I personally think the reason we behave like this is because we are overzealous about our desires for our country, which is not a bad thing;
I am sure that I am not the only person who is tired and fed up of all the stories of woes about Nigeria. In this article, I'm going to be mainly writing in snippets and points to make it easier for my readers. I have already written seven books on Nigeria and its greatness, now I'm majorly giving out some bullet points for easier digestion.
1. Whenever Nigerians speak about their country, it's usually in a derogatory manner, criticisms, and at times even hatred;
2. If the hatred and anger is not directed at the nation, it'll be directed at its leadership. Most Nigerians believe we've had bad leaders since independence and that's our problem. I believe that this is debatable, in comparison with other countries;
3. I personally think the reason we behave like this is because we are overzealous about our desires for our country, which is not a bad thing;
4. Our expectations are too high, we are impatient and unrealistic in our desires, which is a form of greed;
5. Today, if we only take $400 billion as our GDP, in relation to 215 million people, it makes our per capita to be $2,300. Remember this is from $88 per capita at independence. How many times growth is that?
6. Our GDP growth is one of the highest in the history of the world, and it is better and faster than that of America or Great Britain, at 400 times or 10.000% growth since independence. Remember, I'm only using $400 billion as our GDP benchmark, even though we are close to $500 billion now;
7. The population growth rate since 1960 is 377%. This is the genesis of our sorrow as a nation;
8. Meanwhile the British population grew by only 30% in 60 years, from 52.4 million to 68 million;
9. At the same time, the per capita growth of Britain economy is 3.000%;
10. Their GDP grew at the same period to 3.600% in Britain. Notice that their real nominal GDP growth is almost at par with their growth per capita;
11. If our per capita (or population) was to grow as our nominal GDP, which is 10.000%, then the standard of living of our people would have increased by 10.000% but unfortunately that's not the case because our population has completely consumed our growth, such that it hardly shows in our per capita figure;
12. Our economy has grown by 800% yearly in the last 60 years. As of 1960, our GDP per capita was $88 dollars, but today it is $2,300. So we have a growth of 2,500%, as against that of the UK, with a 3.000% per capita growth, while their GDP growth for the same period was 3.600%;
13. In comparison to Nigeria's GPD growth at 10.000%, if our population had grown at the same rate as that of Britain, our standard of living would have increased by 8000% as against the 2,500% increase we have now;
14. The reason for a 2,500% growth in the standard of living of our people from 1960 till now is because we didn't control our population growth like Britain did;
15. Presently, our population grows by 2.6% or five million additional people every year. This is a big problem that our government unfortunately is not taking seriously yet;
16. Meanwhile, Britain's population growth is 0.5%. As such, if we only grew by 30% in 60 years, like Britain did, our population would be 58 million people now, meaning that our standard of living would have been among the best in the world presently;
17. We could have been on the same level of living standards with Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil etc.;
18. We need to maximise our human capital resources to produce at a faster rate than the population growth. If our government wants a free fall in population growth for Nigeria, then they must work so hard as to make the economy grow several times faster than the population growth;
19. In Nigeria, only 20-25% are productively competitive in the economy, meaning that these are the only skilled workforce we have, unlike in Europe where it stands at a 75% to 90% skilled workers level;
20. How can we possibly compete with the world if our human capital resources are so low? No European country can function at such a low level of human capital development. Can you imagine the UK using only 30% of its working population to sustain the economy? It'll be catastrophic for the British economy;
21. But that's what we have In Nigeria. 50% of our people are not skilled workers and we cannot compete with even smaller countries who put most of their population to productive work;
22. Our human capital development is catastrophic. We grew thanks to oil, which led to people running away from the farms;
23. Now, it's time to move away from dependency on raw materials. It's time for human capital development, so our future economy will be based on human capital maximisation like in the rest of the world;
24. If we do, then we will be poised to overtake England and all European countries in the near future. I strongly believe that if we put our acts together in the next twenty years, we can grow an economy bigger than any of the countries in Europe;
25. A good example is Brazil. Portugal colonised Brazil in the past, but today the country has changed its own story. Brazil's economy is $1.5 trillion, while Portugal is $230 billion, which is six times bigger or 552% bigger than that of their former colonial master;
26. Nigeria must do the same, build a bigger economy than the country that colonised us. It's not a dream but a near future possibility, especially if we maximise our human capital development;
27. Nigeria's economy is projected to rank among the world's top ten economies by 2050, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $6.4 trillion;
28. A report by PwC states that Nigeria, Indonesia and Mexico could displace the United Kingdom and France out of the top ten economies by 2050;
29. Nigeria could sustain an average growth of around 5-6% in the long run. If it does, it will attain this goal;
30. I believe in the Nigerian resilient spirit; with good leadership and purposeful policies we will get there.
What Nigeria Produces and Where Nigeria Leads the World
Recently, a Nigeria-American PhD student was writing her thesis on Africa and, in particular, the achievements of her country of origin, Nigeria. She was in despair because she could not find any useful materials online talking about the positive and great strides of our country. Thankfully, she ran into one of my articles and that saved her day, and rescued her from shame. I'm sure she is not the only person with a similar problem, as if there is nothing good to write about Nigeria. Below I'm going to enumerate the areas where Nigeria is leading the world, even though we are only a 60 year old newly independent country, in comparison with the ages of other countries around the world.
Nigeria is ranked number one in the world in production of the following agricultural items:
1. Cassava
2. Melon seed
3. Cow peas
4. Coco yam
5. Yam
6. Onion
7. Taro
8. Kolanut
9. Shea nuts
10. Ginger
11. Sorghum.
Nigeria is ranked second in the world in the following items:
1. Fonio
2. Okra
3. Citrus
4. Sweet potatoes
5. Groundnuts with shell
6. Green Maize
Others:
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
1. Oil palm fruits - fourth
2. Cocoa beans - fourth
3. Millet - fourth
4. Pulses - fifth
5. Plantains - fifth
6. Sesame seed - fifth
7. Chillies and peppers green - seventh
8. Onion, shallot green - seventh
9. Papaya - seventh
10. Pineapples - eighth
11. Fruit fresh - ninth
12. Tomatoes - eleventh
13. Mangoes, mangosteens, guavas - twelfth
14. Oil crops - twelfth
15. Rice paddy - thirteenth
16. Rubber, natural - thirteenth
17. Cashew nuts, with shell - fourteenth
18. Beast fibres - fourteenth
19. Soybeans - sixteenth
20. Onions, dry - seventeenth
21. Coconuts - twenty-second
22. Seed cotton - twenty-fourth
23. Carrots and turnips - thirty-first
24. Potatoes - thirty-fourth
25. Oilseeds - forty-ninth
26. Fibre Crops - fifty-first
27. Sugar cane - fifty-third
28. Coffee, green, - fifty-fourth
29. Tobacco, unmanufactured - fifty-eigth
30. Sugar Crops - seventy-first
31. Garlic - seventy-ninth
32. Wheat - eighty-fifth.
To be continued.
Sunday Adelaja is a Nigeria born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Kiev, Ukraine.
