[quote author=esere826]
1) FDI in Nigeria is not unprecidented as of today. Prior to the burst in 2007 is when we had unprecidented FDI
I quite disagree with ur point 1. the FDI witnessed during 06/07 was more of portfolio investors no matter the value of such investment it doesnt count cos they dont add real value. u see how their exit collapsed the economy and NSE. right now there serious investors in rice prod. power, fabrication manufacturing. They add real value cos they cant easily pool out

NIGERIA ATTRACTIVE TO FOREIGN INVSESTORS
what drives the thinking apart from economic indices (forgive my lazy approximate statistics)?

1) With a Southern president from a minority tribe, producing a large amount of the crude oil, the country cannot break up or go into war till at least 2015 ( thats if power changes hands). Other regions have more to loose if there is a break up, and the south-south will definitely not think about it now)

2) More that 50% of the population is under 30, and driven by consumption rather that Savings -They'lll steal and prostitute to buy Hennesey and Brazillian weaveons. N49billion was consumed by Nigerians on Liquer last year I think)

3) It can only get better: With the war in the North, Nigeria is still able to grow. If the war stops, another 90 million consumers will be added to the milking factory

4) The pre-independence powermongers are dieing off thereby freeing up money that have been stached as savings

5) Investments can be pulled from Nigeria at short notice. All they need to do is pay consultants to see to this ie bribery

Proxytalk: I quite disagree with ur point 1. the FDI witnessed during 06/07 was more of portfolio investors no matter the value of such investment it doesnt count cos they dont add real value. u see how their exit collapsed the economy and NSE. right now there serious investors in rice prod. power, fabrication manufacturing. They add real value cos they cant easily pool out

Agreed.
But I was referring to the general FDI portfolio

Before our revolution take place we shall have to bury many gods.Chief among these are the Christian god especially the "casting and binding" variant. We are still slapping child "winches" on TV etc. Spending millions sending people to Jerusalem and Mecca. Our mentality is essentially that of the guy who buys a lottery ticket every week hoping for the best.
Consider for a while the progress that has been made with the mobile phone in terms of "miniaturization" over the 30 odd years its been around. We still shave goats and rams with NACET blades. The reason why an elite exist is to generate new ideas and then spread them in society.As long as our elite remain superstitious believe "God" will solve our problems we shall remain where we have been. We like to consume; Henessy Gucci,Prada etc but what do we contribute. The only thing that comes to mind is Afrobeat and Nollywood. We are talking economics here so let us ignore the obvious "quality" issues and ask how much $$ does that bring in . We are not even able to industrialize Garri manufacturing. What we need is our own "homegrown" Nestle. As it is Nestle and all these companies come into Nigeria selling noodles ,Maggi etc which are "foreign"
products. How much Cocoa do we consume in Nigeria. Cocoa and Groundnuts I belive have a higher protein content than eggs. Does Nestle research and develop "Nigerian" products. We have Gala another "foreign" product but why is there no Akara that can last on the shelves for 3 or 4 days. That is where "knowledge" comes into. But we have no patience for such and we go around the world boasting over what I don't know really

I believe that Service economies are a myth if not sustained by a vibrant financial/banking sector
Reason is because Service is largely subjective and not really measurable

Why is the investment world so crazy about BRICS nations?
One of the reasons is because their economies are driven by production.

Whereas goods can be monopolized (OPEC as an example), its difficult for services to be monopolized
That is why the western world is serious about patents and were ready to hit Samsung real hard in its battle agains iPad

esere826:

Agreed.
But I was referring to the general FDI portfolio

I even think our government's policy should change with respect to FDI.

FDIs, whether portfolio investors or not, will eventually go back to where they came from. As they say, capital has a nationality.

For a developing country like Nigeria whose national firms are still under-developed, won't it be better to restict FDI at least in some industries and raise national firms so that they become alternative investors to foreign companies.

