ABSTRACT
This research work, “A Critical analysis of the performance of the National Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDE) on the Nigerian Economy”, seeks to look at the major causes of Nigeria’s economic misfortunes and this is greatly attributable to the poor industrial capacity utilization, massive unemployment and underemployment, high rate of inflation, high poverty rate, poor wealth distribution, mono-cultural economy (oil), high rate of corruption, etc.
The main objective of this research is to find out if NEEDS has made any impact on the Nigerian economy and to analyze such impacts.
To achieve the above stated objectives a systematic research methodology was adopted. A good blend of research questions and hypothesis were used on the population In addition, the macroeconomic benchmark set for NEEDS for each year of its implementation (ie. 2004 – 2007) was compared against the actual outcome of 2004, to ensure compliance with plan.
It was discovered that although NEEDS is the best available option to revive the collapsing economy, there are serious implementation challenges that may bedevil. Its implementation process. Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made amongst others;
i. The institution responsible for the implementation of NEEDS. Should be headed by well-qualified citizens of Nigeria with remarkable integrity.
ii. The level of awareness/publicity of NEEDS is too low that over 70% of the country’s populations are yet in the dark about it.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigeria has an estimated population of about 125 million people and a land area of about 924 square kilometers, a large proportion of which is arable. It has large deposit of oil, gas and solid minerals and a sizeable educated and skilled workforce. Deposit these, the country has not been able to effectively harness its endowment to develop the economy sufficiently to improve the welfare of its people, with an estimated population growth rate of 2.8% and a GDP growth rate of about 2.5%, per capital income growth was negative for the greater part of the 1990s. Nigerian’s urbanization rate of 5.3% is one of the highest in the world, leading to loss of virile labour force for agriculture. Besides, the rate of job creation has been far less than the rate of growth of the urban labour force. This combined education system that is not attuned to the population of the appropriate manpower required to support robust growth has led to high levels of unemployment and underemployment.
Income distribution in the country is also stewed high such that probably less than 15% of the population actually benefits from the GDP growth. The country has a debt overhang of about US $30 billion with light servicing requirements. Currently, about 65.7% of the population lives below the poverty line, half of which probably lives on less than half a dollar per day. The situation rather than improve has been worsening over time. This has become a source of embarrassment for a country that is relatively so well endowed.
The weakness of the Nigeria economy in the past three decades is not unrelated to its dependence on oil as the mainstay of its economy. Indeed, the country is a textbook example of economy under the “Dutch disease” with its deleterious impact on the development or other aspects of the real sector. Oil currently is 90% foreign exchange earnings and about 75% of government revenues. It contributes about 3% of the available labour force. (Akpobash, 2004:2).
For several years therefore, the development challenge for Nigeria because the diversification of the productive base away from oil. Successive governments took up these challenges in the design and implementation of several plans and policies. However, the attempts at achieving a more rapid growth of the industrial sector led to involve estimates in several projects, which turned out to be “white elephants”. The reason for this development is not far fetched as (Akpobasah 2004:2) rightly put it. Firstly, the capacity to design/execute such project was lacking. Secondly, the soft loans/funds required for sustaining the projects after inception dried up following the collapse of oil prices in the early eighties. However, there is an even more significant development....
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 97 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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