Nigeria is a middle-income country, with emerging market and mixed economy. It has expanding manufacturing, service, financial, technology, communications, and entertainment departments. But still, let’s point out what are 10 economic problems facing Nigeria economy today!
Nigeria economic situation
The economic problems in Nigeria have always been a topic of discussion in schools, social platforms, and even the National assembly. However, to tell the truth, everyone knows what the main problem is. It is just because our citizens and leaders have always failed to make things right in both rules of governance and law. If our country continues this way, we will have nothing except endless political and economic mess.
Here are Top 10 problems of economic development in Nigeria:
#1) Lack of interaction between the government and the society
The problem is standing in the first row among other problems facing Nigerian economy. The government will not be able to manage its economic, political and social affairs without fostering an interaction between it and the private sector and state civil society.
Therefore, the government should include processes and mechanisms for citizens and group to articulate their interest, to mediate their differences and work together. A good leadership will provide the right circumstances so that the Nigerian people can get quality governance and justice. Good governance starts from us, we are also responsible for this situation in the country.
#2) The сorruption
Granted, corruption is a global menace but Nigeria suffers the most of all. People are starting to see that this nation has a corruption culture. For many years, Nigeria has earned a huge sum of money from the rock-tar, which has gone down the cesspool that was created by corruption.
Actually, being the oil giant, which runs on a grease of politics, Nigeria could be characterized as a wealthy nation staying afloat on oil. However, the problem is that the money from oil does not flow to the people. The top public officials are very rich because they hide behind the falsehood that public money belongs to no one. The national news is full of information of how public officials are buying million-dollar mansions and accumulating stolen public funds in financial establishments abroad.
#3) The macro economy
The lack of consistency and greed of the politicians are among the causes of the haemorrhage in the economy. Every administration, which comes on board, sets up a new policy initiative instead of working on the previous one. Consequently, Nigeria now has a series of inefficient and badly executed policies.
Charles Soludo
For example, Charles Soludo, the chief economic adviser to Obasanjo, established the national economics employment, decreasing poorness and guiding the reorientation values. However, the demands failed to reach its objectives.
The late administration of Umaru Musa Yarardua discarded the needs of the people and his administration created a plan to convert Nigeria into one of the top 20 biggest global economics by 2020. So, this programme, which now seems to be dead, has gulped a huge sum of money, which could have been used to solve some of the political and social economic challenges facing Nigeria at the time.
#4) The human development
In general, human resources play a great role in the success of failure of any nation or organization. Most of the problems facing the Nigeria economy are the reflection of the bad quality of the economic health and human development of the nation. A situation which has been abandoned for many years. The problems facing the educational institutions directly influence the problems in the country’s economy. The situation will be continue to be terrible if the nation remains on the same undeveloped level as it is now.
#5) The market
A lack of the authentic competition in the system is among the problems facing the economy. Actual capitalistic economics are guided by market forces. The self-regulating character of the market defines where one work and live, how much one earns, and what he/she is able to buy. By the way, each economy needs some form of government interference. But we are not talking about a monopoly. A good market governance must work hand in hand with a healthy competition. Unfortunately, Nigeria is not among the countries where these two exist in one dimension.
In Nigeria, the federal government has a valid monopoly of setting the price of products and other services and goods. Recently, the federal government randomly increased the price of fuel without paying attention to the distributive negative effects on the Nigerian economy.
READ ALSO: Challenges facing rule of law in Nigeria
#6) Crime and terrorism
These two issues also negatively influence the economic situation of the country. Actually, the Nigerian crime issue gives many people in this country sleepless nights. In some places, people feel that they cannot walk around their own neighborhoods freely anymore. Public security is an important aspect of every state, and Nigeria has failed in this respect.
As for terrorist attacks, they are now on the rise in Nigeria, which is the result of Boko Haram activities over the past years. Different violent activities such as bombings, kidnappings, and others don’t give the Nigerians a feeling of safety. Consequently, the Global Peace Index of 2016, has classified Nigeria as the 4th country in the world with the highest level of deaths as a result of conflict.
