The Covid-19 pandemic and the corresponding drop in global oil prices caused both a recession and lower inbound investment in the early months of the health crisis in Nigeria. However, GDP and investment figures improved as the economy reopened. Foreign investors shied away from many emerging markets in the early months of 2020 as the pandemic took hold, but levels of pledged foreign investment picked…
The year 2020 was a dramatic one for the global energy sector, with the Covid-19 pandemic slashing demand for hydrocarbons and upending market norms. Seeing that investment in oil took a hit while renewable energy remained resilient, some stakeholders expect the pandemic to result in a permanent realignment of the international energy market. Oil Crisis The energy sector was dramatically affected…
In late September 2020 President Muhammadu Buhari submitted the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to the National Assembly, breathing new life into the stalled legislation. Both chambers of Parliament passed the then-bill on July 1, 2021, and it was signed into law the following month. The PIA aims to overhaul the oil industry, focusing on its organisational structure and fiscal terms, with an eye to increasing…
The Nigerian landscape holds over 30 types of solid minerals in an identified 450 locations. Deposits span gemstones, metallic ores, energy minerals and construction materials, such as granite. While the mining sector was a mainstay of the economy up until the late 1960s, the focus on oil from that point on has seen the mining’s share of GDP fall to 0.5% in 2019. To diversify economic activity and…
While the Covid-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated a worldwide trend of digital transformation, inadequate infrastructure has hampered the shift in many emerging economies, limiting their capacity to fully capitalise on the opportunities stemming from the disruption. As such, it is necessary for public and private actors to collaborate on closing the gap, as high-quality ICT infrastructure is key to enhancing…
The pandemic has shone a light on vulnerabilities in the agriculture sector, and underscored the importance of ensuring food security and strengthening the agricultural chain. Some of the major problems that Nigerian farmers face include limited access to information and the market, insufficient financial support, and logistics and transport issues. However, agri-tech solutions are offering new support…
Although informal physical retail sales continue to dominate the Nigerian market, e-commerce has experienced exponential growth in recent years, culminating in a significant push towards online shopping in 2020-21 in the face of pandemic-induced lockdowns. Market Footprint Home to two of Africa’s big-five online retailers, the Nigerian e-commerce market was valued at about $12bn in 2019, according…
Even as the authorities work to create more opportunities for Nigerians to own affordable homes, mortgage penetration continues to be low. The ratio of outstanding mortgages to GDP was 0.5% in 2020 – up from 0.2% in 2019 – compared to 18.9% in Namibia, 16.2% in South Africa, 10.2% in Tunisia, 2.2% in Kenya and 1.6% in Ghana, according to the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF).…
Nigeria has prioritised improving its business climate in recent years, with an emphasis on developing its logistics and trade facilities. These efforts have paid off, with the country having the 10th-most improved ranking in the 2020 edition of the World Bank’s ease of doing business index. Improving 15 places from 2019, Nigeria’s overall score placed it 131st out of 190 countries in 2020 on the…
In early 2021 the government launched a slate of major projects to help bridge Nigeria’s infrastructure gap. In support of this, the country’s leaders created the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria, or InfraCorp, in February of that year: a public-private fund to finance critical infrastructure such as railways and roads. The construction sector is expected to be a significant growth driver…
