Productivity Surge Needed to Grow Nigeria’s GDP, Says Group

Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

The Centre for Public Service Productivity (CeProd) has emphasised the need for Nigerians to upscale personal productivity to propel the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Director General of CeProd, Dr Chris Egbu said this at the induction of ten new members as fellows of the centre yesterday in Abuja.

Egbu emphasised that increased productivity allows firms to produce greater output for the same level of input, earn higher revenues and ultimately generate higher GDP.

According to him, one of the most important drivers of increased real GDP growth in the long run is the growth in productivity.

However, he stressed that the country must take necessary steps to move away from being an unproductive nation to becoming a productive one.

“We should understand that we are an unproductive nation and that we need to be more productive. When we take it from that, people will begin to ask what can we do to become more productive.
“Instead of waiting for the end of the month to collect allocations, we will be asking in the states how do we create the allocations and how do we create money.

“But now what we have is a situation where state governments wait and at the end of the month they come to Abuja and collect money. When they collect the money they go back and sleep not recognising that they are unproductive as a state.
“This is the same with Individuals, many people are working today and they only wait for the end of the month to collect their salary without asking what to contribute to the organisation’s development and growth.

“There is a need for people to subscribe to the tenets of productivity; they practice it in their individual lives and extend the same to their organisations.

“As more people subscribe to the tenets of increased productivity, it will rub off on the nation,’’ Egbu said.

He further stressed the need for Nigerians to identify and leverage on their key performance indicators in efforts to scale up personal productivity.

“When you know your key performance indicators, you know what to work on but if you don’t know it you can be working on the wrong things.

“In the long run, GDP is made up of the total output of a nation divided by the population. Therefore, if individuals increase their performance by 30 per cent the country’s GDP would have been increased by 30 per cent,’’ Egbu said.

Mr Chibuike Kafor, who spoke on behalf of the new inductees, said that the gains of productivity growth were crucial in ensuring higher GDP growth

“This implies developing oneself to go and develop his environment. More so, as you grow in an organisation, you find out that you are in a position where people look at you to find solutions.

“We have come to acquire skills that will make us give solutions to our organisations. We will be successful by being more productive,’’ Kafor said.