The GDP growth rate that went up by 0.5% in Q1 and climbed over 5% in Q2 has decelerated to 4.03% in Q3, 2021. Although not matching the Q2 mark this 4.03%, rise is still better than anything experienced since the inception of this administration. The last time the country had anything close to this growth rate was Q1, 2015 when it was 3.96%.
In spite of the over 4 percent overall growth rate, some key sectors are still lagging behind. Agriculture which contributes about 30% to GDP managed to grow by a measly 1.22%. I have always argued that Agriculture’s share of GDP of over 20% is too high. Nigeria and other developing countries in Africa need to shrink this size and increase the size of other sectors, such as ICT, contribution to GDP. The GDP data released recently by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the Blue economy (Fishing in this case) has remained largely untapped leading to a negative growth rate of 3.97% in Q3 2021.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said earlier in the year that over 100 million Nigerians will be lifted out of poverty within the next decade. The Blue economy is a sector where millions of jobs can be created directly and indirectly to help lift the said millions of people out of poverty. This issue should be treated with urgency in order to facilitate a timely attainment of the lifting of millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
