Trade Openness and Economic Growth in Nigeria

In today's globalized economies, virtually every country in the world belongs to some form of regional integrated trade organization whether by direct membership, bilateral or multilateral agreement. Regional integration is a process by which sovereign states in a particular region enter into an agreement to promote economic growth through the reduction of barriers to trade restrictions and safeguard common interests such as the environment. The removal of trade barriers results in a free trade zone thus creating a single market. Sovereign nations have many differences, some may be more economically sound and others may have a greater labor force or better technology. In the end,

Africa is a region that has for long been taunted as the dark continent. Years of political cynicism, proliferation of civil wars and governance mismanagement have negated the growth and development of the continent. However if the present positive growth patterns and future economic projections are anything to go by then the continent is set to undergo a massive transformation by 2025. African economies are showing impressive growth, with an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecasted to be 6.3 % in 2013, Africa has become the fastest growing region in the world, and only a few Asian countries will continue to grow faster than the continent's top performers. Africa`s growth projections are premised on the backbone of an anticipated educated young population growth, rising intra-African trade, investments in public-private partnerships and commodity-based industrialization. This paper gives an impetus to the future prospects of Africa by highlighting inter alia the present growth trends and envisaged future prospects. It also analyses what still needs to be done to ensure the envisaged growth projections are realized.

Openness to the global market increases the size of the market. Firms will no longer produce only for the domestic market but also for much larger external markets. Hence an increase in production which will allow the realisation of economies of scale (the unit cost decreases with the size of the production thanks to better use of the equipment) and therefore the fall in prices (reference); it is therefore in the interest of countries that have a limited domestic market (small population, low living standards) to become outward looking to expand the market size of their products (reference).

One of the outstanding elements of macroeconomics is Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the last five decades this element has been embraced as an acceptable meter for economic growth (Robert Constanza, 2009) and remains the best indicator of standard of living of a country. Ghana, a developing country west of sub-Saharan Africa is not in isolation and different from others. It is an undeniable truth that Ghana?s economy has not grown much since the early 1960s after her independence (Aryeetey, 2000). Over the years, Ghana 's economic growth has been pegged at 3% to 4% (Institute of Economic Affairs , 2006). However, in 2011, Ghana recorded a high Gross Domestic Product growth of about 14.5.0% (Data.worldbank.org, 2016). Nevertheless, this growth has not been sustained over the subsequent years. Gross Domestic Product growth has been 4%, 8%, 15%, 7.9%, 5.4% and 4.2% for consecutive years from 2009 to 2014 respectively (IMF, 2015).. From the statistics, it is very evident that GDP growth in Ghana has been undulating. The statistics can be ascribed to the financial contributions that various sectors such as the real sector with services inclusive, the external sector and the monetary sector make to the economy. Notwithstanding this, over the years, the major contributor to Ghana?s economy has been the service sector (Ghana Statistical Service, 2013; Ghana Statistical Service, 2012) about 50.2% of total real sector contribution to the GDP (Budget, 2015)

There are several authors that put emphasis on the role of international trade as the main conduit of economic development. Influential papers in this school include Sach and Warner (1995), Frankel and Romer (1999), and Dollar and Kraay (2003). In these papers, trade strongly fosters economic convergence among countries and regions.

Nigeria has a population of around 180 million, making it the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria is located in a region with tropical climate and that can grow variety of crops. With their numerous resources and growing technology they have been able to have positive economic advancement. Nigeria has had improvements in five of the ten economic freedoms. This includes Freedom of corruption, labor freedom, and management of government spending ("Nigeria." Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption.). Nevertheless these large improvements in their economy has not brought human development, where most Nigerians live under the poverty line. This paper will focus on why Nigeria has not been able to use their economic prosperity in the sector of human development, this includes standard of living, health, safety, and basic necessity one needs to live a stable life. We will compare it to the state of Ghana whose economy has also flourished but has been success in human development.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous country in the world with a population of 154, 729,000 citizens. Our nominal GDP is $207. 116 billion and we have a nominal per capita income of $1, 4011. Nigeria also has the second largest economy in Africa. If I may ask, is this country not blessed? Yet, it is still plagued by youth unemployment which had been one of our major problems in recent years. Both government and the private sector had discussed this issue at forums and conferences but have not found a solution to it. Its continued existence had been linked to lack of power supply and financial empowerment for youths. Youth unemployment in Nigeria is

