How Nigeria’s Poor Economic and Social Infrastructure Fail to Realize its Demographic Dividend

Abstract

Nigeria is a country with rich populational resources, especially people of young age, and thus is thought to be an ideal choice for building an “world factory”. But recently Nigeria is facing a gap between its economic situations and its estimated populational dividend, which will be tributed to its poor infrastructure. Generally, the longly poorly-developed history has left Nigeria backward means of manufacturing and a lack of systematic infrastructure to minimize the cost of operating, both making Nigerian products and services less competitive in the global market. Also, its young population, due to generally education levels and traditional cultural influence, cannot serve as efficient labour force to support the development of modern industries. This article focuses on the generalization of various factors blocking the further development of Nigeria, each corresponding to a specific sector. Based on former researches and available data, the current demographic and economic patterns of Nigeria are shown, and their further impact is evaluated.