Alternatively, the government can encourage foreign investment that will enable us grow the capabilities of our firms faster by (for example) requiring joint ventures. Such JVs will promote the transfer of managerial techniques or demand more active tech transfer.

I'm not saying we should blindly reject foreign capital but we should be mindful of the fact that capital has a nationality. The intention of the capital also matters.

The funniest thing is that Nigeria's fraudulent economic bubble is reminiscent of America's housing bubble of the 90s that peaked during mid-2000s... We all know what happened after that...

And all the noise about foreign investments is sickening... All these shrewd capitalists coming over are just there to maximise their own profits and it's not surprising that most of them are either interested in the oil sector or the huge construction projects presently going on in Nigeria...

Truth be told, it's not uhuru yet for Nigeria - we still have a long way to go....

Pukkah:

I repeat, the world has not yet entered a post-industrial age - contrary to what the guys at World Bank may tell us.

Certain countries that come to people's minds and appear as non-industrial are actually manufacturing success stories.

For example, look at Switzerland and Singapore. Switzerland is one of the most industrialized countries in the world although some might think it lives off the stolen money of African foolish rulers. In per capita terms, it has the highest industrial output in the world.

Singapore is also one of the 5 most industrialized economies (in terms of per capita). Finland and Sweden make up the rest of the top 5.

I repeat again, no country has so far achieved even a decent (let alone high) living standard by depending on services. The only exception is Seychelles and it has a very small population (less than 100,000 people) and exceptional resources for tourism.

Like I said earlier, what's the balance of payments surplus of knowledge-based services (I mentioned banking, consulting and engineering while you came up with Apple, Facebook and Google) as a percentage of the GDP of US or Britain? It's about 1% and 4% respectively.

In short, the world hasn't become post-industrial. Like some people have said, let's focus on the real sector. Let our government also 'enable the enablers' that would massively kick-start the real sector.

Personally, I don't think there should be (high) unemployment in our country if we get our priorities right. We are an emerging economy and should enjoy the high rates of economic growth before saturation inevitably sets in (later).

This is the bottom line. We must be cognisant of where we are and where others are, relationally, to us. Simple theory yet very fundamental to success.

Personally, and from direct experience, I think we are very far from being able to deliver this exemplary and economically transformational 'gold dust' ,in many established sectors, some speak deceitfully as if Africans have a right to claim.

Why not simply focus on sectors we have a natural advantage in and that we can force the entire world to willingly and profitably concede to us if we do it well enough?

esere826: I believe that Service economies are a myth if not sustained by a vibrant financial/banking sector
Reason is because Service is largely subjective and not really measurable

I would classify banking/financial sector as services and they are measurable.

However, services (funny enough) even require a healthy manufacturing/real sector base to thrive. This is another reason why we can't leapfrog industrialization to become developed.

Gbawe:

This is the bottom line. We must be cognisant of where we are and where others are, relationally, to us. Simple theory yet very fundamental to success.

Personally, and from direct experience, I think we are very far from being able to deliver this exemplary and economically transformational 'gold dust' ,in many established sectors, some speak deceitfully as if Africans have a right to claim.

Why not simply focus on sectors we have a natural advantage in and that we can force the entire world to willingly and profitably concede to us if we do it well enough?

Comparative advantage makes sense. Our huge market is a blessing that's yet to even be fully tapped in our favour. We consume a wide vast of goods and services to keep foreigners (where we import from) in employment while our youths wallow in unemployment and take to crime or misery.

There's a potential goldmine almost every sector you turn to in our country - agric, real estate, health, transport, education?

Pukkah:

I even think our government's policy should change with respect to FDI.

FDIs, whether portfolio investors or not, will eventually go back to where they came from. As they say, capital has a nationality.

I agree with you. I think policy makers should design an instrument to ensure that FDI's are maxed before returning back to host country. It could also be designed for example in such a way that FDI's on returning back to host country should be managed for a year or two by coys' with at least 100 aboriginee Nigerian citizens in Middle management posititions

For a developing country like Nigeria whose national firms are still under-developed, won't it be better to restict FDI at least in some industries and raise national firms so that they become alternative investors to foreign companies.

