‘Double digit GDP growth achievable in Nigeria’

With priorities given to infrastructural development, Nigeria can achieve a double digit GDP economy in no distant time, the Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Waheed Olagunju, has said.

Olagunju, explained that Nigeria recorded a GDP per capita income of $233.5 driven by less than 4,000 Mega Watts of power supply, maintaining that with an increase in power supply to about 20,000 Mega watts, Nigeria’s GDP would hit double digit GDP figures.

“It is possible and doable for our GDP to grow at double digits, because in the first half of this decade, Nigeria was among the ten fastest growing economies in the world with a GDP growing at 5 to 7 per cent per annum, where the economy was driven by less than 4,000MW of electricity,” he said.

Olagunju during a members’ evening with the Institute of Directors (IOD) Nigeria, added that in the 70s, indices clearly showed that Nigeria was ahead of China, saying that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Nigeria stood at $233.5 while China was $111.82, but stressed that China is currently ranked second in the world.

“We were ranked 88th in the world while China was 114th and by 2014, over a period of 40 years, China had overtaken Nigeria. Nigeria is blessed with so many natural resource endowments, but have continued to depend on only one product over the years,” he said.

He added that Nigeria has everything required to become a great country, stating that in the last 56 years, the nation has underperformed while other countries with less resources have done much better because they placed priorities on industrializing their economies.

According to him, Nigeria in 2016 has found itself where it was some years ago in 1986 when the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was launched, noting that Nigeria was talking about diversification and the shocks experienced back in the years are what the nation is currently experiencing.

“It shows that as a country we have learnt nothing over 30 years and this is why we are suffering from it, but I believe we are now poised to make a change,” he said.

He said if Nigeria can increase its electricity supply to about 20,000MW yearly, the nation’s GDP would grow at double digits.

He said the country is still faced with infrastructural challenges and cannot industrialize without an adequate power supply and infrastructural facilities, pointing out that businesses spend up to 40 per cent of their operating expenses generating alternative power supply to run their businesses.

He noted that the mission of the Development Finance Institution (DFI) is to transform the nation’s industrial sector by providing suitable financial services to finance Nigeria’s industrialization, saying that Nigeria should leverage areas where it has comparative advantages to drive its industrialization efforts.

He added that Nigeria has no business importing food to feed itself, pointing out that if Nigeria adds value to its natural resources, it should be able to feed Africa and even beyond.

“We currently import food and one of the parameters for measuring the growth of a country is the extent to which the country is self reliant, but where we are externally dependent to feed ourselves, this means we are very vulnerable,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, the IOD President and Chairman of Governing Council, Samuel Akeju, said the DFI represents the real acting agents of industrializing Nigeria, saying that BoI has continued to reflect the change needed to revolutionize the industrial sector of the economy.

He said industrialization is vital to achieve economic growth, adding that the institute identifies with the present administration’s renewed efforts to develop the non-oil sector of the economy through its different initiatives.

He said as an institute, it has identified four key areas to achieve economic diversification, advising that a lot of focus needs to be placed on petrochemicals, agriculture, solid minerals development and manufacturing which he said has the potential to employ huge chunk of the nation’s teeming unemployed youths in the country.

“BoI has a key role to play in achieving this and we believe the DFI has the capacity to create new wealth for SMEs, new job opportunities for the nation,” he said.