The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) yesterday in Lagos urged African countries, especially Nigeria, to establish a regulatory body to boost the services sector.
Head, Trade and Poverty Branch, UNCTAD, Mr. Patrick Osakwe gave the advice in his keynote address at the launch of the UNCTAD Economic Development in Africa Report 2015 (EDAR).
Osakwe said that the theme of the annual report was prompted by global debate on the importance of the services sector which had been on for some years in African countries.
He said the misconception had been that oil was the driver of growth in most developing African countries like Nigeria, but the research which birthed the report proved otherwise.
The UNCTAD official said the services sector had been a major growth pusher of most African countries including Nigeria in the last five years.
Quoting the report, he said an infrastructure regulatory framework that would be independent of government or private sector monopoly was necessary to boost the potentials of the sector.
“Yes, this may sound unbelievable, but when you look at the demand side of the economy, it may be looking like it is oil pushing growth.
“However, it is the services sector that has actually being pushing growth in most African countries.
“If we look at the tertiary end of it, and the supply side of oil products, we realise that the services supply chain is doing more.”
Osakwe said the report for 2015 was birthed from a debate that had spanned over five years and the research had led to a conclusion that the services sector was really an important aspect of GDP growth.
“In the report, we have it that between 2009 and 2012, the services sector grew at the rate of 4.6 per cent in Africa compared to the 5.4 per cent in the developed world,” he said.
According to him, the fastest growing services sub-sectors are transport, storage and communications which grew at 5.8 per cent, while others like hotel, retail and wholesale trade grew at 5.0 per cent.
Osakwe said that the services sector accounted for 50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of most African countries.
He expressed regret that this, however, had not been captured and valued as it should be.
The UNCTAD official also said that trade, real estate and communications were the fastest growing service sub-sectors in Nigeria.
Prof. Oluseyi Soremekun, Officer in Charge, United Nations Information Centre, (UNIC), said the report would serve as a reference point for African nations.
Soremekun said that the report would help these nations to ascertain which area of the services sector they needed to tap its potentials.
He said the EDAR report was being launched simultaneously in 15 other African countries as a mandate to provide clear-cut recommendations to the growth of African countries.
He urged the government and the private sector to utilise the report in formulating necessary policies for the nation.