The challenge with this is lack of cheap capital accessible to Nigerians. Whereas FDI's are cheap as they are long term institutional investments sometimes owned by pension schemes.
-In Nigeria, loans from the banks come at cut throat prices
-Most folks with capital in Nigeria stole it, so they can't afford to expose themselves like that. They'd rather keep it in a developed economy, and the Financial institution in that country invests in Nigeria as FDI
- Our pension schemes that should provide long term finance are being pillaged by the caretakers -enter Maina and Co in the multibillion naira pension fraud

Alternatively, the government can encourage foreign investment that will enable us grow the capabilities of our firms faster by (for example) requiring joint ventures. Such JVs will promote the transfer of managerial techniques or demand more active tech transfer.

Agreed
However, when some ill educated but connected folk finds his way into policy making, how can he/she conceive thoughts like this?

I'm not saying we should blindly reject foreign capital but we should be mindful of the fact that capital has a nationality. The intention of the capital also matters.

Excellent summary
But guess what. We dont think that far. All we want is to be mentioned in the same breadth as the BRICS nations -BRINCS
Get our pictures and comments posted in international journals '"The Banker" (remember Cicilia Ibru and crew)

Make presentations where we are seen to be rubbing shoulders with McKinsey, CNN, Boston Group and Goldman Sacchs Top economists

Pukkah:

I would classify banking/financial sector as services and they are measurable.

However, services (funny enough) even require a healthy manufacturing/real sector base to thrive. This is another reason why we can't leapfrog industrialization to become developed.

This is where we have missed the point. I referred to Knowledge economy and not Service economy. They are two entirely different phenomena.

These are definitions:

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
An economy in which growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the information available, rather than the means of production.

The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge technologies (such as knowledge engineering and knowledge management) to produce economic benefits as well as job creation. The phrase was popularized by Peter Drucker as the title of Chapter 12 in his book The Age of Discontinuity, And, with a footnote in the text, Drucker attributes the phrase to economist Fritz Machlup and its origins to the idea of "scientific management" developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor.[1]
Other than the agricultural-intensive economies and labor-intensive economies, the global economy is in transition to a "knowledge economy," [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as an extension of an "information society" in the Information Age. The transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how and expertise are as critical as other economic resources.

SERVICE ECONOMY
Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments:
The increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer manufacturers than in previous decades.
The relative importance of service in a product offering. The service economy in developing countries is mostly concentrated in financial services, hospitality, retail, health, human services, information technology and education. Products today have a higher service component than in previous decades. In the management literature this is referred to as the servitization of products. Virtually every product today has a service component to it.


INDUSTRIALIZATION
Industrialisation (or industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one. It is a part of a wider modernisation process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production. It is the extensive organisation of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing.[2][b][/b]

Agriculture has been mouthed to be the mainstay of Nigeria right from my primary school days, but the question is this how many Nigerians are willing to tow that path of involving in agriculture even now, the Federal Government is encouraging many of us to embrace Agriculture (via distributions of Fertilizers, cocoa seeds, cotton seeds, subsidies to encourage young farmers) but we chose to look the other way! If more than 60% of Nigerians are involved in Agriculture and yet people still go hungry then we need to re-address our orientation as a people! There are four major Food Basket in the world (US, Argentina, Australia and Israel) with just a fragment of their populations involved in Agriculture and they are feeding the world, the problem with us is us! Even if the government donates N1 trillion yearly to boost agriculture there is still a 'devourer' called Corruption lurking somewhere to swallow whatever the government is supplying! This current system of government (Presidential system of Democracy with too much central powers) needs to be looked into for anything positive to work in this country, the problem with Africa is minimal, but we compound those problems by adopting a system of government that keeps enslaving us through the hands of the evil-machinated Bretton Woods Institutions harsh policies - you can quote me!

