An economic expert has warned Nigerian government to intensify efforts in diversifying the economy into non-oil economy rather than depending wholly on crude oil, which could dry up in 41 years.
In his paper titled: ‘Product Space and Export Competitiveness’ at the 4th Economic Policy And Fiscal Strategy Seminar in Abuja, organised by Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), a Director at the Center for International Development, Harvard University, Professor Ricardo Hausmann expressed regret that countries that have more crude oil than Nigeria were more diversified than Nigeria.
He pointed out that there would not be any meaningful development in Nigeria if it did not diversify. For him, the process of development was the process of diversification.
According to Hausmann, while the rich countries make more products, the poor ones produce few goods.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Director, CSEA, Dr Ebere Uneze, said that while it was true that real gross domestic product has grown at over six per cent in recent year, the economy could not be said to be competitive when compared with other emerging economies.
He also noted that Nigeria has been sliding in key indices such as the ‘Ease of Doing Business index’
Uneze said that a situation where the top 100 non-oil exporters in Nigeria earned about $1.8 billion in the whole of 2010, less than one month of oil revenue is a confirmation of lack of competitiveness of the economy.
However, he said, while the contribution of non-oil exports to the national treasury is less, Nigeria continues to face challenges arising from leakages from crude oil.
Meanwhile, an Executive Director of the CSEA, Menachem Katz, who delivered another a paper on the Role of Fiscal Policy in Promoting Growth at the Seminar, also said that Nigeria’s efforts to fast-track infrastructure development would continue to fail unless concerted efforts were committed to monitoring and evaluation of projects.
He said despite substantial policy framework including Bureau for Public Procurement, (BPP) Act to support efficiency of yearly capital budget, evidence on ground over previous projects showed that results did not match invested funds.
According to him, there is a pressing need to improve the efficiency of infrastructure projects: but sadly, current execution remains weak due to capacity constraints and also abuse. Raising Nigeria’s infrastructure endowment to that of the region’s middle-income countries could boost annual growth by around four percentage points.
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