Country Overview:

IOA has focused considerable in-depth research and has undertaken consulting services on Nigeria to form a data-based understanding of the Giant of Africa. Our economists note that the populous country has the largest economy in Africa and can secure that status into the future by further diversifying its economy away from reliance on the energy sector. The manufacturing sector became Africa’s largest in 2013 after policies and investments targeted industrial growth. The grassroots success of the entertainment industry resulted from imaginative Nollywood filmmakers meeting the preferences of domestic and African audiences.

IOA analysts have characterised the economy as dual in nature: a modern, oil-based economy and financial sector; and a traditional agricultural and trade-based economy, involving the majority of Nigerians. This duality is responsible for income disparities, poverty and unemployment. Economic freedom needs improvement, which will require a diminishment of the power of the wealthy elite.