The end of the matter is this: Any nation that wants to be a global economic power must have a strong engineering manufacturing base! All the top 10 Economies today have just that.

UK has learnt a very tough lesson in the last 20years of neglecting manufacturing and are seriously doing all they can to revive their manufacturing capacity to where it was in the 70's.

If Nigeria is ever going to be a 'sustained' economic giant, Nigeria must revive her engineering manufacturing base and begin to produce things at home rather than import. No so called Knowledge economy or paperless economy as some call it can and will sustain any nation in her quest to be an economic giant.

PapaBrowne:

This is where we have missed the point. I referred to Knowledge economy and not Service economy. They are two entirely different phenomena.

These are definitions:

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
An economy in which growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the information available, rather than the means of production.

The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge technologies (such as knowledge engineering and knowledge management) to produce economic benefits as well as job creation. The phrase was popularized by Peter Drucker as the title of Chapter 12 in his book The Age of Discontinuity, And, with a footnote in the text, Drucker attributes the phrase to economist Fritz Machlup and its origins to the idea of "scientific management" developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor.[1]
Other than the agricultural-intensive economies and labor-intensive economies, the global economy is in transition to a "knowledge economy," [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as an extension of an "information society" in the Information Age. The transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how and expertise are as critical as other economic resources.

Focus on knowledge economy alone cannot make a country become developed.

No country has been able to do it. It's unlikely that any will be able to do it.

The notion that the world has entered a post-industrial era is a farce.

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I think the notion was designed to mislead developing countries and keep them down.

The game changer is manufacturing.

Pukkah:

Focus on knowledge economy alone cannot make a country become developed.

No country has been able to do it. It's unlikely that any will be able to do it.

The notion that the world has entered a post-industrial era is a farce.

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I think the notion was designed to mislead developing countries and keep them down.

[size=18pt]The game changer is manufacturing[/size].

Absolutely spot on! Every major economic power today has a strong manufacturing base. In fact they have taken manufacturing to another level with precision design engineering and precision manufacturing.

I keep using UK as a case reference with her strong manufacturing base with hundreds of thousand small and medium scale manufacturing firms. This is what make UK a global economic giant.

Pukkah:

Focus on knowledge economy alone cannot make a country become developed.

No country has been able to do it. It's unlikely that any will be able to do it.

The notion that the world has entered a post-industrial era is a farce.

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I think the notion was designed to mislead developing countries and keep them down.

The game changer is manufacturing.

If your goal is to manufacture for your own population that's fine. You can use tariffs and the like to ward off competition. However if you are competing in the global economy, the factors of industrialization does not favour us.
Gbawe gavce a good example and talked about consumer electronics. Truth is whether you like it or not, we are not going to produce better and cheaper TVs than Samsung in the next 20 years. However, we might be able to supply the world with good quality chocolates and while that could pass for manufacturing it cannot be said to be industrialization. One of the most important components of industrialisation is the use of metals. Developing competence in that is alot of core engineering. Ever wonder the concept behind Chips made by Intel? Thats indutrailisation.

PapaBrowne:

If your goal is to manufacture for your own population that's fine. You can use tariffs and the like to ward off competition. However if you are competing in the global economy, the factors of industrialization does not favour us.
Gbawe gavce a good example and talked about consumer electronics. Truth is whether you like it or not, we are not going to produce better and cheaper TVs than Samsung in the next 20 years. However, we might be able to supply the world with good quality chocolates and I dont think which would be manufacturing but not industrialisation. One of the most important components of industrialisation is the use of metals. Developing competence in that is alot of core engineering. Ever wonder the concept behind Chips made by Intel? Thats indutrailisation.

We can also focus on investing heavily in the petro-chemical industry. The exportation of the by-products of refined crude oil can fetch Nigeria valuable foreign exchange earnings.

