According to the recently released data by the National Bureau of Statistics, the transportation and storage sector was the fastest-growing sector in the economy in Q3 2022.
The latest data is in line with the data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first two quarters of 2022, which revealed that the Nigerian economy is largely driven by the non-oil sector.
Nigeria’s GDP for Q3 2022 was N18.96 trillion and grew by 2.25% in the third quarter, according to the NBS.
A review of the NBS data on GDP for Q3 2022 reveals that the growth recorded in the country was spearheaded by the transport and storage sector.
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The transportation and storage sector comprises six activities; rail transport, rail transport and pipelines, water transport, air transport, post and courier services, and transport services.
With a growth rate of 41.59%, which is 14.79% lower than the growth rate recorded in Q2 2022, the sector led other sectors on the list of the economy’s fastest-growing sectors.
The deregulation of the aviation sector and passenger and freight transportation on roads, highways, and air contributed to the growth of the transportation and storage sector.
The finance and insurance sector recorded the second-highest growth rate of 12.70% in Q3 2022.
Information and communication sector is the third fastest-growing sector in the quarter. The sector saw a growth rate of 10.53%, an increase from 6.55% recorded in the preceding quarter.
The arts, entertainment, and recreation sector recorded the fourth highest growth rate in the period, while accommodation and food services recorded the fifth highest growth with 7.79% and 6.77%, respectively.
However, the mining and quarrying sub-sector, plagued by illegal and informal mining activities, was the least-performing sector. The sector recorded a negative growth rate of -21.31%, which is 10.21% lower than the growth rate recorded in Q2 2022.
The sector comprises sub-activities like crude petroleum and natural gas, coal mining, metal ores, quarrying, and other minerals.
The output from illegal mining is often not captured in the gross domestic product; a report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) also revealed that Nigeria lost $9 billion to illegal mining annually.
Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply has the second slowest growth rate, The electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector had a better growth rate compared to -11.48% recorded in Q2 2022 to -3.56% recorded in Q3 2022.
Other services’ growth rate diminished from a positive growth rate of 3.05% in Q2 to a negative growth rate of 2.67% in Q3.
The manufacturing and education sector has the fourth and fifth slowest growth rate, respectively. In the third quarter, the manufacturing sector recorded a growth rate of -1.91%. The education sector’s growth rate fell from 1.16% in Q2 2022 to 1.10% in Q3.
The non-oil sector made up 94.34% of the GDP, while the oil sector contributed 5.66% to the GDP.