Soludo: Nigeria needs 9% growth yearly to cut poverty and create jobs
- Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo says Nigeria's current growth of about four per cent is too slow to reduce poverty.
- He spoke at the Nigerian Economic Summit 32 in Abuja, calling for higher investment and better coordination between government tiers.
- Soludo also linked cheaper food to fixing post-harvest losses, which he put at about 43 per cent of farm output.
Nigeria must grow its economy by at least nine per cent every year if poverty is to fall meaningfully and jobs are to be created, Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo has said.
Soludo spoke on Monday in Abuja at the Nigerian Economic Summit 32 (NES32), themed "Growth that Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and Shared Prosperity". He said the country's current growth of about four per cent is not enough to lift living standards quickly.
For an ordinary Nigerian, the gap matters. Slower growth means fewer new jobs, weaker incomes and little relief from high food prices.
What Soludo says must change
According to the governor, Nigeria would need annual growth of at least 12 per cent to reach a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030 or 2040. He said the country's investment rate, put at between 17 and 20 per cent, must rise significantly to support that kind of expansion.
Soludo warned against judging government effort by big spending figures alone. He said consolidated public spending across federal, state and local governments works out to less than one dollar per person each day.
He called for national savings to be channelled into productive investments that expand output, create jobs and improve living standards. He also asked for stronger coordination between the three tiers of government, noting that states and local governments carry a large share of public spending.
Citing Anambra, he said the state's free education programme, from kindergarten through secondary school, helped cut its out-of-school children rate from 2.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent. He also referred to a recent Oxford and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report that reportedly put Anambra's multidimensional poverty rate at 9.6 per cent.
On food prices, Soludo said structural reforms are needed to tackle post-harvest losses, which he put at about 43 per cent of agricultural output. Better storage, transport and distribution, he said, would move food more efficiently from farms to urban markets and ease costs for consumers.
He urged governments to encourage exports, build domestic value chains and attract investment in sectors where Nigeria has a competitive edge, adding that private-sector participation is essential for sustainable jobs.
What happens next
The summit ends with recommendations to government, but the sources did not say what specific steps federal or state authorities have agreed to take. Nigerians will watch whether investment and coordination improve enough to show up in jobs and food prices.
