Nigerians must produce at scale to compete globally

Nigeria economy — A woman looks at food at the Ajara Market, in Badagry, near Lagos. (Photo by Benson IBEABUCHI / AFP)

Nigeria’s return to stable economic growth can only be sustained if its citizens embrace large-scale production, innovation, and global competitiveness, a new report by Quartus Economics has stated.

In its report, released on Tuesday and titled “After a Decade of Growth Stall and Descent, Nigeria is Back on the Path of Stable Growth,” the Africa-focused economic research platform praised recent policy reforms for helping stabilise the economy. It, however, cautioned that demographic pressure and a widening production gap remain pressing concerns.

“Now, with an economy whose population size already crossed the limits of resource-based prosperity, Nigerians must learn to produce, must embrace the culture of making things at scale, for sale to the world.

“Without this, slow growth and future rounds of currency stress are just by the corner,” the report stated.

Quartus Economics noted that the country experienced a decade of stagnation during which economic output grew slower than the population, resulting in a steep 75 per cent decline in GDP per capita, from US$4,363 in 2014 to US$1,084 in 2024, and an 89 per cent loss in the value of the naira.

The think tank said 2024 marked a turning point, describing the administration’s economic policy actions as “twin surgeries” that corrected long-standing structural distortions and restored macroeconomic stability.

It stressed, however, that sustaining investor confidence and accelerating growth would require “continued political will and dexterity,” as well as robust public and private investment to unlock the potential of Nigeria’s youthful population.

“With about half of the population aged 18 or younger, Nigeria must feed, clothe, educate and make productive its more than 120 million young people,” it added.

While noting that the removal of “debilitating subsidies” had expanded fiscal space, the group warned that economic gains must be carefully managed to ensure lasting recovery, saying the economy “must remain under competent watch and sincere care if it is to grace the skies and not merely flap its wings.”