“The period witnessed the worst collapse of the national grid and an unprecedented surge in energy costs. Insecurity continued unabated, leaving the rural economy largely unproductive”, Adonri explained.
Against the backdrop of these challenges, he added that the reported GDP growth figure is difficult to reconcile with on-ground realities.
“It is inconceivable that the economy grew in real terms by 3.46 per cent given the numerous challenges faced during the quarter”, he remarked.
The National Bureau of Statistics said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate in real terms grew by 3.46% in the third quarter of 2024 on a year-on-year basis.
The Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran said this in a press statement on Monday.
He said the growth is 0.92 percentage points higher than the 2.54% recorded in the third quarter.
The statement added that the growth in the quarter was higher by 0.27 percentage points relative to the 3.19% recorded in the second quarter of 2024.
He said, “This reflects a higher growth rate when compared to the corresponding quarter (Q3 2023) and the preceding quarter (Q2 2024). The major driver of the economy is the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 5.19% and contributed 53.58% to the aggregate GDP.
“The economic activity in real terms for Q3 2024 stood at N20.1tn which is higher than the rates recorded in the preceding Q2 2024 which stood at N18.2tn, and the corresponding quarter Q3 2023 which recorded N19.4tn”.
He stated that nominal terms (current price), aggregate GDP stood at N71.1tn in Q3 2024, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 17.26% compared to the value of N60.tn recorded in Q3 2023.
“Similarly, the quarter under review is higher than the value of N60.9tn recorded in the preceding quarter (Q2 2024).
“The major contributing economic activities in real terms in the quarter under review (i.e., Q3 2024) are crop production 26.51%, trade 14.78%, telecommunication 13.94%, crude petroleum 5.57% and real estate 5.43%.
In the report, the data bureau said the country recorded an average oil production of 1.47 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the third quarter of the year.
According to the bureau, this is “0.07million bpd higher” than the second quarter production volume of 1.41mbpd and “0.02mbd higher than the daily average production of 1.45mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2023”.
“The real growth of the oil sector was 5.17% (year-on-year) in Q3 2024, indicating an increase of 6.02% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2023 (-0.85%), the NBS said.
“Growth decreased by 4.98% points when compared to Q2 2024 which was 10.15%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 7.39% in Q3 2024.
“The Oil sector contributed 5.57% to the total real GDP in Q3 2024, up from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2023 and down from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.48% and 5.70% respectively”.
The non-oil sector grew by 3.37% in real terms in Q3 2024 — higher by 0.62% compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2023 which was 2.75%, NBS said.
The Bureau also said the contribution was higher by the 2.8% recorded in the second quarter of 2024.
“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.43% to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2024, lower than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2023 which was 94.52% and higher than the second quarter of 2024 recorded as 94.30%”, NBS added.
The non-oil sector, which includes information and communication (telecommunication) topped the contribution, trade, agriculture (crop production), financial and insurance (financial institutions), manufacturing (food, beverage and tobacco), real estate and construction, and accounting contributed positively to the country’s GDP rate growth.
