NOW THAT NIGERIA HAS THE LARGEST ECONOMY IN AFRICA

Nigeria became the largest economy April 6, 2014 by the size of the Gross Domestic Product which is now put approximately at $510bn or N80tn using 2013 as base year.The last base year was 1990 and the GDP stood at $262bn at that time.The economy has grown by 89% according to the figures released by Statistician-General of the Federation, Mr. Yemi Kale. The implication for the Economy of the whole continent of Africa is that by GDP size, Nigeria has overtaken South Africa and Egypt as the largest economy.The size of South Africa's economy by GDP is $384bn. The economy has been growing at average of 7.7%  in the last 24 years.The economy of Sub-Saharan economic growth in total is 4.7%.

In terms of GDP, Nigeria is now 26th largest economy in the world.Even though this is a cheering news due to the fact that we now occupy a position of opportunity. However,the country's PCI or Per Capita Income is now approximately $3,000 from $1,555 in 1990. With this development the country is now 135th in world by PCI.This index measures the level standard of living of the citizens.The challenge here is that the PCI is calculated based on National Income and population .Nigeria's population is about 170m now.The GDP is a national income measurement tool and the approach used by Nigeria is a product approach.This approach considered all the output in the economy to a very large extent unlike 1990 rebasing. In the last 24 years there has been huge growth in Telecommunications sector which was hitherto run by government in a highly inefficient manner .Privatization  opened up the sector for competition.Even though the sector is yet to be fully tapped and the issue of quality service delivery is still a challenge,the sector brought unprecedented opportunities.The sectors is a big employer of labour and with very high return on investment.No wonder South Africa is unfazed by Nigeria's position in Africa because the country has massive investment in our Telecom and booming Cable entertainment industries.The Entertainment industry had a good growth occasioned by Nigerian film industry.In 1990, the growth of this industry was as good as nil.It is a good thing this sector is now captured by 2013 GDP rebasing.There are various activities of informal sectors such as arts and trading that are now included in the new GDP figures.