http://www.plotsandhouses.com/Nigeria2013Budget-MuchAdoAboutLittle.aspx

The recent furore over next year’s budget of N4.93 trillion ($30.8 billion) announced by President Jonathan got me thinking. For a country our size, it felt quite small. After all, Shell – a company we’re very familiar with in Nigeria, had global profits of about $28 billion in 2011. If just one company can amass that much profit, how much more a nation with the natural resources we’re led to believe we have. Looking at other African countries doesn’t make easy reading either. South Africa, with a population of 50 million, had a budget of $102 billion, Algeria, with a population of 36 million, had a budget of $73 billion and both Angola and Egypt’s 2011 budgets far exceeded our 2013 budget.

OK, so the size of one’s budget does not determine the level of wealth. By popular definition, the gross domestic product (GDP) - the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year determines the country’s wealth. Based on this, of African countries Nigeria is second only to South Africa with a 2011 nominal GDP of $238,920billion. However, GDP per capita, i.e. once the size of our population is factored in, tells a different story. Suddenly we drop down to a lowly 19th in Africa with a GDP per capita of $1490. Now, that’s not good for the supposed giant of Africa! Imagine two families with the same level of income. One has 3 children and the other has 23 children. What the parents would be able to provide for each child would be very different.

Going back to the subject of budgets, it is difficult to see how Nigeria can afford the sort of infrastructural development it really needs with the current budget constraints (just think of the cost of our legislature, cost of corruption etc etc etc). The UK government announced earlier this year that it was considering a high speed rail link between London and Birmingham. The distance between the two cities (the two most populated cities in the UK) is about 183 km. The estimated cost, a staggering $52.4 billion or N8.25 trillion is almost twice our whole 2013 budget. The distance by the way is only a third of that between Lagos and Abuja at roughly 540 km.

At plotsandhouses.com, we provide a free online platform to registered estate agents, property developers and serviced apartment providers, making advertising properties to a wide audience faster and easier. It is obvious to us that the lack of infrastructure, especially a functioning intra-city and inter-city transport network, has a major impact on the current level of pricing both in the sale and rental markets. Many would rather pay higher prices than face a long and arduous journey to work and it has a significant impact on where people choose to live. To illustrate the point, let me ask you this question: If you could get to your current workplace within an hour by train regardless of where in the city you lived, would you choose to live where you currently do? I know a lot of people who wouldn’t.

The saying goes that Rome wasn’t built in a day, nonetheless Rome wasbuilt. The question is when’s our Rome going to be built? Your guess is as good as mine!

I’d love to hear what you think, so join the discussion and post a comment. By the way, taking people out a la Jerry Rawlings style is not allowed. After all we’re now a democrazy.

Yomi Bello
Plotsandhouses (Nig) Ltd
www.plotsandhouses.com

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