Nigeria’s GDP growth decelerated in 2022 amid global headwinds, including elevated commodity prices and soaring inflation resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The IMF’s GDP growth projection of 3.2% for 2023 is in recognition of the measures Nigeria has undertaken to boost oil production. Nevertheless, the country’s medium-term economic plan, the National Development Plan (NDP) 202
Interview: Pieter Slabberts In what ways can increased investment in Nigeria’s health care sector benefit the country? PIETER SLABBERTS: Increased investment in Nigeria’s health care infrastructure has the potential to solve two of Nigeria’s immediate challenges: unemployment and insecurity. A high number of gainfully employed Nigerians will likely diminish the recruitment pool for crime and…
Delivering quality education to Nigeria’s large, youthful and rapidly growing population presents significant challenges, but also opportunities for education investors. Indeed, 43% of the 213m citizens in 2021 were under 14 years of age and the country’s annual population growth was 2.7% that year. There are a high number of out-of-school children due in part to insufficient infrastructure and…
Improving health care services and outcomes in Nigeria will necessitate sustained investment and targeted programmes to address key challenges. The implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund scheme and the recent introduction of state health insurance, however, marks an important starting point for reforms towards universal health insurance. Moreover, better infectious disease surveillance…
With many emerging markets still facing high levels of plastic waste after the Covid-19 pandemic, solutions are being developed to address its environmental and health challenges. Plastic – which accounted for 12% of global solid waste pre-pandemic, according to the World Bank – took on a more prominent role as personal protective equipment (PPE) and single-use plastics by delivery food services…
As economies transition away from traditional learning methods and the characteristics of job markets evolve, education technology (edtech) can help countries achieve efficiency and effectiveness in school management. With widespread resource shortages in schools across the country, Nigeria stands to make significant gains from digital methodologies in order to raise the quality and productivity of…
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was enacted in 2004 to make it affordable for all citizens to have medical insurance, and to provide Nigerians relief from high out-of-pocket spending for health-related services. In 2019 a three-point rebranding was unveiled to improve the transparency and accountability of the insurance scheme, make the organisation result-oriented and accelerate efforts…
In a bid to expand access, education is increasingly exploring the possibilities of the metaverse and extend-ed-reality (XR) approaches. The former comprises a range of technologies which immerse users in a virtual environment. It denotes a 3D medium that combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) into a new digital realm, sometimes known as XR. These environments are accessed through…
Although Nigeria’s growing population poses a number of challenges to the provision of health care, the sector’s longer-term investment prospects remain promising, as the Covid-19 pandemic created more opportunities for private sector innovation. Moreover, further reforms and greater government spending on health care have the potential to create significant positive outcomes. As for education,…
Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, with GDP of $432.3bn in 2020, according to the World Bank, and home to one of the largest proven oil reserves on the continent. The country has developed an investment-friendly business climate over two decades of civilian rule and in the nearly 60 years since independence, boosted by its oil and gas wealth, and the entrepreneurial spirit of its young popu
