The rise of new growth frontiers

The revelation by the recent rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the rising growth of sectors that were in the past not accorded much importance is a testament to the creativity, capacity and entrepreneurial spirit of Nigerians, who strive to succeed in spite of hurdles.

From technology start-ups helping to boost the contribution of the telecommunications sector to the GDP, to entertainers whose efforts have resulted to the emergence of the new sector Nollywood, to entrepreneurs whose businesses are driving the growth of the services industry, Nigerians have shown that the economy cannot only be driven by the oil and gas industry.

 The contribution of the services industry, which was the top gainer from the rebasing, increased to 51.59 percent in the rebased 2013 GDP figure from 29.04 percent in the old GDP series, while the oil industry, which traditionally dominated the economy, saw a dip from 32.43 percent in 2013 before the rebasing to 14.4 percent in the total 2013 rebased GDP.

Nigeria’s booming telecommunications sector, whose contribution to the GDP before the rebasing was a mere 0.8 percent, now has 8.6 percent share of the GDP.  The country is Africa’s biggest mobile phone market with over 100 million connections, according to the country’s telecoms regulator.

The technology start-up market in Nigeria has continued to see increasing growth as tech incubators such as Co-Creation Hub in Lagos spring up across the country to help kick start grassroots businesses, with a growing number of venture capitalists and Fortune 500 global technology companies increasingly showing willingness to invest in these new businesses.

The technology start-up scene is witnessing a flurry of activities including new investment, acquisitions, strategic partnerships as well as plans to establish more incubation centres, buoyed by the growing, technology-savvy middle-class and massive online population of over 45 million internet users.

With a share of 1.2 percent of the rebased GDP, Nollywood’s exponential growth has been attributed to enhanced production and content quality of Nigerian films, stemming from growing professionalism.

In the last five years, the industry has been growing in terms of quality, and has been rated the third largest film-making industry in the world after Bollywood and Hollywood. Just as it has ranked third globally in terms of quality of production, it has grossed revenues that placed it third in the world.

While we believe there is need for government to continue to put in place measures that will boost the growth of these sectors to optimise their potential for job creation and socio-economic development, the private sector also should play an increasing role to support the sectors.