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The Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, has warned that unless the economy grows by, at least, seven to eight per cent yearly in the next five to 10 years, the country risks multidimensional poverty, debt crisis, and heightened insecurity.
He said though Nigeria has the biggest gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa, it needs to attract both domestic and international capital to grow the current $446.543 billion GDP to $1.5 trillion by 2030 when the country’s population would be 250 million.
The economist, who spoke at a public lecture to mark the 64th birthday of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, said a strategic investment drive would lead to an accelerated, sustainable and inclusive growth for the country.
The lecture was organised by a pan-Nigerian coalition, Building the Future Forum (BTFF) in honour of the Vice President with the theme ‘Building the Future of Nigeria through Enterprise and Innovation’.
Rewane said: “We have our work cut out for us and if we are going to achieve accelerated, sustainable and inclusive growth, we need to attract domestic and international capital with its attendant investment multiplier to achieve a GDP level of $1.5 trillion by 2030 when our population could be 250 million or more.
“We need to grow the economy at least at 7-8 per cent per annum for 5-10 years based on an investment-led strategy. If we fail to do this very soon, the problems of multidimensional poverty, debt, and insecurity may consume us in the next decade.”
The financial analyst said much work needed to be done despite Nigeria’s remarkable achievements in the ease of doing business matrix,
According to him, Nigeria is the leading country according to the Economist Pocket Book of Figures with 39.9 per cent of its citizens either as nascent or direct entrepreneurs.
On key accomplishments as a nation, he said the issue was not whether Nigeria has made some achievements but that compared to its potential, it is still a laggard in many respects.
Rewane said the nation needs the intellectual depth of academics like Osinbajo and people in public life who have candour to make remarkable progress.