During 2003-2007, Nigeria attempted to implement an Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS). The purpose of NEEDS is to raise the country’s standard of living through a variety of reforms, including macroeconomic stability, deregulation,

Nigeria got their independence from Britain on 1st October, 1960. Within the country of Nigeria, they have over 371 tribes, but the main three that is well known are, Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba. Within that 371 tribes, they have 521 language. Nigeria is well known for their petroleum, and they have other natural resources include natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc and arable land. The maximum crude oil production capacity of Nigeria is 2.5 million barrels per day, and the whole world consume an average of about 19.4 million barrels per day. One might ask, what is the problem with a country with the maximum capacity of oil production at 2.5 million a day? The problem is that people in that country are living in poverty. According to the Food Aid International organization (FAI), “3000 adults and children die everyday of hunger and poverty,” (Xinhua). My research shows that there are many contributing factor why people are living in poverty, which are: Unemployment, bad education system, inequity, and corruption. But my research focuses on the leading cause of poverty in Nigeria, which is corruption within the government system. According to “BBC News,” it shows that almost 100 million people living in Nigeria lives under $1 a day.

By 1996, Nigeria had become the 13th poorest country in the world and occupied the 142nd rank on the human development index (HDI) scale. (World Bank, 1996)

The volatility in the prices of crude oil in the international oil market which was triggered by factors within the global economy has impacted the Nigeria economy to some degree with dire consequences for the implementation of the 2012 budget. Some of the factors which triggered the fall in oil prices include a massive liquidation of net-long speculative positions, a deepening Euro-zone crisis as well as concerns over a weakening economic outlook, steady rise in global crude stocks, weak US jobs data, and a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing activity.

Processes of cooperation and integration between countries are very important in the modern world. At the present time, a profound influence and an interrelation between countries is noticeable. The result of these processes in the future should be a fully free transmission of goods, services and subjects of intellectual property, capitals and human resources. At the same time, there is still a big gap in the level of economic development of countries in the world. This imbalance creates a collision between two different policies of world trade. Some countries provide liberalisation of international trade, other countries advocate protectionism to support a domestic market by using barriers and restraints on trade. One manifestation of

This research work focus on the appraisal of Macroeconomic Policy on Inflation in Nigerian Economy, also to determine how it enhances the growth of Nigerian Economy.

“This essay will be written on Nigeria during the independence era to the present time of the country. What will be discussed about Nigeria is how they achieved their development, how they are now currently the African continent’s top economy. “The discussion that will be in this essay is the theories used after Independence in Nigeria to obtain development. Nigeria is also known for the country’s population growth; population growth has its advantage which has a positive impact on the country’s economic growth as it causes demand for products and also leads to an upsurge in human a country which is why Nigeria today is leading with their economic growth.” “Nigeria is a country endowed with human, agricultural, petroleum, gas and large untapped mineral resources” Nigeria was once a colonialized country, they managed to obtain their Independence. According to (Babs,1977) Nigeria is mostly likely referred as the “Giant of Africa” because of its population, the country is also culturally diverse and has a large economic growth in Africa.” Nigeria has relatively advanced power, road, rail and ICT networks that cover the national territory quite extensively, Nigeria has a good progress in their infrastructure and sanitation”

This is an external factor of Nigeria’s underdevelopment; it is the highest form of exploitation from the British countries to their colonies after independence. Nigeria has contributed to its economic backwardness, as it “promotes the maintenance of foreign domination and enhances neo-colonialism and the flowering of subjugationism” (onimode, 1981). Imperialism has always been an exploitative phenomenon, which was the initial motive for colonization. Nigeria has been seen as a dumping ground for most British counties, making it difficult for us to produce our own goods. Also the fact that we are primary producers with fewer technicalities to produce our raw materials into finished products makes it a means of imperialism as we export our goods at the rate determined by the British colonies and still import back at a higher cost. For example the crude oil, Nigeria is the largest country with the crude oil but the poorest in economic state due lack of technicality in transforming crude oil into petrol which led to the issue of sucidy removal in January 1st 2012, even after which things haven’t changed as fuel scarcity hits most part of the country e.g. Abuja, Lagos etc. as at 19th September 2012.