Investing in non-oil export sector: A key to overcoming set back of falling oil prices in Nigeria

The Nigerian economy is mono economy because of its reliance on only oil export. The agricultural sector in the 1960s was a major area of foreign revenue. However, the discovery of oil at a large scale that brought about exploration and exportation of oil in the 70s turned the tide against agricultural sector. The fluctuating price of oil in the oil market as of today has affected the Nigerian economy negatively as it has put pressure on the naira and the rate of unemployment has continued to be on the increase. The consequences of dependency on oil trade therefore necessitated the call to encourage investors to invest in the direction of non oil exports such as manufacturing, agricultural, telecommunication, tourism, real estate, construction etc. Impediments to the growth of non oil sector were identified as weak infrastructure, supply side constraints, low level of human capital development, absence of adequate commitment, weak institutional framework and poor access to finance. It was recommended that the Nigeria government should remove the impediments limiting non-oil export; make the environment friendly to encourage investors and government should re-organize the agricultural sector among others