the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) scheduled for June 30th, 2025, in Seville, Spain, Nigeria has demanded a transformative global reforms and urgent domestic action to address persistent financing challenges facing the Global South. The demand is contained in a new report titled “Financing for Development in Nigeria: Sectoral Context […]

Ahead of the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) scheduled for June 30th, 2025, in Seville, Spain, Nigeria has demanded a transformative global reforms and urgent domestic action to address persistent financing challenges facing the Global South.

The demand is contained in a new report titled “Financing for Development in Nigeria: Sectoral Context and Insights for the Fourth International Conference”, a policy position developed by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), with support from Oxfam in Nigeria; the Tax Justice and Governance Platform,

Connected Development (CODE), and other key partners under the Africa Agenda on Financing for Developments (Agenda Afrique).

The report presents a sobering analysis of Nigeria’s development trajectory, warning that Nigeria faces a multidimensional financing gap, driven by underperforming domestic resource mobilization, inequitable global financial rules, and increasing vulnerability to climate change.

“Critical sectors such as education, health, agriculture, and climate resilience remain chronically underfunded. Education spending falls below UNESCO benchmarks, health expenditure remains under 4% of GDP, and the country loses over $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows.

“Meanwhile, Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio has now exceeded 70 percent, leaving little room for investment in people,” the report presented by Executive Director of CISLAC, Mallam Auwal Musa Rafsanjani; Executive Director, CODE, Hamzat Lawal; Senior Programme Officer Oxfam, Henry Ushie; and Executive Director SIDEC, Anambra State Ugochi Ehiahuruike, said.

The report read by Mallam Rafsanjani also emphasizes that while international frameworks such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063, ECOWAS Vision 2050, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a shared vision for progress, the real struggle lies in resource mobilization.

“The issue is not a lack of frameworks, but rather a lack of effective implementation due to several core problems. Corruption, poor budget implementation, outdated development data, and weak public financial management systems as recurring challenges,” the report said.

It laments that most Nigerian states do not have measurable development blueprints, making it difficult to track progress or attract meaningful investments.

It said, “Without decisive and deliberate efforts to bridge these financing gaps at both national and sub-national levels, Nigeria will continue to fall behind.”

On the domestic front, the report outlines a range of policy proposals to enhance Nigeria’s financial capacity. These include adopting digital tax systems for fair taxation, simplifying trade processes to drive industrialisation, launching anti-corruption and asset recovery campaigns, and establishing development finance facilities to de-risk private investment in infrastructure and social services.

It also calls for the institutionalisation of peer learning platforms to encourage innovation in sub-national financing strategies.

The report lamented Nigeria’s worsening brain drain crisis, saying “The continued migration of Nigeria’s skilled workforce especially young professionals is directly linked to the lack of inclusive economic opportunities at home. If we fail to invest in youth-centred policies and job creation, our best minds will continue to seek prosperity elsewhere.”