NEGLECT OF A GOLDMINE
ministry of agriculture in Lagos State, but they complained of sufficient manpower to monitor the activities of these individuals.”
Sectorial Performance
According to experts, the export revenue from forestry grew at 4.1, 8.0 and 28.8 percent between 1950-60, and 1960-70. Although, African sawn wood prices were under downward slide in late 2006, due to stable demand from India and China, the export value earnings from timber is obtained from products like log, sawn wood, veneer and pulp wood. Forestry sector provides employment opportunities for many Nigerians. The estimates of people engaged in different types of forestry activities ranged from 170,000 in 1933, 360,000 in 1947 and 568,000 in 1961. These include management staff, and the labour force in all forest based industries. About 80 percent of the rural population of Nigeria is engaged in agro-forestry and other agro-allied activities.
A data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on the quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which contained estimates for the four quarters of 2015, the annual figure for 2015 and estimates for the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2016, revealed that the agriculture sector accounted for 88 percent in the fourth quarter and crop production.
The data also stated that in nominal terms, the sector grew by 6.45 percent year-on- year. This was lower than the growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015, and also lower than that in the preceding quarter, by 3.05 percent points and 0.92 percent points respectively.
Growth in the sector was driven by output in crop production, which accounted for 87 percent of overall nominal growth of the sector. Agriculture contributed 21.26 percent to nominal GDP during the quarter under review. This was lower than shares recorded in the corresponding period of 2015 and the previous quarter at 22.56 percent and 24.09 percent.
It further explained that real agricultural GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 was 4.03 percent (year-on-year), which was an increase of 0.56 percent points compared to growth in the same quarter of 2015 of 3.48 percent. However, it was slightly less than the real growth rate of 4.54 percent recorded in the previous quarter. In contrast to the economy as a whole, for full year 2016, real GDP in agriculture grew by 4.11 percent and this growth rate was higher than that recorded in 2015 of 3.72 percent.
From the data above, it is obvious that no attention was paid to the forestry industry as a result the subsector has been lagging behind in terms of contribution to the GDP. The likelihood of this is government may not be able to tap into the opportunities in the sector in order to boost growth.