Current Political and Economic Factors in Nigeria Extra Credit

Current Political and Economic Factors in Nigeria

            Recently, Nigeria was named as Africa’s largest economy, and in 2015 their Gross Domestic Product was estimated at a whopping $1.1 trillion! Something that has lead to the success of Nigeria’s economy for a very long time (since the 1970s) is oil. But, recently, agriculture, telecommunications, and services have had a huge role in their growing economy. But, despite all this, approximately 62% of Nigeria lives not only in poverty, but in extreme poverty.

            There have been many changes to their economics and political structure over time, but Nigeria is known to lack infrastructure and several important political factors: like the passage of legislative reforms, a bad property registration system, bad trade policies, and slow and almost non-effective judicial system, and a very inconsistent “regulatory environment”.

            In 2015, oil prices were known to be lower, so the Gross Domestic Product growth had declined to 3%. Although it declined, GDP was still growing. In 2016, GDP declined to -1.7%. Although this is not a huge decrease, it can still be detrimental. And considering this economy is greatly dependent on oil, when oil prices and output stabilizes, the country should be back on track. Also, current president Muhammadu Buhari has been leading efforts to lead the economy away from their dependency on oil and to have a more transparent government. Also, he has been working on better partnerships for roads, power, and agriculture which can also help lead the economy away from their dependency on oil. So basically, according to the CIA World Factbook, the outlook for Nigeria’s economy looks to be headed in a positive direction, and it should stay on this track if oil prices increase and oil output for the country goes back to normal.

            As for politics, there are a lot of problems obviously with their political system. It’s not very clear and transparent, and that has lead to a lot of underlying issues. As of today, there are over 7 million people in /Northern Nigeria that are struggling with money and starvation. The political leaders have been asking for help from US President Donald Trump, and they’re hoping that he will do something about it. Also, a lot of Nigeria’s surrounding countries struggle with hunger as well. I’d say that it is one of the biggest problems in that area. What makes this worse is that the UN has diminishing funds to send aid to Nigeria. So, I think that the president of Nigeria should try to fix the economy and the political system more so that they can get that huge issue under control.

            Also, there have been a lot of issues concerning war and bombings. Several people have been getting killed or injured due to bombings and terrorist shootings. And, there are a lot of refugees in Nigeria, and recently, over 50 of them were killed accidentally by an Air Force bombing in Nigeria. I feel that Nigeria should be more concerned with fixing themselves than they are with war and fighting.

            And lastly, there has been a huge outbreak of Meningitis in Nigeria that has killed around 745 people so far. I definitely feel that this is an issue due to the poor politics in Nigeria, and it is not something that should be taken lightly. This can have devastating effects if it is not handled correctly soon.

Works Cited:

Board, Editorial. "Opinion | Millions May Starve in Africa. The U.S. Should Do Something

about It." The Washington Post. WP Company, 15 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

"Opinion | Hoping Trump's next Change of Heart Is on Famine." The Washington Post. WP

Company, 19 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

Press, Associated. "UN to Cut Food Aid for Nigeria Crisis as Funding Falls Short." The

Washington Post. WP Company, 15 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. 

Press, Associated. "Nigeria's Meningitis Outbreak Kills 745 so Far: Officials." The Washington

Post. WP Company, 19 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. 

Press, Associated. "Nigeria Shows off New Air Assets for Boko Haram Fight." The Washington

Post. WP Company, 24 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

"Refugees Killed by Mistake from Air Force Jet Bombing in Nigeria." The Washington Post. WP

Company, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

"The World Factbook: NIGERIA." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 12

Jan. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.