Despite the latest focus on the Ebola virus in West Africa, there has been a major growth in the economy and middle class, according to Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. It was only two decades ago that Africa was dubbed as the world’s economic “basket case,” and since then the growth of the middle class has almost tripled.

In a speech given by Okonjo-Iweala, she said that the country’s economic growing has been increasing at an average of 7 percent per annum and that this is due to the strong influence of growth that the non-oil sectors have. She also said that Nigeria should not be seen as just an oil and gas economy now, but rather a strong and diverse economy.

Things that have helped grow the economy are building essential administrative functions, like computerized land registries, that permit the sale of a plot of land within a week rather than what it was prior, months or even years. New highways have been implemented for trade, which has helped by cutting down travel time between Benin City and Lagos, approximately cutting six hours off. Another big factor of the economic growth goes to a developing national program that offers mortgages, and this helps by boosting the housing sector, which in turn gives millions of Nigerians a stable home and investment for the future.

According to Okonjo-Iweala, there are still many obstacles that Nigeria has to overcome, and one of those is that the governance is still too corrupt, which includes the theft of the oil produced by the country. Another challenge blocking the growth is that there are serious security issues due to the militant Islamist militia that continues to take over land in northeastern Nigeria.

World Bank has proved through research that improvement in agriculture is three times more impactful in ending poverty than any other thing. With that being said, Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever as well as Minnesota-based Cargill have both financed developments to process Nigeria’s cassava crop. Nigeria is home to 173.6 million people with a GDP of $521.8 billion, Okonjo-Iweala believes that it has become an “economic powerhouse” and has achieved a level that should be a member of things like the G20.

– Brooke Smith

Sources: Atlantic Council, World Bank
Photo: Flickr