THE CHALLENGE OF INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

It is a known fact across the globe that for a country to attain growth and development, its economy has to be diversified. The recent and current experience of economic recession and drop in the price of oil in the world market has opened the eyes of many countries including Nigeria to the need for economic diversification. Economic diversification has a lot of benefits which helps in attaining solid economic growth. However, as good and beneficial diversification is, it has its own challenges. The paper examines infrastructure development as a major challenge to economic diversification in Nigeria. The paper examines the situation of infrastructure in Nigeria as well as the benefits and challenges of infrastructural development in Nigeria. The paper also examines the current economic situation and outlook in Nigeria and the reasons for economic diversification as well as the challenges of economic diversification in Nigeria. The study utilizes primary and secondary data for its findings. Data were collected through administration of questionnaire on stakeholders in infrastructure and economic development and were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that inadequate/lack of infrastructure is a major challenge to economic diversification. The paper then concluded by pointing out that economic diversification will be a mere mirage if concerted efforts are not concentrated on the development of infrastructure in Nigeria and that the challenges of inadequate/lack of infrastructure, corruption and high capital requirement/accessibility to finance should be looked into and tackled headlong

Keywords: Infrastructure, Infrastructure Development, Economic Diversification, Economic Growth