Nigeria not investing enough in productivity drivers – Expert
By Sofiyyah Layole
Economist, Dr. Abidemi Adegboye, has warned that Nigeria’s persistently low productivity is at the heart of the country’shas warned that Nigeria’s persistently low productivity is at the heart of the country’s weak wages, slow growth, and declining revenue, stressing that the economy cannot achieve meaningful progress without urgent structural reforms.
Speaking at the World Stage Economic Summit 2025, themed “Tackling the Issue of Low Productivity in Nigeria,” and held on November 21 in Lagos, Adegboye noted that while sectors such as ICT and entertainment remain highly productive, they are too small to absorb Nigeria’s large and expanding population. He said the country must pay closer attention to productivity trends because even a one-percent decline has measurable effects on national revenue and long-term competitiveness.
Adegboye identified innovation capacity, human capital quality, and demographic strength as key productivity drivers, but admitted that Nigeria is underperforming in all of them. He cited the country’s 0.3 percent of GDP investment in research as inadequate for any economy seeking to compete globally. According to him, the continued emphasis on widening access to education without improving quality has weakened the workforce and limited national output.
He stressed that institutions remain central to reversing the decline, noting that weak policy execution, poor regulatory environments, and inconsistent government priorities continue to slow progress.
Adegboye said Nigeria will require structural reforms to reposition its economy. He explained that economic diversification must go beyond rhetoric, urging the government to take strategic risks and actively strengthen the country’s participation in global markets. He added that agriculture must be stabilised and scaled, with significant investment in agro-allied processing to create value and jobs across the chain.
On infrastructure, he emphasised that Nigeria’s logistics challenges—such as electricity shortages, poor roads, and weak telecommunications—impose high costs on businesses. He maintained that inflation will remain elevated as long as logistics remain inefficient, given their impact on pricing and productivity.
The economist also highlighted the need for deeper human capital development, particularly in digital skills. He mentioned the need to focus on health, warning that inadequate early childhood nutrition creates long-term cognitive limitations that ultimately reflect in national productivity levels.
He said technology and innovation clusters around universities could accelerate research and commercialisation, adding that Nigeria’s fintech sector, which contributes 5.8 percent to GDP, shows the scale of opportunities available if young people receive targeted training and access to funding. However, he criticised the financial system for excluding young innovators, saying that bank lending practices continue to stifle new enterprise creation.
Adegboye further called for modernised, climate-resilient agriculture, noting that climate impacts already threaten productivity gains.
He added that Nigeria’s productivity crisis is both an economic challenge and a social concern, but maintained that the country’s large population can become a major advantage if policies focus on education quality, innovation, infrastructure, and institutional efficiency.
According to him, Nigeria has the potential to significantly raise productivity, but only if government and private-sector leaders treat the issue as a central pillar of economic planning, not an afterthought.