PapaBrowne:

This is where we have missed the point. I referred to Knowledge economy and not Service economy. They are two entirely different phenomena.

It is acceptable that you approached the two differently
However they are not in the real sense entirely different (maybe that's why we lumped them together)

Drucker's reference was on technological inovation as a source of creative destruction -otherwise captured as knowledge economy
Service industries/economies do not have tangible goods as end products

The ability for Services to be competive (within a perfect economy structure)is its ability to effectively utilize knowledge resources -eg A company becomes a brand with institutionalized learning

Products can be differentiated through the utilization of knowledge economy -eg a phone becomes iphone

In summary Products are differentiated by services which are an outcome of Knowledge utilization


In the Nigeria context, (which has not really gone through industralization), it would be correct to mention knowledge and service economy in the same breadth if it refers to the jump from production of tangible goods to production of intangible goods (services) which requires abrupt but technology driven innovative thinking (knowledge economy) for example coding, internet banking, Auditting firms utilizing smart tech, etc

Omo_Tier1:
Absolutely spot on! Every major economic power today has a strong manufacturing base. In fact they have taken manufacturing to another level with precision design engineering and precision manufacturing.

I keep using UK as a case reference with her strong manufacturing base with hundreds of thousand small and medium scale manufacturing firms. This is what make UK a global economic giant.

This is where the problem is, strong manufacturing bases around Europe within the Asian Tigers and America may be the hub of businesses for these countries but can the same be said of African countries? We have our peculiar priorities which we are most times looking away from! Most African countries boast of Arable lands that can grow different crops, most African countries can boast of natural resources that are only found within that location and no where else, most African countries boast of great tourism potentials which are all left untapped.....and to add insult upon injuries, our system of government are nothing but an extension of our "Colonial Masters" influences on us all via the Bretton Woods Master-plan to maintain a stranglehold on our potentials! We can, I repeat we (African leaders) can chart a workable system of government that will take us there, if Democracy for instance is slowing us down we can think of something worthwhile, time is going! China still maintains her Communism, Cuba is still on Communism, India is still maintaining her 'own version' of Parliamentary Democracy and now they are moving forward but what is wrong with Africans?

PapaBrowne:

This is where we have missed the point. I referred to Knowledge economy and not Service economy. They are two entirely different phenomena.

These are definitions:

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
An economy in which growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the information available, rather than the means of production.

The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge technologies (such as knowledge engineering and knowledge management) to produce economic benefits as well as job creation. The phrase was popularized by Peter Drucker as the title of Chapter 12 in his book The Age of Discontinuity, And, with a footnote in the text, Drucker attributes the phrase to economist Fritz Machlup and its origins to the idea of "scientific management" developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor.[1]
Other than the agricultural-intensive economies and labor-intensive economies, the global economy is in transition to a "knowledge economy," [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as an extension of an "information society" in the Information Age. The transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how and expertise are as critical as other economic resources.

SERVICE ECONOMY
Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments:
The increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer manufacturers than in previous decades.
The relative importance of service in a product offering. The service economy in developing countries is mostly concentrated in financial services, hospitality, retail, health, human services, information technology and education. Products today have a higher service component than in previous decades. In the management literature this is referred to as the servitization of products. Virtually every product today has a service component to it.


INDUSTRIALIZATION
Industrialisation (or industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one. It is a part of a wider modernisation process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production. It is the extensive organisation of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing.[2][b][/b]

Your definition only throws up more questions. The definition turns on "INFORMATION" but I dispute this.
Knowledge includes abilitity and technique. e.g "knowing" how to perform eye surgery does not turn on information alone.
Knowledge can be embedded in individuals. So one may argue Lionel Messi has more "knowledge" than Fabregas or Barcelona has more knowledge than Everton.
Knowledge also consist in synergies a system or group can produce from their team members so one may argue again Canon has better knowledge than Kodak Samsung/Apple etc. Knowledge balance can be changed increased by adding one individual or a certain combination of individuals. Who carry their "knowledge" within their being. The effect is the same whether in Football or more serious endeavour. Knowledge may entail weaponizing atomic energy and its game changing effect. Iran is still struggling to master this today 2013 .

