Impact of Non-Oil Export on Economic Growth in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria given her natural resource base and large market size qualifies to be a world leading economy in production of goods and services, which could be made possible through massive production for both domestic consumption and export. This study investigated impact of non-oil export on economic growth in Nigeria using the auto regressive distributive lag method (ARDL) for both long-term and short-term relationships. Data on Real Gross Domestic Product, Exchange Rate, Inflation, Non-Oil Export and Trade Openness for the period 1981-2017 were collected from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Statistical Bulletin, 2017. The ARDL results revealed that all the variables tend to move together in the long run. However, the impact of non-oil exports on economic growth in Nigeria is not significant enough to take the country to an enviable level within the period under the study. It also indicated that all variables considered possess inherent capacity to contribute to the growth of non-oil export if effectively, efficiently and adequately managed. Therefore, it was recommended that Government should reduce the current exchange rate by 3%. Government should strengthen the current policy on non-oil export to ensure proper implementation and monitoring. They should ensure that implementation plans were strictly adhered to and monitoring agencies were empowered and are actually doing their job properly etc.