Nigeria an attractive target for global investors – Institute

The McKinsey Global Institute on Tuesday said Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa remained an attractive target for global investors.

This is contained in a report by the institute made available newsmen in Abuja entitled, “ Nigeria’s renewal: Delivering inclusive growth in Africa’s largest economy”.

According to the report, with her largest population in Africa and now also in terms of GDP, Nigeria should be an attractive target for global investors.

It stated that Nigeria was no longer a petrol economy as 86 per cent of the country’s GDP came from activities outside the oil sector.

“Contrary to widespread perception, the country has been surprisingly stable from an economic and political perspective.

“GDP has grown steadily and the current democratic regime has been in place for 15 years with its fourth presidential election scheduled for next year.

“Its large youthful population and its many cities provide the foundation for sustainable growth and rising productivity in the country.’’

The report, however, said that Nigeria had suffered a troubled history from a tarnished global reputation relating to issues of corruption and civil unrest that threatened its continuity.

It said that Nigeria was one of the few places where the farm to factory transition had not yet moved most workers into more productive and remunerative activities.

“The process of urbanisation in most developing countries has been a reliable source of productivity and GDP growth.

“ Citizens move from low productivity subsistence agriculture in rural areas to cities where they are employed in more productive manufacturing and service jobs.

“ In Nigeria, rather than lifting the economy, urbanisation has placed greater burdens on it and in spite of strong GDP growth over the years, poverty materially did not decline,’’ the report stated.