Imagine that Every nation except Nigeria was wiped off the face of the earth and they left us all their information,secrets manuals etc. How long would it take before we manufacture our first Jumbo jet. There is a technical element to knowledge just like learning how to drive or Fuuuckk it takes more than information.

tomakint: ............. the problem with us is us! Even if the government donates N1 trillion yearly to boost agriculture there is still a 'devourer' called Corruption lurking somewhere to swallow whatever the government is supplying! This current system of government (Presidential system of Democracy with too much central powers) needs to be looked into for anything positive to work in this country, the problem with Africa is minimal, but we compound those problems by adopting a system of government that keeps enslaving us through the hands of the evil-machinated Bretton Woods Institutions harsh policies - you can quote me!

I do not believe that the major problem with us is corruption
Even if we are not corrupt, I suspect we will still be underdeveloped

We primarily lack effective management skills
With the lack of management skills comes corruption and other ills

If we have effective management skills, we will know what we can afford to eat (corrupt) and what we cant afford to eat.

If you know the science behind a plane, and that if a certain bolt is removed , that the plane is 70%likely to crash. You wont eat the money for the bolt

But if you think the plane flying and remaining the air is a miracle wrought between God and oyinbo, chopping the money for the bolt wont be a problem to u

esere826:

I do not believe that the major problem with us is corruption
Even if we are not corrupt, I suspect we will still be underdeveloped

We primarily lack effective management skills
With the lack of management skills comes corruption and other ills

If we have effective management skills, we will know what we can afford to eat (corrupt) and what we cant afford to eat.

If you know the science behind a plane, and that if a certain bolt is removed , that the plane is 70%likely to crash. You wont eat the money for the bolt

But if you think the plane flying and remaining the air is a miracle wrought between God and oyinbo, chopping the money for the bolt wont be a problem to u

If our major problem is not 'Corruption' then what will be our problem then, my friend, let's face it, Corruption remains the bane of our development till date, forget about our lack of management skills and if you think some corrupt-minded people cannot remove a bolt from a plane just to make easy money not minding the lives of those flying that plane, then you need to think again!

tomakint:
If our major problem is not 'Corruption' then what will be our problem then, my friend, let's face it, Corruption remains the bane of our development till date, forget about our lack of management skills and if you think some corrupt-minded people cannot remove a bolt from a plane just to make easy money not minding the lives of those flying that plane, then you need to think again!

You did not get it.
You dont need to agree with me, but you need to throw emotions aside and think of what I am saying

I have not said corruption is good
I have said that corruption is only a subset of some greater challenge
I have inferred that if oil is being produced in such large quantity in nigeria, and the country is not corrupt but lacks 'effective management' skills (for lack of a better description) nothing will be done
In fact, some other country seeing such a gap will corrupt us to take the oil

Think about this slowly. Dont rush it

all4naija: The news coming out of Nigeria on Al Jazeera just few minutes ago is appalling. The images are irritating of the Makoko residents. Jeez! I have never seen anything like it before that human beings are living like that in Nigeria. The condition is worst than living in hell fire!

The economy revolution must affect these sect of people or else we are just creating another suffering within that country. The government must make effort to reduce the population to meet infrastructural provision. There is urgent need to contain the poverty in Nigeria. I think it is one of the worst in the whole wide world.

what really is poverty?
Maslow proposes that mans motivation is driven in heirachies
1st is food, cloting and shelter, then security
They have daily doses of fish meal. They even sell fish in exchange for other staples
(I guess that is why the community was expanding before the government crackdown)

I think the place is unhygeinic (i'd rather not say dirty)
I think they lack oppurtunity to thrive beyond their boundaries
but I dont think they are poor (not using world body definitions)

Are herdsmen poor?

