The Nigerian economy in has generally grown well over the last 25 years, especially over the period 2000 to 2015. As a result, the GDP is now at least five times larger than it was during the military era. In April 2014, Nigeria became Africa’s largest economy, and the world’s 26th largest economy. In addition, the economy has diversified and moved away from oil dependency. The non-oil economy is now approaching 95% of the total. Services provide nearly 60% of the economy, industry nearly 20% and agriculture just over 20%.
https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/1241549
However, all this additional wealth, and more, has been looted by the tiny corrupt elite. The majority of the population are now significantly poorer than they were in 1999. This growth in poverty has accelerated massively in the last 15 months. This is primarily due to the new Government allowing the price of petrol to shoot up and massive devaluation of the local currency leading to huge inflation especially in the cost of food. Even the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, a private sector think tank, said recently that one of the pressing concerns now is “translating economic growth into improved lives and livelihoods for all its citizens”.
The Nigerian economy is still growing at a reasonable level. According to the World Bank, “Between 2000 and 2014, Nigeria’s economy experienced broad-based and sustained growth of over 7% annually on average”. Since then growth has been lower, but over the last three years it has still averaged 3.4%. This would mean that the economy would still double in size every two decades. In the first six months of this year the economy was still growing at over 3% considered the international benchmark.
In cash terms the national GDP increased by 17% to the end of June this year. So, if your income did not grow by at least 17% in the last year you are not getting your fair share.
https://punchng.com/nigerias-nominal-gdp-hits-n60-93tn-in-q2-fg
The value of the Nigerian Stock Exchange is now at near record levels, nearly twice the level of 16 months ago when Tinubu came to power. Some international firms may be leaving Nigeria, but this is due to the uncertainties from increased insecurity and the huge devaluation of the naira (which reduces the value of their repatriated profits and increases the costs of their imports).
An oil exporting country should suffer from increasing value of its currency making its exports less competitive. But the naira continues to decline in value. It is now worth less than a third of its value before Tinubu came to power. In the last three months it has declined by a further 15% suggesting high inflation will continue. This devaluation is probably caused by the corrupt elite exporting their looted funds. It is reduced by remittances from Nigerians working abroad. This is now equivalent to well over 10% of the national economy.
International companies are not leaving due to the high cost of labour. Wages are relatively low in Nigeria. The minimum wage in South Africa is now N250,000 and the lowest figure for our neighbouring countries is N100,000 (Niger).
The FAAC meeting in September distributed slightly less oil money to the states than last month. But this was still slightly more than the average for this year so far. As a result, the average oil income for the Federal and state governments this year is a massive 37% higher than last year.
All governments can easily afford to pay far more than the N70k minimum wage.
We are poor people living in a resource rich nation. The average income of the country per person is now about N325k a month, but only one in 40 people earn more than N200k a month. Even the IMF and World Bank think that government debt in Nigeria is sustainable. Compared to the size of the economy, government debt is one of the lowest in Africa and most of this debt is owed to Nigerian banks.
We need to fight against poverty and inequality – we have to use our collective power through the trade unions to force a effective change. Without collective struggle, any economic growth will only produce more Dangote’s in the midst of rising hunger and poverty. We must fight to change the existing socioeconomic order of society so that everyone gets their fair share.
As in Nigeria, the Global Problem is Not Lack of Wealth – It’s Inequality
Worldwide, military spending hit a record US$2.4 trillion last year. If our rulers were serious about ending world hunger, just over a tenth of this amount could do the job, spent over a decade. If our rulers were serious about tackling climate change, this sort of money could have had us well on the way to solving the problem already.
