Nigeria needs to grow its economy by 46 per cent over the
next 34 years in order to avert social crisis, the Financial Services Advisory
Leader and Chief Economist, PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria, Andrew Nevin, has
warned.
He cautioned that the country would continue to be poor if
the economy grows at two per cent annually, considering that the projected
annual population and working age population rates would be the highest in the
world from 2016 to 2050.
Nevin, who spoke at the 2017 Fellows’ Luncheon of the
Institute of Directors in Lagos on Thursday, said that Nigeria needed
significant Foreign Direct Investment to bridge the infrastructure deficit
estimated at over $100bn over the next 10 years.
He said that half of the $100bn deficit would be derived
from FDIs, while the other half would come from the government.
Nevin said, “Nigeria’s population alone is estimated to be
around 400 million in 2050, equivalent to around 56 per cent of Europe’s
population, making it the third most populous country in the world.
“To get 46 per cent growth rate, we need a lot of
investment. When we invest only 15 per cent, we are only replacing
depreciation. We don’t have enough investment in Nigeria; half of $100bn has to
come from Nigeria. There is not enough money spent by the Federal Government to
make a dent in the investment needs. Unless we liberalise the foreign exchange
regime, we cannot go anywhere near FDI in Nigeria.”
While emphasising the importance of funding for the
implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the government, he
said it would require about $400bn for infrastructural development over the
implementation period.
The Chief Executive Officer, MainOne Cable, Ms. Funke Opeke,
who also spoke on the theme: ‘2017 budget implementation and challenges,’ noted
that most economies that had been transformed recently were built on
technology.
She said the ICT had made significant contributions to the
country’s Gross Domestic Product due to the hard work of major players in the
sector.
According to her, expansion of technology infrastructure is
being hindered by heavy taxes imposed by the federal and state governments.
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