Economic revolution with primary and less competitive products and a low HDI and GDP figure of six continents. These guys must be having a laugh after this show.


There has been a PR campaign by "Invest Africa" which has been actively trying to sell Africa to the World. You can see lots of articles coming up on reuters and the economist on Africa's so-called rise. Sunderland F.C alone has earned almost 10 million pounds from the deal in shirt sponsorship.

But investors are more intelligent than such campaigns. When the money finishes, "Invest Africa" will run then we go back to square one again.

There are frameworks of growth and development. From the Classicals, Neo Keynessians, Rober Solow's convergence and to the Harrod Domar model.

Growth and Development is not "bolekaja".

PapaBrowne:

This is where we have missed the point. I referred to Knowledge economy and not Service economy. They are two entirely different phenomena.

These are definitions:

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
An economy in which growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the information available, rather than the means of production.

The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge technologies (such as knowledge engineering and knowledge management) to produce economic benefits as well as job creation. The phrase was popularized by Peter Drucker as the title of Chapter 12 in his book The Age of Discontinuity, And, with a footnote in the text, Drucker attributes the phrase to economist Fritz Machlup and its origins to the idea of "scientific management" developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor.[1]
Other than the agricultural-intensive economies and labor-intensive economies, the global economy is in transition to a "knowledge economy," [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as an extension of an "information society" in the Information Age. The transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how and expertise are as critical as other economic resources.

SERVICE ECONOMY
Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments:
The increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer manufacturers than in previous decades.
The relative importance of service in a product offering. The service economy in developing countries is mostly concentrated in financial services, hospitality, retail, health, human services, information technology and education. Products today have a higher service component than in previous decades. In the management literature this is referred to as the servitization of products. Virtually every product today has a service component to it.


INDUSTRIALIZATION
Industrialisation (or industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one. It is a part of a wider modernisation process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production. It is the extensive organisation of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing.[2][b][/b]

Peter Drucker was advocating for a knowledge based economy in countries that have already done the basics. These countries already have industries, infrastructure and great service delivery. Drucker also canvassed for knowledge workers. Yes, we can adopt the knowledge based economy but the foundation must be laid. They include agriculture, education, infrastructure, manufacturing and production. Without these basics, nothing can be done. Plus, knowledge comes from expertise and expertise comes from experience. Without a real-life experience, what knowledge have we to offer? That's why we need these industries to create experts who would sell their knowledge.

I strongly agree with u but this is Africa where we need to create jobs from the vast landmass that we're blessed with. Poco a poco we will get there.


Frawzey

all4naija: The news coming out of Nigeria on Al Jazeera just few minutes ago is appalling. [size=14pt]The images are irritating of the Makoko residents. Jeez! I have never seen anything like it before that human beings are living like that in Nigeria. The condition is worst than living in hell fire![/size]

The economy revolution must affect these sect of people or else we are just creating another suffering within that country. The government must make effort to reduce the population to meet infrastructural provision. There is urgent need to contain the poverty in Nigeria. I think it is one of the worst in the whole wide world.

@ the bolded - that's the pseudo-economic revolution in Nigeria... An economic revolution that continues to widen the gap between the rich and the poor... Heck, Nigeria's economy has been growing at an average rate of at least 6% in the last 14 years, yet there's nothing to show for it... Just the rich getting richer, middle-class dying off, and the poor getting poorer by day..

Economic revolution - more like acute consumerism and poverty revolution...

Africa has a potential to record double digit growth rates and I dare say that the continent has the likelihood to rise according to predictions. The problem is that Nigeria is often fraudulently thinking that Africa cannot rise without it.

If Nigeria as a country continues with its deceit and self-destructive patterns, we may just wake up one day that to find that the true giants have climbed on our backs to attain continental leadership. We are hardly able to solve problems and most sectors are comatose (power, health, education, banking, manufacturing, transport, maritime etc)and recent socio-political crises (Boko Haram, regional clamours, kidnappings, moral bankruptcy among old and young people etc) seem to have worsened our chances of any short term economic turn-around.

