Nigeria Economic Development

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NIGERIA AND THE PATH OF ECONOMIC PROSPERITY. Economic development is a term that economists, politicians, and others have used frequently since the 20th Century. The concept, however, has been in existence in the West for centuries. The term refers to economic growth accompanied by changes in output distribution and economic structure. It is concerned with quality improvements, the introduction of new goods and services, risk mitigation and the dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship. Economic development has direct relationship with the environment. Whereas economic development is a policy intervention endeavour with aims of economic and social well-being of the people, economic growth is a phenomenon of market productivity and rise in According to them, the first chain consists of economic growth benefiting human development, since economic growth is likely to lead families and individuals to use their heightened incomes to increase expenditures, which in turn furthers human development. At the same time, with the increased consumption and spending, health, education and infrastructure, systems grow and contribute to economic growth. Economic development typically involves improvements in a variety of indicators such as literacy rates, life expectancy, and poverty rates. Due to the fact that GDP alone does not take into account other aspects such as leisure time, environmental quality, freedom, or social justice; alternative measures of economic well-being have been proposed. Essentially, a country’s economic development is related to its human development, which encompasses, among other things, health and education. These factors are, however, closely related to economic growth so that development and growth often go together. Since economic development and growth cannot be discussed in isolation of a referenced community, society or nation, efforts will be made in this lecture to relate essentially to the economic development parameters in the Nigerian But the growth has not been inclusive, broad-based and transformational. The implication of this trend is that economic growth in Nigeria has not resulted in the desired structural changes that would make manufacturing the engine of growth, create employment, promote technological development and induce poverty alleviation. Available data has put the national poverty level at 54.4 per cent. Similarly, there has been rising unemployment with the current level put at 19.7 per cent by the National Bureau of Statistics

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