Abstract:

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) more than doubled, from $170.7 billion in 2005 to $423.4 billion in 2012, although estimates of the size of the informal sector (which is not included in official figures) put the actual numbers closer to $520 billion. Correspondingly, the GDP per capita doubled from $1200 per person in 2005 to an estimated $2600 per person in 2011 (again, with the inclusion of the informal sector, it is estimated that GDP per capita hovers around $3500 per person). It is the largest economy in the West African sub-region, 3rd largest economy in Africa (behind South Africa and Egypt) and on track to becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2025 according to the Goldman Sachs research (Sachs, 2008).