Over the past 40 years, Nigeria has become an oil powerhouse — the biggest in Africa. But as the Nigerian government struggles to emerge from petroleum dependency, which partly led to the country’s economy plunging into recession in 2016, opportunities for growth have begun to emerge in other sectors, Business Day reports.
Investors are now looking at the diversification of the Nigerian economy with emphasis on the agricultural, solid mineral and gas sectors. Arable land makes up 37.3% of the total land area of Nigeria and the potential is enormous. In the Kano province, for example, rice plantations have all but done away with the need to import rice.
Aside from tapping into agriculture’s potential, Nigeria also has the potential to diversify into the gas sector. But while it boasts 200 trillion ft³ of proven gas reserves, the largest on the continent, it has the lowest consumption in Africa. Despite the large reserves which could be used for transport and power generation, the country suffers from crippling power outages and 75m Nigerians have no electricity.
Nigerian petroleum minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said recently that investment opportunities in the natural gas value chain could amount to over $50bn and yet the sector remains underdeveloped. Yewande Sadiku, CEO of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, however says Nigeria’s economy is slowly changing. “Diversification can never happen overnight. It will take a while for the results to show.”
