However, digital connectivity is not a silver bullet for growth and can exacerbate existing social inequalities without complementary investments in skills, finance, and regulatory systems to realize the promise of digital technologies for all.
—William Maloney, in a report titled ‘Wired Digital Connectivity for Inclusion and Growth’
Despite this momentum, we must question whether economic growth should be the primary goal for Nigeria’s digital policies? While growth and increased revenue are in themselves important objectives, they cannot be the sole focus. Nigeria is no stranger to growth, but this growth has often not been inclusive of the entire Nigeria populace. Throughout its history, the West African giant has seen numerous periods of economic boom, and statistically, is currently experiencing one of the highest levels of production since its inception. If growth alone were enough, 73.7 million Nigerians would not be trapped in multidimensional poverty, Nigeria would not have a precarious middle class population, and the country’s institutions and infrastructure would not remain weak and unreliable. Clearly, economic growth is not the solution to the problems that plague Nigeria. The problem continues to lie in the quality of its growth.
Nigeria’s national income has historically been driven by natural resource exportation, agricultural production and exclusive service industries accessible only to a minority of the population. It is not labour-led, rather it is resource-led—leading to two significant consequences on its economy and its citizens.
Firstly, in terms of economic stability, resource dependency—primarily on crude oil—has left the country’s economic health vulnerable to global price shocks and recessions. A good example of this would be the 2016 recession that led to 112 million people falling below the poverty line, largely due to a 60 per cent fall in the price of Nigeria’s main oil export from 2014 to 2016 as well as other factors.
Secondly, within the country’s labour market, wealth is concentrated in select industries that employ only a minority of the workforce. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2013, the oil and gas sector employed 0.01 per cent of the total labour force despite contributing 70 per cent of government revenue. In contrast, sectors like agriculture contributed an average of 24 per cent to the national GDP while being the largest employer of labour, employing 36 per cent of the country’s labour force. What’s more, 92.2 per cent of the Nigerians have subsequently been left in an unregulated informal sector with low earning capacity and high rates of youth unemployment.
Resource-led growth has proven itself to be exclusionary, immiserating and unreliable to both the country’s economic performance and its working class. This is telling of a need for a more sustainable kind of economic growth—one actively utilizes Nigeria’s massive human capital resource as a driver for increased productivity across all sectors of the economy as well as improves the economic bargaining power and participation rates for Nigerians. Nigeria needs inclusive, labour led growth which is a formidable goal considering the high levels of poverty, illiteracy and institutional demise rampant in the country. Achieving this will demand extensive emancipation programs, skill acquisition initiatives, and the social development of both workers and business owners.
