Yes, rebased the economy they
may call it, yet the common man on the street does not even understand the
language talk less of the economic jargons that follows it. Okay, many have applaud the Federal Government
released of the result of the rebased Gross Domestic Product, GDP for the
country, even though the report portrays Nigeria as the 26th largest
economy in the world and the biggest in African throwing South Africa that has
always been on top to the cleaners, but why should I care when it does not even
put food on my table.
The process of replacing an old
economic base with a more recent one provides a reference point for which
future values of GDPs are compared hence providing an accurate reflection of
the direction of the economy, but if you ask me, it is like putting a new win
in an old bottle. of course you know the obvious, poverty bubble in the land.
Rebasing the economy or
exposing the contributions of various activities in the economy to the nation
financial growth will sure enable policy makers and analysts to take decisions
based on current realities. Indeed the repackaging of the nation’s economic
statistic reveals the contributions of new activities, investments and
businesses to the nation’s economy and how these features have affected the
size, components and structure of the economy. All these are still in wind when
it comes to the man on the lower end of the ladder.
Throw these figures to the rich,
the World Bank, IMF, CBN and the local Banks. They are the ones that need it, you
may say, but how can you start or run a business no matter how small when you
do not know how much money is being made in the country and where the money is is
being made from, which is what the change in figures seem to stand for.
Now I know that Agriculture has
a large potential and telecom is flatting out at its peak right now. Policy
direction toward technology dynamism and visuals impact will sell more than
establishing new assets to compete with existing ones. Connectivity,
applications and online activities as it relate to telecom will pull in better
profit.
The
Poor Man Contribution Got a Hit
The analysis shows that the
indicator or the contribution of the masses to this GDP has drop significantly
and this contribution comes from the agricultural sector where we have the
highest number of the poor from village participating. What a paralysis. This
is where majority of Nigerians at the lower cadre are shareholders. Apart from
the fact that this is where this level of Nigerians gets their daily bread, it
is also where the nation is being fed from. The agricultural sector creates the
largest number of employment for our so called large economy and yet has the
poorest people in the nation. The most neglected and the most vulnerable to
insurgent attacks, communal clashes, multiple operational cost and taxations,
most of which comes from law enforcement agent when getting goods to consumers.
Though there is a strong
diversification of the economy from oil, this only tilted to the area where the
rich and foreigners dominate. According to the statistic released, in the
nineties agriculture contributed 30.3% to the GDP, while industry contributed
46.% and services contributed 23.6%, but in the current rebased Gross Domestic Product from 2010 the
contribution of agriculture to the economy declined to 24% due to series of
neglects by past governments while industry contribution to the GDP also
declined to 25.8% no thanks to poor monetary policies by the CBN in the past
five years, while the contribution of services to the rebased GDP has increased
to 50.2%. This is not unconnected by government destruction of its monopoly in
the telecom sector.
Another sector whose
contribution would have been significant but could not see the light of day was
the banking sectors, simply because of the series of in-house fighting between
the former CBN governors and some key operators of the sector which saw the
death of some key performing banks and the downsizing of the sector in terms of
asset, personnel and business some years back.
Where
to Look For Opportunities in the New Economic Outlook
Although the number of economic
activities that accounted for the growth in the nominal GDP after rebasing rose
by over 100%, It is indeed worthy of note that importation, wholesale and
retail trade are business activities that had the most notable change in all
the economic activity mentioned while telecommunications and information
services, cement production, food, beverage and tobacco, construction, real
estate and, Nollywood and music sectors outperformed all other sectors.
The major players in these performing
sectors are; the Indians, South Africans, Chinese, Lebanese, except for cement production
and Nollywood where Nigerians made great impact, all others are virtually dominated
by foreigners. The manufacturing sectors that had a drop in this new rating, most
Nigeria have been booted out by incessant power supply while the Indians are
still riding on in spite of the odds. What are they doing right?
While some Nigerians were
waiting for government to handle unemployment and poverty, especially the poor,
the farmers and the masses who were busy complaining, demonstrating and waiting
for government, the Indians, Chinese, Lebanese whose country are not better off
in term of poverty rating were busy finding solution that will inculcate them
into the next generation of the Nigeria wealth profile. According to the
Indian, there is so much money in the street of Nigeria, but Nigerians are so
blind that they can hardly see it. What a saying and how true?
Yes, we may have a large
economy than south African but we are not richer that is simply because we have
a larger population, you will also note the same applies to China and India,
south African seems to be richer than those two country not because they have a
larger economy but because of their lower population hence a higher per capita
income.
Refuse
To Join Others to Complain When You Can Make It Happen
I refuse to agreed with those
who say the rebased figure did not impact on the lives of the people directly,
properly significantly will be a better language or negatively though not true,
but a better statement for a right debate on the issues raised. For example the
growth in telecom which is a major contributor to the rebased GDP has led to at
least the creation of over 5million Jobs, businesses, and entrepreneurs who ply
their trades from selling recharge card on the street to becoming wholesalers,
agents, contractors, shops owners, marketers, service providers, investors, etc
in the telecom sector. The impact on the lower cadre who source their daily
bread from this sector, selling recharge card as a whole business or adding it
to their businesses to generate revenue is very visible even on major bus stops
and motor parks.
The debate for those who want
to move forward is not that the rebased GDP figure of $510bn for Nigeria has not
made Nigerians richer neither has it improved the live of the common man, but
how do I use the new GDP figure to increase the amount of income that goes into
my bank accounts; how does it influence or affect the kind of goods I want to
produce or import next. Can I use the new GDP to create new jobs and what area
should I be looking at?
You may want to ask, Hope Eno
what show I do? At least now you have an idea of the structure of the economy, making
it easy to discover where to search for the opportunities to get yourself out
of the rat race. You can take at these business opportunities sites that can improve
your personal GDP and generate for you unending wealth for a start. Visit www.investmentlight.com
No comments:
Post a Comment