Economy of Nigeria
The Swiss foreign ministry says it has done all it can to ensure that funds stolen by the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha were used properly in his homeland. The authorities were responding to allegations that $200 million (SFr240 million) of $700 million handed back by the Swiss Banks to Nigeria had been misappropriated.[3]
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Economic assistance
As of October 2005, World Bank assistance to Nigeria involved 19 active projects with a total commitment value of about US$1.87 billion. Since Nigeria joined the World Bank in 1961, the World Bank has assisted it on 120 projects. In October 2005, the International Monetary Fund approved a two-year “policy support instrument” designed to promote the growth of the non-oil sector and to reduce poverty.[2]
The United States assisted with Nigeria's economic development from 1954 through June 1974, when concessional assistance was phased out because of a substantial increase in Nigeria's per capita income resulting from rising oil revenue. By 1974, the United States had provided Nigeria with approximately $360 million in assistance, which included grants for technical assistance, development assistance, relief and rehabilitation, and food aid. Disbursements continued into the late 1970s, bringing total bilateral economic assistance to roughly $445 million.
The sharp decline in oil prices, economic mismanagement, and continued military rule characterized Nigeria in the 1980s. In 1983, USAID began providing assistance to the Nigerian Federal and State Ministries of Health to develop and implement programs in family planning and child survival. In 1992, an HIV/AIDS prevention and control program was added to existing health activities. USAID committed $135 million to bilateral assistance programs for the period of 1986 to 1996 as Nigeria undertook an initially successful Structural Adjustment Program, but later abandoned it. Plans to commit $150 million in assistance from 1993 to 2000 were interrupted by strains in U.S.-Nigerian relations over human rights abuses, the failed transition to democracy, and a lack of cooperation from the Nigerian Government on anti-narcotics trafficking issues. By the mid-1990s, these problems resulted in the curtailment of USAID activities that might benefit the military Government. Existing health programs were re-designed to focus on working through grassroots Nigerian non-governmental organizations and community groups. As a response to the Nigerian military government's plans for delayed transition to civilian rule, the Peace Corps closed its program in Nigeria in 1994.
In response to the increasingly repressive political situation, USAID established a Democracy and Governance (DG) program in 1996. This program integrates themes focusing on basic participatory democracy, human rights and civil rights, women's empowerment, accountability, and transparency with other health activities to reach Nigerians at the grassroots level in 14 of Nigeria's 36 states.
The sudden death of Gen. Sani Abacha and the assumption of power by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar in June 1998, marked a turning point in U.S.-Nigerian relations. USAID provided significant support to the electoral process by providing some $4 million in funding for international election observation, the training of Nigerian election observers and political party polling agents, as well as voter education activities. A Vital National Interest Certification was submitted to Congress in February 1999 by President Clinton to lift restrictions on U.S. Government interaction with and support to the Government of Nigeria.
Since that time, USAID has supported Nigeria to sustain democracy and to improve governance by providing training on the roles and responsibilities of elected officials in a representative democracy for newly elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels prior to their installation in May 1999 and assisting with conflict prevention and resolution in the Niger Delta, civil military relations, civil society, and political party development. In the economic area USAID supports programs in strengthening economic management and coordination, encouraging private sector development and economic reform, helping Nigeria reap the benefits of AGOA, improved agricultural technology and marketing and smallscale and microenterprise development. In addition, health assistance, focusing on HIV/AIDS, nutrition, and immunization, education, transportation and energy infrastructure, are priorities for bilateral assistance.
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Data
GDP: purchasing power parity - $359.4 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 7% (July 2006 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2660 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 26.8%
industry: 48.8%
services: 24.4% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line: 45% (2000 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 35.8% (1996-97)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7% (2006 est.)
Labor force: 57.21 million
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 70%, industry 10%, services 20% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 2.9% NA (2005 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $17 billion
expenditures: $13.54 billion including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)
Industries: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite, palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood, hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair
Industrial production growth rate: 2.4% (2005 est.)
Electricity - production: 15.59 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 61.69%
hydro: 38.31%
nuclear: 0%
other: <.1% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 14.46 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - exports: 40 million kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)
Oil - production: 2.35 million bbl/day (July 2006 est.)
Oil - consumption: 310,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Agriculture - products: cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, maize, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish
Exports: $72.16 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber
Exports - partners: United States 47.4%, Brazil 10.7%, Spain 7.1%(2004)
Imports: $45.95 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals
Imports - partners: the People's Republic of China 9.4%, United States 8.4%, United Kingdom 7.8%, Netherlands 5.9%, France 5.4%, Germany 4.8%, Italy 4% (2004)
Debt - external: $3.3 billion with London Club(2006 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: IMF $250 million (1998)
Currency: 1 Naira (NGN) = 100 kobo
Exchange rates: Naira (NGN) per US$1 - 117.5 (2007), 120 (2006), 128 (2005), 132.89 (2004), 129.22 (2003), 120.58 (2002), 111.23 (2001)
External Reserves: $59 billion ( 2008)
Fiscal year: calendar year
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References
- ^ Center for Global Development : Publications: Resolving Nigeria's Debt Through a Discounted Buyback
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Text used in this cited section originally came from: Nigeria profile from the Library of Congress Country Studies project.
- ^ cpi_2007_table / cpi2007 / 2007 / in focus / news room / home - Transparency International
- ^ Rankings - Doing Business - The World Bank Group
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
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External links
- Economy of Nigeria at the Open Directory Project
- Brookings Institute anaylsis of Nigeria's debt restructuring
- Paris Club article on debt restructuring
- April 2002 advisory on Transactions involving Nigeria - from the US Department of the Treasury - Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (PDF format)
- TradeInvestNigeria: The ultimate guide to trade and investment opportunities in Nigeria
- The Nigerian Yellow Pages
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