Boko Haram is a famous agent of demolition in Nigeria. You must have heard of Boko Haram’s kidnappings of hundreds of children, mostly girls (about 276 Chibok school girls) from villages and schools in the Northern Nigeria in 2014. They were between 17 to 18 years old. These girls were secondary school pupils at the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in Nigeria. In the Northern part of Nigeria, pupils cannot finish their studies due to the looming threat of murder and kidnapping.
#7) Unemployment
To tell the truth, unemployment is one of the most damaging problems in Nigeria, and many people are disappointed due to a widespread of joblessness Actually, it seems like we are going round in circles, the unemployment is high due to economic recession, and we have tough economic situation due to the high rate of unemployment. We need to break out of this vicious cycle.
Unemployment in Nigeria is like a viral disease, the treatment for which has not been discovered yet. These days, about 24 % of Nigerian people are unemployed. Actually, these numbers are worse for the youths.
According to the official Nigerian statistics, 38% of those under 24 are unemployed, but the World Bank evaluates this number to be closer to 80%. In March 2014, sixteen people were killed in a scuffle when 500,000 despairing job-seekers were hurrying to apply for about 5,000 vacancies in the Immigration Service of Nigeria.
Students, after graduating from higher educational institutions often face low morale due to joblessness. A lot of Nigerian graduates were not even able to acquire useful skills during their education process. They were busy reading textbooks without having an opportunity to practice what they read. That is why they apply for jobs for and they aren’t hired due to the lack of special skills.
As a result, graduates usually stay in their parents’ homes for a long period, with mounting pessimism and frustration. Actually, it is one of the main cause of crime among young Nigerian people, as they turn to unconscionable activities because there is nothing else except to generate income or occupy their time. Annually, about 200,000 students graduate from different universities, but most of them are not able to find a job.
#8) The education and university systems
These days, corruption has also spread to the Nigerian educational system, especially in universities. Professors are used to taking money from students in exchange for good marks. Some students even say that they have to bribe university executives to have their exam results submitted and compiled for the National Youth Service Corps.
The higher institutions and universities in this country are not in shape. The facilities that are needed to adequately teach students so that they can be useful to companies after graduation are missing. Too much theory in our educational institutions and a total lack of practice is what the big issue is.
A lot of companies have appealed to the Federal government to sure the necessary tools are accessible to enable the students that specialize in the are to be fully prepared.
#9) The environment and health issues
The health and environmental standards of Nigeria are in a very poor condition. In 2013, the Amnesty International announced that Nigeria experiences hundreds of oil spills annually in the Niger Delta, largely because of sabotage, pipe erosion, and uncaring attitude by oil firms.
Actually, oil spills wilt the soil nutrients and other important elements, and this weakening can damage the communities who farm and fish in the Niger Delta as well as the general economy. Litters and waste products are strewn all over the streets and roads in Nigeria. Improperly disposed rubbish promotes the spread of diseases and this will end up affecting the Nigerian economy.
Another main problem facing Nigerian economy is the health issue. People suffer from the lack of medicines and inexperienced doctors with bad education. What is more, corruption abound in this area. In our country, if you have no money, you will not get proper treatment.
#10) The infrastructure
Infrastructure may seem like a simplistic point compared to other issues like Boko Haram, but how can a country develop without a dependable power supply? The power department is mismanaged and corrupt, and a lot of workers in the electricity department are not equipped with the proper training or skills. In general, domestic production suffers in these kinds of conditions, and a lot of foreign companies also find it hard to invest their business in Nigeria due to the constant power failures. Actually, this challenge keeps Nigeria on the list of Third World countries annually.
As you can see, the major economic problem facing Nigeria is corruption. This issue has fed into all areas. Actually, all the problems facing the Nigeria economy are interconnected and interdependent. One problem arises from another one. That is why the state of Nigerian economy today is in a very bad condition. But still, if we want to change something, we should start from ourselves. Our future is in our hands.
READ ALSO: List of social problems in Nigeria
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