Nigeria’s Economy

Nigerian Economy. Photo Credit: www.nigeriaintel.com

Nigeria has a sound and vibrant economy, the atmosphere for doing business in the country has significantly improved, Nigerians and external investors are now confident of doing business in Nigeria. They also are commending the Nigerian government for current developments witnessed across the country. After almost a decade of military interference, the Nigerian state has finally embraced and consolidates on democracy which has started yielding great impact on the economy. In the 1990s, the Nigerian economy was stagnated and was growing slowly at an average rate of 2.8% annually. By the year 1998 the Nigerian economy
had completely failed making many Nigerians to leave the country in their thousands to seek of greener pasture abroad.
The trend today has completely reversed. The economy has bounced back after much work of fighting corruption and other financial crimes head on using agencies like the EFCC and the ICPC. Across the globe, approximately 300 Nigerian are detained or held for various offences and corrupt practices. Many illegal assets amounting to the toned of $500 million obtained by past corrupt leaders have been recovered and returned back. The current due process policy introduced by the government has halt wasteful spending by curbing illegal financial malpractices saving the Nigerian government over $700 million. The total GDP growth stood at 5% between 1998 and 2004, and an estimated projection of 10.2% is expected in 2003.
The massive growth in 2003 was propelled by huge investment in the agricultural sector, which stood at 88% while the oil sector grew at twenty three percent. There was a steady fall from 20.7% in the year 1999 to 16% in 2003. In other sectors the trend was significantly the followed the same pattern, with the biggest fall rate of 22.7% to 19.6%. Nigeria’s external reserves stood at $10.2 billion at the end of April 2004.  The decentralization of other sectors yielded great results. Forty years after Nigeria’s Independence, the total installed telephone lines was about 460,000.  However, with the coming of the GSM, the number had grown over nearly 1000% with more than four million lines alone in 2003. Growth in the hospitality industry was also significant. Foreign and external investment alone in the non-oil sector rose hugely, from virtually nothing to $billions between 1999 to 2003. Heineken sited one of the largest brew stations here and renovated its already existing plants by re-investing approximately ₤500 million. The British American cigarette giant BAT is also rolling out huge investment in south western part of the country. These developments have scaled up employment opportunities for young Nigerians making the staggering unemployment rate to significantly fall.
Last Revised-1993