DIVERSIFICATION OF ECONOMY: A STRATEGY FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Due to the consistent decline from crude oil proceeds and its volatility, there is the urgent
need to diversify the Nigerian economy from the dominance of oil. On the other hand, the
contribution of the services sector is on the increase signaling potential focus area for
diversification of the economy. This study adopted both descriptive and inferential
statistical instruments. For the inferential tool, spearman rank of correlation was
employed in order to ascertain the pattern of relationship that exist between the Nigerian
service sector and its level of development from 2004-2018. The results from the
analyzed data shows that services currently play a more significant role than industry in
Nigeria's economy through its contribution to GDP and Per Capita income. Thus, services
can indeed, offer a new growth path for development in Nigeria. The study further
recommended that diversification to services sector can be achieved successfully if
Government can pursue diversification of the economy vigorously by developing the
strategies that could enhance and improve the performance of the growing service
sectors among others.