Nigeria needs 9% annual growth to reduce poverty – Soludo

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra says Nigeria needs an annual economic growth of at least nine per cent to significantly reduce poverty and create jobs. He made the assertion at the Nigerian Economic Summit 32 (NES32) with the theme “Growth that Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and Shared Prosperity” in Abuja on Monday. He said that Nigeria’s current growth rate of about four per cent remained inadequate to achieve rapid poverty reduction and employment generation.

The governor also said that Nigeria would require an annual growth of at least 12 per cent to achieve a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030 or 2040. He added that the country’s investment rate, estimated at 17 to 20 per cent, must rise significantly to support the required economic expansion. Soludo cautioned against being misled by large nominal spending figures, saying that consolidated public expenditure across all government levels amounted to less than one dollar per person daily.

He stressed the need to channel national savings into productive investments, capable of expanding economic output, creating jobs and improving living standards. He called for stronger coordination between the federal government, states and local governments, noting that subnational authorities accounted for a substantial share of public spending. According to him, effective collaboration is essential to maximise the impact of government policies and investments across the country.

Soludo cited Anambra’s free education programme, which covers kindergarten through secondary school, as an example of interventions delivering measurable social benefits. He said that the state had reduced its out-of-school children rate from 2.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent. He also cited a recent Oxford and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report which reportedly placed Anambra’s multidimensional poverty rate at 9.6 per cent.

Soludo said that reducing food prices required structural reforms to address post-harvest losses, which he put at about 43 per cent of agricultural output. He said that improving storage, transportation and distribution systems would help to move food from farms to urban markets and reduce consumer prices. The governor, therefore, urged governments to strengthen sectoral collaboration and mobilise investments to accelerate economic growth.

Soludo also called for policies that encourage exports, develop domestic value chains and promote investment in sectors where Nigeria has competitive advantages. He emphasised that stronger private-sector participation and productive investments were essential to generating sustainable jobs and ensuring that economic growth benefitted more Nigerians. (NAN)