The African Development Bank (AfDB) has stated that Nigeria needs to urgently diversify its economy to move the country from a single income source (oil and minerals) towards multiple income sources.
The Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation at African Development Bank (AfDB), Prof. Oyelaran-Oyeyinka Oyebanji, made this disclosure at the 22nd Founder’s Day Lecture of the Igbinedion University, Edo state, on Monday.
Oyebanji said: “In pursuit of long-term recovery and sustainable development, Nigeria needs urgent economic diversification. Nothing is more poignantly demonstrative of the danger of over-reliance on a single or narrow range of commodities than the recent crash in oil price we saw in 2020 due to the COVID-19.
“Economic diversification entails a shift away from a single income source (oil and minerals) toward multiple income sources from an increasing spectrum of sectors, products and markets,” he said.
This observation is coming after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier in the year stated that economic diversification was important to Nigeria and critical for her economic recovery.
