Vice President Kashim Shettima, Finance Minister Wale Edun, and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Olayemi Cardoso have called on Nigerians to adopt risk management as a national culture to build economic resilience amid global uncertainties.
The appeal was made yesterday in Lagos at the 24th Annual International Conference of the Chartered Risk Management Institute of Nigeria (CRMI), themed “Global Risks, Local Solutions.”
Speaking through his adviser on Economic and Financial Inclusion, Nurudeen Zauro, Shettima warned that Nigeria faces evolving threats such as climate change, cybersecurity, pandemics, and disruptive technologies. He said resilience must go beyond government policies to shape household, business, and institutional decisions. “Preparedness is not a luxury; it is the foundation of stability and prosperity,” he noted.
CBN Governor Cardoso, represented by Blaise Ijebor, Director of Risk Management Department, highlighted economic pressures from supply chain disruptions, capital flow reversals, and extreme weather. He said recent policy reforms are designed to restore stability by embedding risk awareness in economic planning.
Finance Minister Edun, represented by Permanent Secretary Raymond Omachi, said reforms including fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification were painful but necessary to reposition the economy for sustainable growth. “The future will not be defined by the storms we face but by the solutions we craft together,” he added.
In his opening remarks, CRMI President Kevin Ugwuoke stressed that risk should also be viewed as a driver of innovation and competitiveness, describing the conference as a platform to turn vulnerabilities into opportunities for growth.
