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Nigeria’s infrastructure strategy and rural inclusivity

Policy makers, investors and some economists usually confuse economic development for economic growth and most times use the words interchangeably. There is a big difference between them, most notably that economic growth measures the increase in real national income whilst development is the improvement in the quality of life and living standards.

Nigeria’s economic growth has been constrained over time by infrastructure challenges, policy contradictions etc. A neglect of rural communities has left them at the mercy of urban centres and resulted in the exodus of Nigerian youths to urban centres to seek greener pastures. The Nigerian urbanization challenge has been magnified by state creation and deforestation.

The Vietnam model argues that increasing infrastructure spend in rural communities directly impacts travel time, accessibility to the markets, education and health care facilities. With Vietnam now amongst the fastest growing economies in the world, Nigeria can borrow a leaf or two on the need to develop rural infrastructure as well as the specifics on how to achieve comprehensive economic development.

Iran/US Tension– a case of Mutually Assured Destruction

Following the extra judicial assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Brent oil price rallied to the satisfaction of Nigeria and other OPEC members. This euphoria was however short-lived, as Brent is now back to pre-tension level of $64pb. Nigeria like other OPEC members will need to accept the reality that triple-digit oil price is becoming more and more unlikely.

In this edition of the FDC Monthly publication, the FDC Think-Tank analyzes the issues and implications on businesses and the economy at large.

Enjoy your read.