Our leaders are quick to brandy FDI figures but we also know the pressure we have on our currency due to large outflow on dividends, equity swaps, and payments for our insatiable demand for foreign goods. Who are we fooling?

Africa will rise, but we must pray that the so called 'giant' is not left behind.

ballabriggs: Economic revolution with primary and less competitive products and a low HDI and GDP figure of six continents. These guys must be having a laugh after this show.


There has been a PR campaign by "Invest Africa" which has been actively trying to sell Africa to the World. You can see lots of articles coming up on reuters and the economist on Africa's so-called rise. Sunderland F.C alone has earned almost 10 million pounds from the deal in shirt sponsorship.

But investors are more intelligent than such campaigns. When the money finishes, "Invest Africa" will run then we go back to square one again.

There are frameworks of growth and development. From the Classicals, Neo Keynessians, Rober Solow's convergence and to the Harrod Domar model.

Growth and Development is not "bolekaja".

Neither is it wuruwuru! The West is bent on making quick profits from less discerning economies to plow back more dividends to their own people, and they must have found out that several African countries, particularly Nigeria, just like being flattered and they would not mind to use that to fool us.

We still sell raw cocoa, cashew, cotton to these countries and import expensive finished products, missing out all the income and profits from the value chain. We still import a large part of the fuel we use here, and we seem satisfied with offering oil blocks here and there for crude to be exported. The average middle class person is seeking to send his children abroad for education. There are indications that forex is regularly shipped out by corrupt politicians in massive quantities, possibly dwarfing all the claims of FDI gains that government is brandying around. Who are we fooling here?

esere826:

I do not believe that the major problem with us is corruption
Even if we are not corrupt, I suspect we will still be underdeveloped

We primarily lack effective management skills
With the lack of management skills comes corruption and other ills

If we have effective management skills, we will know what we can afford to eat (corrupt) and what we cant afford to eat.

If you know the science behind a plane, and that if a certain bolt is removed , that the plane is 70%likely to crash. You wont eat the money for the bolt

But if you think the plane flying and remaining the air is a miracle wrought between God and oyinbo, chopping the money for the bolt wont be a problem to u

True, good point. But fact is, corruption really is a huge problem here (along with some other factors, i admit). It's not as if, in Nigeria, we don't have people that can better manage our economy or have good knowledge of practical and theoretic means to real economic and social development. If it's Nigerians that have been posting on this thread, then it's enough proof that i'm correct. However, the reality on ground is that those that possess this knowledge are not in positions where they can implement them and even those in such positions are being frustrated by those who just want to enrich themselves. Think of it; is it that all our leaders and heads of government parastatals are the best we have in this country? Or the most competent? How come they got into the positions they found themselves?

I agree that corruption is a product of lack of knowledge.....but same said corruption seems to have outgrown its cause. We all admit that education is key to knowledge in the modern world. In Nigeria, what is the greatest challenge preventing the average Nigerian child from getting access to qualitative education? Same corruption! An educated man would not, after going through school, still think that it's oyinbo magic keeping a plane in the sky.....so he would not siphon away money meant for crucial parts of the plane.

That Africa has great economic potential is without doubt....but I think it has been overstated, and our so called economic development figures are being thrown in our faces by our leaders to give us the impression that things are getting better. Yet, baba Iyabo still has to drive his danfo from morning to night, still has to buy fuel @ N97 per litre to fuel his dying i-pass-my-neighbour generator, still can't afford to send his children to better schools, and even the government schools his children attend, aren't providing the kind of education that would make them competitive on the national (how much more international/global) scene against the likes f his richer counterparts. What is economic growth, if the common man on the street still lives exactly (if not worse than) the way he has always lived? Who's really feeling this our economic development?