The Federal Government has cleared over N2tn in outstanding capital budget obligations from the 2024 fiscal year, with a pledge to prioritise the timely release of 2025 capital funds.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed this on Thursday at a ministerial press briefing in Abuja, where he also declared that Nigeria is “open for business” to global investors on the back of improved economic stability.

“In the last quarter, we did pay contractors over N2tn to settle outstanding capital budget obligations. That is from last year,” Edun said. “At the moment, we have no pending obligations that are not being processed and financed. And the focus will now shift to 2025 capital releases.”

He stressed that government agencies must only commit to capital projects when funds have been duly authorised.

“Despite appropriation, it is when funds are made available and authorised for spending that government entities… should enter into binding commitments of government,” he added.

The minister pointed to positive macroeconomic indicators, including a trade surplus of over $4bn in the first quarter of 2025, export growth of 9.8 per cent, stable exchange rates, and foreign reserves at $39bn in July.

He attributed these gains to the administration’s policy direction under President Bola Tinubu, which, according to him, has created “stable macroeconomic conditions against which people can plan and they can invest.”

Edun highlighted fiscal reforms such as halting the unauthorised use of Ways and Means advances from the Central Bank, which he said had reduced the debt-to-GDP ratio from 52.1 per cent to 38.8 per cent following GDP rebasing.

“There have been no debits to Ways and Means since early in this administration,” he noted, adding that gross revenues in the first half of 2025 were 37.4 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of 2024.

According to Edun, the Federal Government has increased resources available to state governments by repaying past deductions from the Federation Account. This, he said, has strengthened their fiscal capacity for capital investment.

“Since the first half of 2023, the combined fiscal balance of the states has grown from 1.8 per cent of GDP to 3.1 per cent — that is from N2.8tn to N7.1tn, which is a surplus,” he said. He linked the improvement to subsidy removal and adherence to the rule of law in settling outstanding funds.

The minister announced plans to implement Nigeria’s most comprehensive tax reform from January 2026, which will consolidate all tax laws into a single framework, eliminate over 50 overlapping taxes, and simplify compliance.

He also unveiled a revenue optimisation and assurance platform that will leverage technology, digitisation, and artificial intelligence to centralise collections from ministries, departments, and agencies, block leakages, and strengthen financial intelligence.

Edun reaffirmed the government’s medium-term target of achieving 7 per cent annual GDP growth, to be driven by investment in agriculture, education, health, manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure. He cited recent efforts to attract private capital into infrastructure projects such as the Third Mainland and Carter bridges in Lagos through public-private partnerships.

On energy, he said the government aimed to increase power generation to 6,000 megawatts by the end of the year and complete the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline to support industrial expansion. The minister disclosed that direct cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians were ongoing, with eight million of the targeted 15 million beneficiaries already reached through three rounds of payments.

He added that the payments were being made with full transparency, using biometric verification and digital disbursement. Other programmes include the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, the Consumer Credit Scheme, the forthcoming Youth Investment Bank, and a €600m facility for the digital and creative sectors, with a dedicated allocation for young women.

“Our commitment is to build an economy that works for everyone with transparency, resilience, and purpose,” Edun said.