YMonitor Quarterly Show: The Nigerian Economic Framework: Beyond a fix?

The YMonitor Quarterly show for this quarter examined issues around the nation’s economy and the right policy frameworks to fix the economic crisis.

With the 2016 economic recession due to oil price crash and Covid-19 the pandemic which has affected several industries, Nigeria’s economy has witnessed a significant downturn in recent time, thus affecting the quality of lives among citizens.

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a political economist and the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was our guest for the show. With vast experience & several international and local publications, he discussed the issues affecting the Nigerian economy and how they can be fixed.

Nigeria’s economy is so much dependent on its oil sector which accounts for about 90% of the nation’s earnings from foreign exchange, with up to 36 billion oil reserves. The oil reserves has continued to account for about 14% of the nation’s GDP and up to 90% of its income. Basically, the revenues from oil have been the main source of financing government expenditures for social, economic and infrastructural development.

However,the decades of oil money is yet to improve the populace quality of life by putting an end to poverty. Nigeria’s economic failure is not unconnected to the failure of successive governments to effectively utilise the oil reserves and revenue for the nation’s economic development.

Since the late 1990s, up to early 2000 Nigeria has not had a stable macroeconomic system, the nation’s GDP growth has been in an array of fluctuations. The inflation rate which was high to about 29.3% in 1996, dropped in early 2000 but hasn’t been out of fluctuation till recent time. As a result, most operations of the executive arms of government were financed through increased debt, with both internal and external sources.

With the nation’s population, Nigeria is a major bellwether of sub-saharan Africa’s economic, political, and social future. However, the country still struggles with the realities of governing a large, poor-albeit-resource-rich, and divided country.

The program was aired live on the 12 times winner Nigeria TV station of the year, Channels TV and streamed live on YouTube.

Watch the show: https://youtu.be/slAp7OhKioc