Nigeria’s Economic Resilience Indicated by GDP Growth – Olawepo-Hashim

Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a senior member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has stated that the recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showing that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 5% is indicative of the country’s economic resilience.

Most economic handlers in government, according to Olawepo-Hashim, were encouraged by the NBS’s year-on-year Q2 2021 GDP growth data, which was widely published on August 21.

He believes that with more effort and putting “our internal divisions behind us,” Nigeria can become one of the world’s top ten economies because it “has everything it takes.”

Unlike when there is news of economic contraction, which always causes panic in the stock exchange, currency markets, and domestic price levels, the news of GDP growth takes time to trickle down positively, according to the former presidential candidate in the 2019 election.

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In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, Olawepo-Hashim said that while GDP growth does not always translate into lower prices for ordinary people to see and feel, “for economic watchers; this underscores the resilience of Nigeria’s economy.”

“The important item for me is that, despite relatively high oil prices, it is the non-oil sector that rises more, as the oil sector’s contribution to GDP fell by 1.83 percent points,” the global energy executive continued. The non-oil sector, on the other hand, increased by 1.93 percent. While oil remains a major source of foreign exchange, it is becoming increasingly insignificant in Nigeria’s GDP, accounting for only 7.42 percent of the country’s total.

“The GDP growth of 5% is a sign to doomsayers that Nigeria will not perish as they predict. The economic recovery is not a fluke or due to oil money; there are quiet revolutions taking place in the communication sector that will transform Nigeria into a cyber power in the near future, which many people are unaware of.”
He claimed that between 2020 and June 2021, Nigeria added 19.0 million new internet users, bringing her total to over 104.4 million, putting her ahead of many European countries.

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“Once Nigeria’s security challenges are addressed and rising ethnic and religious divisions are addressed, the country will be on its way to the top. Her top priorities will be to reform the electricity sector and ensure a reliable supply of electricity, upgrade infrastructure, stimulate industrialization and job creation, and reduce rising poverty by closing the gap between the rich and the poor.”

Price Water Cooper (PWC), a global consulting firm, predicted in a 2015 report that Nigeria will be the world’s 14th largest economy by 2050, ahead of Spain, Italy, and Canada, among others.

“I dare say that with more effort and a focus on internal divisions, we will be able to outperform PWC’s predictions. Nigeria can be one of the world’s top ten economies; we have everything we need,” he said.