Development Policy, Plan and Economic Diversification in Nigeria: Perspectives on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan

The study examined the relationship between development policy/plan and economic diversification in Nigeria. It centered on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). The ERGP regime was adopted by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in the wake of Nigeria’s economic recession in 2016. The vulnerabilities of the Nigerian economy and structural weaknesses (i.e., dependence on oil and gas for national revenue and main national export) have consistently created challenges for the nation’s economy. The ERGP was designed in 2017 to, among other things; diversify Nigeria’s economy between 2017 and 2020. To achieve economic diversification, one of the targets of the ERGP is to drive industrialization, with a focus on small and medium size enterprises to increase non-oil exports. Thus, the main objective of the study was to ascertain the extent of economic diversification since the adoption of the plan in the country. The study adopted the Endogenous Growth Theory to explain the extent of economic diversification in the country. The study relied on secondary data mainly from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), focusing on manufactured/non-oil exports and revenue from the non-oil sectors. The study revealed that there has been an accelerated implementation of the ERGP leveraging on the National Industrial Revolution Plan. Nonetheless, this effort has not significantly produced the desired result of economic diversification, as oil and gas remain the mainstay of the economy. For the ERGP to achieve the desired outcomes there is need to invest massively and genuinely in infrastructure (power, road, etc.), human capital development and research and development (R&D). Hence, the paper concluded that for Nigeria to enjoy substantial economic diversification there must be genuine and concerted government commitment to industrialization. The study recommended, among other things, that there should be massive investment in infrastructure, human capital development, research and development (R&D) to generate new ideas and institutionalization of a functional industrial development bank.