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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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Economic diversification is currently constrained by many factors, including poor and unstable power supply, bad roads and high cost of funds.
With the groundnut pyramid in the North, palm oil and kennel in the East and South East and cocoa in the South-West before the discovery of petroleum in Nigeria, there were indications that the nation was heading towards becoming a great economic giant in Africa for some reasons.
First, the nation was and is still richly endowed with many oil and non-oil resources. Second, the major stakeholders, especially indigenes and trading companies were committed. Third, the regional administrations also provided the enabling environment for operations.
Consequently, economic activities recorded great signs of growth. In his publication; Nigerian National Accounts, 1950-7, obtained by Sweetcrude, the late Pius Okigbo, a prominent economist who was then the Economic Adviser to the Government of Eastern Nigeria, stated.
“We found that the Regional Ministries of Agriculture kept records of crop and weather prospects prepared every quarter in respect of each agricultural province by field agricultural officers. Since food crop production dominates the accounts, it would be clear that in the national accounts for 1951-6, one of the softest series refers to the most important branch of activity.”
The stable economy and an steady environment for local and foreign investors are the important reasons to pave the way for rapid diversification of the economy.