…Urges Shift from Raw Material Export to Complexity-Driven Economy
By Shina Abubakar, Osogbo
The Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, has praised President Bola Tinubu for embarking on the challenging task of rebuilding Nigeria’s economy, emphasizing the need for the country to shift from being a raw material exporter to a complexity-driven, innovation-focused economy.
Dr. Adedeji spoke during the maiden Distinguished Personality Lecture of the Faculty of Administration at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, themed “From Potential to Prosperity: Export-led Economy.” He stressed that economic growth must be pursued through innovation and complexity rather than simply producing more of the same.
He said, “President Tinubu has already begun the difficult work of rebuilding our economy. The goal now must be to transform Nigeria into a nation that possesses the collective knowledge to produce, innovate, and compete. By adopting a strategy focused on complexity, we can harness her true potential. We can build an economy that is diversified, resilient, and most importantly, one that provides prosperous lives for all Nigerians.”
Adedeji highlighted the structural challenges facing Nigeria, noting the country has a high-tech oil sector but a low-productivity informal sector and lacks a vibrant, labor-absorbing industrial base, which is essential for advancing economic complexity.
He observed that Nigeria’s export basket stagnated for three decades between 1998 and 2023, with only six new products added between 2008 and 2023. “Because of our current position, the Harvard Atlas concluded that we are positioned to take advantage of very few opportunities to diversify using what we already know,” he said.
The NRS boss urged Nigeria to learn from the global experiences of countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Africa, and Brazil. “Vietnam used global trade to build a resilient, complex economy, integrating into Global Value Chains (GVCs) as an assembly hub for electronics, borrowing technology and management skills to develop its own know-how. Nigeria, on the other hand, remains a supplier of raw materials and is not an active participant in these chains,” he noted.
He stressed the need for proactive strategies to build productive capabilities and warned against over-reliance on resource extraction. “Productive capabilities are not permanent. South Africa and Brazil show that countries can lose industrial edge if they do not invest in long-term industrial development. Over-reliance on resources creates economic and political incentives that crowd out the difficult work of building a strong industrial base,” Adedeji added.
The lecture emphasized the need for Nigeria to adopt a complexity-driven approach to diversify its economy, increase productivity, and enhance prosperity for its citizens.
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