President Buhari, what is happening with Nigeria’s GDP?
The GDP is commonly used as an indicator of the economic health and status of a country, as well as a measurement of a country’s standard of living. It is the total monetary value of all final goods and services produced in a period of (quarterly or yearly). However, From the World Bank’s measurement, Nigeria’s […]
The GDP is commonly used as an indicator of the economic health and status of a country, as well as a measurement of a country’s standard of living. It is the total monetary value of all final goods and services produced in a period of (quarterly or yearly). However, From the World Bank’s measurement, Nigeria’s GDP growth rate which stood at 0.47 percent in 1999 experienced a boost in 2004 to 33.7 percent with an average growth rate of 6 percent from 2005 to 2013. But even with the growth, it lamented that over 67% of Nigerians (112 million people) were living below the poverty line.
Accordingly, if at 33.7 percent Nigeria’s GDP in 2014 people were still living below the poverty line as posited by World Bank, with the way things are going on economically now one can simply say that 90 percent of Nigerians are living in poverty and hunger. And I doubt if Nigeria will still retain her stand as the largest economy in Africa and 21st position in the world. It is believed that during former President, Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the nation’s GDP growth rate weighed at 5-7% which put Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa and the 21st largest in the world with over $510 billion in GDP size and about US$ 2500 per capita income in the early 2014.
It was gathered also that the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS), in its report on Tuesday, March 8, affirmed that Nigeria’s GDP has diminished since the beginning of last year, lower than the World Bank projections. Adding that, more than 75 percent of all the major economic sectors experienced a decline in the fourth quarter of 2015. Also GDP growth by year, according to the World Bank and NBS, since the return of democracy stands as follows: 2000 (5.32%) 2001 (4.41) 2002 (3.78) 2003 (10.35) 2004 (33.74) 2005 (3.44) 2006 (8.21) 2007 (6.83) 2008 (6.27) 2009 (6.93) 2010 (7.84), 2014 (6.23), 2015 (2.82).
Nevertheless, this is a great challenge to President Buhari to go back to his drawing board to re-strategize, because if this shrinking and dwindling of Nigerian economy persists; it is going to constitute a great damage to this country’s reputation. Therefore, it is advisable that the Federal government to, as a matter of urgency, increase its efforts to stabilize the economy of this country and to also seek the opinion of our economic experts in order to help in tackling this economic challenge before it worsens.
Sarfatu Andrew Bissala, writes this piece from IBB University, Lapai, Niger State