Why Are There So Few Fast Food Joints And Malls In Nigeria?

As a Nigerian who had the chance of travelling extensively throghout the globe I do have to confess that I feel ashamed (whenever I return) that so few positive things of the western world had made its entry into our beloved country. Go to any country in Asia (for example take one of the "tiger economies" and you will be amazed at the gigantic hyper-modern shopping malls they do have there, some of them even got an Olympic ice-skating rink downstairs). There are food courts, cinema complexes (Imax), playing areas for kids etc.  I cannot forget the ones I have seen on my last trip to Malaysia. Malay people are traditional but they love to embrace western culture by going on shopping sprees to fantatic malls (and I even ventured outside of Kuala Lumpur to Penang and Kota Kinabalu and I was amazed at what I saw) . I am not talking of countries such as South Corea, Hong Kong or Singapore which are ABSOLUTELY consumer-driven and shopping-frenzied people. ("Shop till you drop"can be read in the guide books). I am talking of the "lesser developed countries" such as Malaysia and Thailand which I would lke to compare with Nigeria. People love to go shopping there and you find all the hyper-stores and flashy boutiques with all the world -famous brands names (even better in some cases) than you find in Europe.
I will not enlarge on UAE (Dubai), which leaves one breathless!!!
Allover the globe you can see Starbucks, Burger Kings, Seattles Coffee, Subways, Coffee Beans, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc. BUT none of those in our beloved home-country!!! WHHHHYYYYY?? We are living in the year 2006 and no longer in 1984, globalisation is in full swing (even small children in Asia have the latest high tech gadgets!). It is a shame for a country such as Nigeria that it doesn´t have Africa largest mall(s). Why do we need to go shopping abroad? Lets´create some sub-franchising in the country which will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Nigerians are so brand-conscious and always well-dressed and a middle-class is slowly on the rise. SO WHAT´S THE MATTER?

PLEASE I WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS THIS TOPIC SERIOUSLY WITH SOME OF YOU AND I DO NEED YOUR INPUT AND THOUGHTS. Thank you!

Nooo, don´t you think that Asian people  haven´t got lovely traditional food, too? You have mmaaaaannnnnyyy wonderful Malay or Thai food in Malaysia, A LOT , but you still have got mega malls and tons of fast food joints to choose from. The two of them peacefully coexist side by side. I would like to post a few photos on Malaysia starting with Kuala Lumpur. This country has been enormously poor in the 60´s and nothing but bush! Look how it flourished


 








Highways sweeping through Malaysia:







Internatinal Airport in Kuala Lumpur

Hi teju, yes I am a Nigerian (and I am PROUD of my country!!) , I said that in my first posting. Malaysia is truly a wonderful place and developmenet is to be seen everywhere (pockets of poverty have almost vanished). Malaysia underwent a massive boom in the 70´s, 80´s and 90´s and it has grown from an irrelevant backwater to a strong emerging market. People - while remaining traditional - are very open-mided and lembrace Western cultures without DENYING THEIR OWN CULTURE.
I am showing you some more pictures on Kuala Lumpur:

Can you see the monorail above?





Here is one of the numerous ice-skating rinks: (don´t forget that Malaysia´s climate is the same as that of Nigeria)




Look at the spotlessly clean roads:










Look at the international events they host like Petronas autodrome:




Now I would like to show a few pictures of Putraya, Malaysia new capital built from scratch









Look at that bridge:

i hope nigeria gets to be like that it takes reduction of bribing and corruption but there's no sign of reduction yet it's even worsening.

all i could say is dam!

@Ndipe, I think you're getting this all wrong. First, Stan wasn't just talking about the fast food joints. He was just using that as an example to express his bitterness about the level that we are still in. I will agree with LoverBwoy. Nigeria has too many poor people. This is probably one of the reasons why we have very few international investors. Why did the owners of "The Palms" choose to locate their first Shopping Mall in Lekki-VI and not Ajegunle. If they were looking for a location with more people am sure they would have chosen Oshodi or Ajegunle. But they chose Lekki.

My Opinion about this is that Nigeria hasn't been stable politically or economically that is why we haven't been seeing the investors come in. Until we produce the right leaders and the right civil servants, I doubt if this country will ever experience galloping change.

Look at Abuja today. Why is Abuja so different from other cities? Our then military leader and the civil servants chose to change it and they started that by making sure that they implemented what they had planned. At least in that instance! Then the subsequent leaders followed. Then the private sector followed. Have you been to Abuja lately? You should go see the kind of structures we have there.
Maybe the men in their uniform just wanted to keep their surrounding clean. They did and we benefited from it. Bola Ahmed Tinubu already started a similar plan in Lagos. Lets hope that the next governor continues with the plan and implementation.

what the hell is going on in nigeria

you knwo constantin
we ahve the power to change this
teh question is do we want to
eventually all those useless men and thier wives like atiku and co
will all die
then it will be our turn.

hope u will be ready then

Definitely impressed with the pics, good job (which i hardly say to people). well it is a shame nigeria is in such a ridiculous state now.

What is the economic backbone for Malaysia?
What is the economic backbone for Nigeria?

Dont even go as far as Malaysia,

I lived in Ivory COast and Tunisia

Tunisia is a lovely country, all functioning infrastructure with beauty. Some places in Tunisia eg Tunis, Hammammet, Sousse you might even feel like u r in a European city. To the extent that they even applied to join the EU. Obviously they are in africa so they didnt get in.


Tunisia is a country that solely relies on tourism for its economy. Nigeria has petroleum and other things and we are not even comparable to Tunisia. I hope to provide pictures soon if I get my hard drive to work.


Before Ivory Coast started fighting, they had better infrastructure than Nigeria has.


Obviously we can all say let us hope for the best. If everyone is saying lets hope for the best that pretty much means nothing may be done to rectify the situation.

I wish i am in a better situation to do something and kick the asses of the useless and worthless people in power

  for nigeria

  GOD HELP US!, is nigeria a mistake?

I love those pics bro. I too is headed for Malayasia by March next yr.

I'm gonna get me a camera and take photos too.

I will come post them here too when I'm back.

Slim

Very interesting topic, I fully agree with Naijabuff that Nigeria has too many problems.

The number one problem is corruption and because of this nothing tangible can be done.

Our road infrastructure are very poor
Problems with waste management
Lack of good water, electricity and health problems
Lack of employment

The problems just goes on and on and on ,

It will take Nigeria a long time before it can be like Tunisia talk less of Malaysia.

Beautiful pictures I must say