This edition of Southwest Economic Journal titled ‘State of the Southwest Nigeria’ unfurls the socioeconomic position of the Southwest Region of Nigeria in consonance with current events in the global and domestic economies. This is expected to provide an impetus for repositioning the Region to harness the inherent opportunities to increase the Region’s level of competitiveness and investment inflow. The global economy has been faced with slow rebounds due to the spillover effects of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

This has induced decline in GDP growth rates and persistent rise in inflation rates across countries in the world. The cumulative effects had been the disruptions of global value chains which aggravated food and energy crisis reflected in higher prices across countries. These realities had necessitated adjustments of global growth rate projections for 2022 and 2023 by International Monetary Fund (IMF) while Central Banks in advanced economies and emerging markets adopted tightened monetary policy by increasing benchmark rates in order to restore public confidence. The increased rates was to mop up excess liquidity and stem long-run inflation.

The report reviews the implications of current trajectory in the UK’s economy and political leadership on Nigeria in terms of policy changes it also recommends that Nigerian needs to strengthen existing ties with the United Kingdom to harness and optimize their trade relations. The Report further reiterate how the country, and indeed the Southwest Region can harness the potentials of the new trend of migration in Nigeria popularly known as Japa bandwagon.

Click here to read the full journal.