Telecoms sector not included in GDP rebasing, says Nigerian-British chambers

The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, NBCC, has said that following the rebasing of the Nigeria’s GDP figures, the telecommunication sector, which has grown exponentially in the past 10 years and one of the fastest growing in the world, was not included in the country’s GDP.

In his welcome remark at the opening ceremony of the 2014 NBCC trade mission to the UK, at the London Chamber of Commerce, President of NBCC, Prince Adeyemi Adefulu, recalled on the 6th of April, the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics announced a rebasing of the Nigeria’s GDP figures.

“The justification for the exercise was the need to

give a more realistic value to an undervalued economy, adding that, until now, the telecommunication sector which has grown exponentially in the past 10 years and must be one of the fastest growing in the world, and the service sector, were not included in the country’s GDP.

“The rebasing put the value for 2013 at $490billion as against the World Bank’s GDP figure of $263billion for Nigeria and $384billion for South Africa for the same period. In effect, rebasing will enable better planning for the Nigerian economy and give its trade partners and investors a more realistic picture of the strength, depth and weakness of the nation’s economy.   Re-basing has made the Nigerian economy the largest in Africa and the 26th in the world” he stated. According to him, this year alone, working with the British High Commission, they have welcomed a number of inward trade and other missions from the UK and expect more this year and their present mission is the first of two outward trade missions this year.

“In October we plan to have another mission of exporters of Nigerian goods and products with the support of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council. It will be the first time that 2 outward trade missions will be sponsored by the NBCC. The trade between our two countries is dominated by oil and gas. It hardly touches the daily lives of the people of both countries. We are determined to see Nigerian pineapples, banana, flowers, yams, clothes, industrial goods etc in daily supply to the departmental and corner shops in the UK and British machinery and goods in increasing proportion in the Nigerian market. Our duty in NBCC is to present the best of both countries to the other. We sell Nigeria to Britain and Britain to Nigeria. We encourage the inflow of UK capital, goods and expertise into Nigeria just as we encourage Nigerian investment in the UK.

We delight and expect to see more Nigerian businesses on the high streets of UK cities” he said.

Vanguard