Agriculture dominates economic growth chart ' NBS boss

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, has said that agriculture has continued to top the nations economic growth chart with 43.64 per cent share in the third quarter of 2011.Kale, in a statement on Wednesday, said that despite a little dip in the Gross Domestic Product in the third quarter of the year, the structure of the economy remained largely unchanged with agriculture, petroleum and natural gas, and wholesale and retail trade accounting for 76.2 per cent of the total GDP.The fact that these three sectors account for over 76 per cent of the GDP may explain in part why GDP growth has remained non-employment generating and poverty reducing in the last few years, he explained.According to Kale, agriculture is mainly subsistence in nature and until it becomes more commercial, a few job creating opportunities will emanate from the sector.He, however, said the Ministry of Agriculture had developed an impressive transformation agenda for the sector.The NBS boss added that crude petroleum was largely capital intensive in nature with very few Nigerians currently having the core competences and skills to operate in the sector.Kale said, The sector, under its current arrangement, is not designed to create significant new jobs. This should change, however, with the Petroleum Industry Bill. Wholesale and retail trade sector, which constituted the third largest component of the GDP, is made up largely of imports resold in the country and involves largely the same individuals operating in the sector yearly with consequently relatively few opportunities for massive employment creation.Until the sector becomes more dominant with massive influx of locally manufactured commodities requiring significantly more wholesalers and retailers, it will continue to generate relatively few new jobs every year.The NBS boss argued that sectors that had significant employment generating opportunities like manufacturing; business enterprises, especially micro, small and medium scale enterprises; solid minerals; building and construction; and tourism and entertainment, constituted a small fraction of the GDP.Together, these sectors contribute less than 10 per cent of the GDP. Until the structure of the economy changes where such sectors have a larger share of the GDP, it may be difficult to have inclusive job creating and poverty reducing growth, he added.
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