Experts say Nigeria’s solution to the global economic slowdown as predicted by the World Bank is diversification to non-oil sector and investment in human capital development.

Experts who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Thursday identified different ways for Nigeria to cushion the effects of the slowdown in the present economic reality.

An Economic Consultant, Mrs Lolade Adesola said the implication of the global economic slowdown would translate to reduction in demand for imported products and Nigeria’s crude oil.

“If for instance, China is not producing as much as it should; it may not have much energy need as it has in the past, so it may not need as much crude oil as in the past and that will affect our own earnings as a nation.

“Also interest rates are going up in US and Europe countries; that means people who come to invest in our treasury bill and in our stock market will not be able to bring their money.

“You know that government funds the budget with a minimum of 25 per cent debt, and if the people that are buying the debt whether it is local or US dollar debt are not available, it will affect the pricing, making it to go higher and it will affect the amount of money that we are using for debt servicing.

“Ultimately, it will affect the amount of money government has to spend on continuous servicing on required infrastructure development,” adesola said.

Also speaking, a Political Scientist and International Relations Expert from Lead City University, Mr Olu Ojedokun, said part of the problem of global economy slowdown is America’s trade wars.

“America is one of the largest economies in the world and its trade wars with a lot of countries including China and European Union will affect global trade and also growth.

“But also China is slowing down and China has become the largest economy in the world; China’s economy has slowed and it has its impact on other countries.

“And also you have the oil glut; this has effects on some developing countries as they witness slowdown in their economic activities,” he said.

Ojedokun said that the way out was for Nigeria to diversify its economy by making the economy more friendly for foreign investments.

“Things like tourism, ease of doing business and human capital development should be focused on; we have invested more in infrastructure but human capital is enduring and that is what we need.

“More importantly is education; countries like Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea have over 20 per cent investment in education and their economies have been able to leap forward because of that.

“If we want to get to the next level, we must invest in education, we need to come out from the lack of growth and the mono economy we operate,” Ojedokun said.

Another Economist, Mr Adetunji Adepeju stated that the implications may be issues with oil production and its gl9bal prices.

“One good thing about the prediction is that the World Bank also acknowledges the fact that the non-oil sector is faring better and going by what the Chairman of FIRS said, their target in 2019 is about eight to nine trillion Naira.

“That means we are moving away from oil to non-oil; taxes, customs duties and the rest are veritable means of revenue for Nigeria,” he said.

Adepeju said one of the predictions of the Bank is that agriculture is not doing well which is not the case in Nig.

“If we look at it well in Nigeria now, government is pumping resources into agriculture especially the exportation of farm produces; we will get there, it is a matter of time especially now that our yams are taken to U.S., Canada and Europe.

“We are also improving in value addition; making our own chocolate instead of taking seeds of our cocoa out for processing, we are now producing things we consume,” he added. (NAN)

– Jan. 17, 2019 @ 18:25 GMT |