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There has been increasing demands for revenue diversification measures due to the fluctuations in revenue earning from Nigeria’s crude. An analysis of Nigeria’s earnings from the top traded items for the first quarters of 2017, 2018, and 2019 has indicated the huge potentials of some non-oil sectors.
The challenges of coronavirus and dwindling oil price are aching Nigeria’s economy. Things may also get worse if not managed well. The situation would stimulate negative growth, worsen foreign exchange and increase unemployment. Also, the crises will reduce federal allocations. This means unpaid wages, limited capital spending at all tiers of government. By extension, the crises will impact Nigeria’s private sector and increase poverty.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed an increasing growth of inflation in Nigeria. While the inflation rate was 11.37 percent in April 2019, the figure stood at 12.34 percent in April 2020. The data has also shown a progressive increase in the inflation rate since August last year. From 11.02 percent in August, inflation rate increased to 11.24 percent in September and has since been increasing. Increases in inflation rate from August 2019 to April 2020 is shown in the figure below.
With a staggering population of 205 million people, over 80 million Nigerians live in poverty. This is according to the Nigerian Living Standards Survey report published by the National Bureau of Statistics. The recently published data indicates that 40.09 percent of Nigerian are poor. Whereas the poverty rate in urban areas is only 18.04 percent, as much as 52.1 percent of rural dwellers are poor.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has identified open government and reforms in the Nigerian human capital sectors as crucial for economic development. The development organization said an open government can be achieved by leveraging new digital technologies in formulating programme strategies and implementation.
A payment description is a brief explanation of what a client is paying for. Such a description makes easier, the auditing and related accounting process. Anything short becomes a red flag for likely fraud or fictitious payment.
Nigerian states’ journey to fiscal sustainability is still far ahead, 2019 Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown. According to the IGR report, all the thirty-six states and the FCT generated a total of ₦1.33 trillion. This amount represents about 50 percent of the federal allocation known as FAAC. The total FAAC shared to the states in 2019 stood at ₦2.5 trillion.
For Today’s Numbers to Ponder, Nigeria witnesses 1.87% economic growth, amidst the global pandemic and crude oil price slash. In the same vein, the country’s export cashbook recorded N4.75tn as export revenue. Between 2015 and 2019, the Nigerian government budgeted N464m for eight human-related clinical trials of locally produced drugs. Moreso, it has also approved 10 billion naira worth of loans and grants to various groups to conduct for healthcare-related research.
In the last couple of years, the Nigerian government has described its budget in manners that suggest high aspirations for growth and development. In 2016 for instance, the budget carried a theme of change. Similarly, the 2018 budget was described as a budget of consolidation.
The Nigeria fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) of the manufacturing sector is the bride of household expenditure in the last 10 years. Despite earning little, Nigerians spent N22.8 trillion on food expenditure, 56.7% of the total household consumption in 2019. According to the 2019 NBS household consumption data, food consumed outside the home where largely the FMCG sector played constituted 20.19% in the overall food expenditure, gulping N4.6 trillion from citizens.
More than 80 million Nigerians are in extreme poverty, living on less than N400 per day (approximately $1). This number represents 40.9 percent of the population
Nigeria is indeed in a bad form. As COVID19 has made the world shut down, demand for oil has dwindled. This has affected the oil market. Crude oil constitutes 80% of Nigeria’s revenue and the country did not grow the capacity to collect taxes when it could.
Most things don’t grow forever. If a person grew at the same rate for his whole life, he’d become gigantic and perhaps perish (or else rule the world). Yet most economists agree the economy needs to grow and always.
Gross Domestic Product, GDP is an ultimate measure of how well a country fares, a window into an economy’s soul, the statistic that provides context to most national statistics. Its use spread rapidly, becoming the defining indicator of the last century.
I have read a variety of fascinating narratives from former participants of the National Youth Service Scheme. While many of these narratives were expressed with considerable positivity, I believe that the positivity is not intrinsically connected with the perfection of the scheme but are drawn through a long journey of disappointment, frustration, and then acceptance of the reality of ‘national service’. Even the most well-crafted narrative I read did not completely mask the failures of the scheme in welfare provision, organization, and perhaps in fulfilling the ultimate reason for which the scheme was established.
