CORBON, the Nigerian Council of Registered Builders, has stated that the expansion of the informal sector has the potential to increase Nigeria’s and Africa’s economic growth rates.
Engr Sam Opaluwah, Chairman of CORBON, told reporters after visiting various East African countries that economic and political power is concealed in Africa’s informal sector of back-street workers.
Opaluwah also stated that most African countries’ economies are powered by the informal sector, which accounts for more than 70% of GDP in some countries and is largely unorganised, untrained, and unrecognised as an economic unit.
He also stated that the majority of African countries’ failure to recognise the informal sector might be attributed to the effects of colonialism. He stated, “The informal sector plays an important role in African countries, providing significant employment and economic activity.”
However, it is mostly unorganised and unregulated, and its importance is only reluctantly recognised. “In many African countries, informal activities, particularly agriculture and trade, contribute around 50% of the economic output and 85% of employment.”
