File: An Oil rig. Nigeria needs to diversify from oil

By K.A Familoni

Nigeria is the economic giant of Africa but its potentials are yet to be fully unlocked as the informal sector that contributes a very large proportion of the country’s gross domestic output and employment is still largely underdeveloped and inefficiently programmed and managed.

If the large informal sector is systematically modernized and formalized, the economy of the country will undergo a much- desired accelerated transformation.

Nigeria is a middle-income country that can be easily transformed into a Global Medium Power(GMP) through a focused and vigorous implementation of the 17 Principles of Development which are well articulated in the UNO’s Sustainable Developnent Goals(SDGs). 

Implementation of the SDGs should also be accompanied by a sustained diversification from an oil dependent economy to a non-oil economy. This economic diversification can be achieved through the implementation of an optimal combination of import substitution and export promotion strategies.

The country has just about two decades to achieve this transformation and failure to do this cannot augur well for the teeming masses, especially those below the age of 30 years, who constitute over 70% of the country’s population.

Nigerian youths are sufficiently talented to meet these challenges and march the country into the impending era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

For Nigeria to lead Africa and the Black World in this new global society that is knowledge-based and information-driven, it is necessary to ensure that only round pegs are put in round holes and that the commanding heights of the economy and corridors of power at all levels are populated and manned  by hardworking, incorruptible and patriotic citizens who are ready, willing and able to make the huge sacrifices necessary to wake up the sleeping giant that Nigeria is. 

However, this can only happen if the country is united, purpose-driven and geopolitically restructured to ensure an efficient and full utilization of all resources in both the public and private sectors of the economy and society.

Happy New Year and New Decade To Y’all  

K . A. Familoni, PhD, is a Economist