Nigeria’s population is estimated at over 218 million (in 2022), which is about half the population of West Africa. The country has an estimated annual population growth rate of 2.4% [4], one of the fastest rates in the world [5]. According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, more than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just 8 countries, one of which is Nigeria [6]. Nigeria’s population is projected to reach 402 million people by 2050. The two main characteristics of this growth are the young age structure with more than two-fifths of the population (42.8%) falling below 15 years and the persistently high fertility rate of 5-7 children per woman [7].

Approximately 50% of the Nigerian population live in urban areas (as of 2021) and this is expected to rise to 60% and 70% by 2030 and 2050, respectively [1]. In Nigeria, there is also a considerable migration between the north and the south. Large numbers of migrants from the south have settled in the northern cities, while the central region remains the least populated and least developed part of Nigeria, comprising about two-fifths of the country's land area but home to less than a fifth of the total population [3].

Nigeria is a lower-middle-income country and has been the largest economy in Africa since 2012 [1], [2]. The country has an abundance of natural resources and is one of Africa's largest oil producers [8]. Between 2005 and 2014, Nigeria’s economy witnessed an average annual growth rate of 7.2%. This relatively stable growth was due to strong and stable macroeconomics, supported by the oil sector growth, as well as the inclusion of previously neglected sectors such as the entertainment industry and ICT in the GDP computation. The GDP growth rate declined dramatically to 2.8% in 2015 and -1.6% in 2016, showing underlying weaknesses in the macroeconomic fundamentals [7].

Nigeria’s dependence on oil exports is one of the leading causes of its frail growth prospects; it may also prevent any growth from being broad-based. In 2019, oil accounted for more than 80% of the country’s total exports and contributed 10% of Nigeria’s GDP. As such, Nigeria’s economy is extremely exposed to changes in global oil production and global oil prices. Moreover, despite oil’s importance for exports, extractive industries are not a large employer in Nigeria. This means any growth due to oil production would not necessarily be shared among workers and households: less than 1% of working Nigerians are employed in mining and extractives, with the share being even smaller among those from poor households [9].

As of 2021, the country has an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$440.78 billion, which is expected to reach US$445.00 billion by the end of 2022 [10]. Nigeria’s economy grew faster than expected in 2021 and recouped losses of growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a contraction of 1.8% in 2020, the economy rebounded and grew by 3.6% in 2021, driven by base effects in most services and manufacturing and organic growth in agriculture, telecommunications, and financial services. Despite the improvements in growth prospects, according to the Nigeria Development Update Report of June 2022 [11], inflation in 2022 in Nigeria is expected to rise higher than anticipated, due to the higher global fuel and food prices caused by the current war in Ukraine. The increased inflationary pressures following the Ukraine war are expected to push as many as one million more Nigerians into poverty by the end of 2022. Overall, the “inflation shock” is estimated to result in about 15 million more Nigerians living in poverty between 2020 and 2022 [11].  In 2018/19, before COVID-19, some 40.1% of Nigerians, about 82.9 million people, were already living in poverty [9].

While Nigeria has made some progress in socio-economic terms in recent years, Nigeria continues to face enormous development challenges, including the need to reduce its dependence on oil and diversify the economy, address poor infrastructure and build strong and effective institutions, as well as addressing its governance issues and public financial management systems [12].

Technology and innovation are key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and therefore a pathway to global sustainability. Nigeria has a science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy that reflects the government’s commitment to research and innovation. In the second quarter of 2022, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) contributed 18.4% to GDP, which is higher than their contribution in the same quarter of 2021 [13]. The ICT sector is also growing faster than any other economic sector in Nigeria. In 2020, the sector grew by 12.9%, the only sector with double-digit growth in that year. This strong growth is driven by the innovative activities of entrepreneurs, and is also enabled by recently introduced policies including the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) and E-Government Masterplan [14].

Nigeria is among the top ten countries in the world most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and natural hazards [1]. One significant event in Nigeria was the 2012 floods, which affected 7 million people in 30 of the 36 states, displaced 2.3 million people, killed 363 people, and cost the economy an estimated USD 17.3 billion or 1.4% of the country’s GDP [15].

There are also several social and religious conflicts in the country, among them the Boko Haram insurgency, the Niger Delta militancy, and ethnic challenges [7]. All of these have led to colossal loss of lives and properties and have also generated wider divides.