According to Bismarck Rewane, foremost economist, Nigeria could attain $1.5trn Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030, if it attracts both domestic and international capital to achieve a gross domestic product level.
Rewane, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company, said achieving this level will lead to an accelerated, sustainable and inclusive growth for the country.
Speaking at a public lecture tagged: Building the Future of Nigeria through Enterprise and Innovation, organised by a Pan-Nigerian coalition under the aegis of Building the Future Forum, Rewane noted that “Nigeria has the largest GDP in Africa with $446.543bn growth.”
He said: “We have our work cut out for us and if we are going to achieve accelerated, sustainable and inclusive growth, we need to attract domestic and international capital with its attendant investment multiplier to achieve a GDP level of $1.5trn by 2030 when our population could be 250mn or more.
“We need to grow the economy at least at 7-8 per cent a year for 5-10 years based on an investment-led strategy. If we fail to do this very soon, the problems of multidimensional poverty, debt, and insecurity may consume us in the next decade.”
According to him, much work needed to be done despite Nigeria making remarkable achievements in the ease of doing business matrix.
Nigeria’s GDP ranking
Nigeria’s GDP grew by 0.11% (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020. The recent positive growth indicates that the Nigerian economy has recovered from the pandemic-induced recession which disrupted economic activities in 2020.
In 2018, Nigeria’s real GDP which was 1.8 9 percent in the first quarter, rose to 2.38 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of the year. However, this dropped to 2.10 percent in the first quarter of 2019 and rose up 2.55 percent at the end of the fourth quarter in the same year.
Meanwhile, at the wake of the pandemic in 2020, Nigeria had a GDP of 1.87 percent in the first quarter, but contracted to -6.10 percent and -3.62 in the second and third quarter. In 2019, the total GDP stood at $448.1 billion. This was higher than its $397.2 billion in 2018, $375.7 billion in 2017 and $404.7 billion in 2016.