• …hails 2024 achievement
• We’ll remain proactive –Cardoso

Nigeria’s economy needs to grow about five times faster than its recent pace to achieve a $1 trillion economy by 2030 and alleviate poverty, the World Bank said yesterday at the unveiling of the Nigeria Development Update (NDU), a biannual economic pulse of the bank on Nigeria’s economy.

Unveiling the report titled: “Building Momentum for Inclusive Growth, the World Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, lauded the macroeconomic reforms initiated by the government, noting they had stabilised the economy on growth path. However, he said much needed to be done to deepen the growth to be inclusive.

Specifically, the bank tasked Nigeria with broadening the cash payment transfer to the vulnerable. He noted that international experience suggested that the public sector could not sustainably generate growth and jobs by itself. “Nigeria is no exception, particularly since public resources remain constrained.

A useful strategy is to position the public sector to play a dual role as a provider of essential public services, especially to build human capital and infrastructure, and as an enabler for the private sector to invest, innovate, and grow the economy,” said Sienaert.

The NDU unveiling attracted top government dignitaries, which included Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, MD/CEO of UAC Foods, Oluyemi Oloyede, and Taimur Samad, Acting World Bank Country Director for Nigeria.

According to the report, “for the economy to meet the government’s aspiration of achieving a $1 trillion economy by 2030 and deliver poverty reduction and shared prosperity, the pace of growth needs to accelerate further and its composition rebalanced towards those economic sectors and firms that are most productive, generate positive spillovers, and create jobs and opportunities at scale, especially for the poor and economically insecure.

“At present, the bestperforming sectors of the economy, like finance and ICT, are important drivers of growth but are not sources of mass employment as many Nigerians do not yet have the skills and opportunities to participate in them.