New Telegraph

Nigeria must grow economy at 7% annually or risk mass poverty – Rewane

…says Osinbajo tried to make things happen in Nigerian politics

An economic and financial expert, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, has predicted that Nigeria may be consumed by mass poverty, debt and insecurity, if the country fails to grow the economy between 7 to 8 percent annually, in the next five to 10 years.

 

He gave the prediction on Monday in Abuja while delivering the public lecture titled “Building the Future of Nigeria through Enterprise and Innovation,” at a special public lecture organised by a Pan-Nigerian coalition, Building the Future Forum (BTFF), to mark the  64th birthday of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

 

Rewane, who is Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, noted that given the predicted population explosion of over 250 million Nigerians  by 2030, Nigeria must be able to achieve $1.5 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the next nine years.

 

Harping on the need for sustainable growth, he disclosed that recovery of stolen assets was not sufficient to solve all the problems of Nigeria, especially management of resources.

 

He added that innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship does not necessarily guarantee success as they may not deliver desired outcomes.

 

He said: “Nigeria today has made remarkable achievements in the ease of doing business matrix. Nigeria is the leading country according to the Economist Pocket Book of Figures with 39.9% of its citizens either as nascent or direct entrepreneurs. The issue, however, is not whether Nigeria has made some achievements and successes, but compared to its potential, Nigeria is still a laggard in many respects.

 

“Therefore, 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 $1.5 trillion by 2030 when our population could be 250mn or more.

 

“We need to grow the economy at least at 7-8% 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.”

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