LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria has lost more than $76 billion over several decades from a pattern of failed government business ventures, Kelvin Oye, Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics and a former President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) , said at the 2026 Vanguard Newspaper Conference in Lagos.
Okay News reports that Oye detailed the cumulative losses in a new policy document presented at the conference, tracing the figure to abandoned or mismanaged state-owned enterprises.
“The government has no business running business,” Oye said, arguing that the state must confine itself to regulation while the private sector drives commercial activity.
He broke down the losses: over $8 billion expended on the Ajaokuta Steel project without any commercial output; $43 billion on failed refinery rehabilitation; about $5.3 billion lost through the collapse of NITEL; and another $20 billion tied to inefficiencies in the aviation sector.
Oye described Ajaokuta Steel as “a monument to governmental hubris,” noting that despite billions of dollars spent, the facility has never produced a single commercial tonne of steel. “The money vanished; the plant stands idle,” he said.
He also cited the collapse of Nigeria Airways and NITEL as examples of structural inefficiency, noting that private operators have since filled the gap more effectively.
Oye proposed a “Catalyst Model” where government provides infrastructure, regulation and enabling frameworks while private investors drive production. He highlighted the livestock sector, currently contributing about $32 billion to GDP, as a major untapped growth engine.
“The disasters of Ajaokuta, the refineries, Nigeria Airways, and NITEL are not accidents of fate. They are predictable consequences of violating a fundamental law: governments regulate, markets operate,” he said.
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