Nigeria moves to medium HDI in 2025 – Report

Agency Report

For the first time since 1990, Nigeria has moved into the medium human development indicator (HDI) category, with its score rising to 0.560 in the latest UNDP report published on May 6.

However, beneath the milestone lies a sobering reality—Nigeria ranks 164th out of 193 countries, trailing Rwanda (0.578), Ghana (0.628), and Togo (0.571).

This is a stark reminder of the challenges ahead unless the country mainstreams the SDGs.

“Nigeria’s poor SDG performance is rooted in systemic issues that require comprehensive reforms, including strengthening institutional capacity, enhancing governance, and fostering political commitment to sustenance development.

“At the heart of the problem is the absence of a coherent long term development strategy that priorities inclusive growth. Economic growth has been primarily quantitative driven by oil revenues with minimal impact on productivity and household consumption as a share of GDP has declined from 74 per cent of GDP in 2015 to 66 per cent in 2023”, said Bismarck Rewane, Chief Executive of Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC).

Rewane said the Trump’s climate rollback has again jolted the sustainability agenda.

“The markets have forced President Trump to pause his reciprocal tariffs, but he isn’t backing down from rolling back key federal climate initiatives. By suspending contributions to the Green Climate Fund and delaying clean energy subsidies, the global sustainability agenda now hangs in the balance.

“Nigeria—already lagging on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) benchmarks—faces tighter climate finance and a more uncertain path to adaptation. ESG investors are recalibrating, and the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 looks increasingly bleak for Nigeria, said Rewane.

In addition, FDC believes that Nigeria is likely pause on interest rates hike, following the U.S example.