[center]Nigeria to be among top 20 leading economy's by 2020[/center]

Minister of State for Finance, Mr Remi Babalola, yesterday expressed confidence that Nigeria will definitely be in the league of the 20 leading economies of the world by 2020.

Babalola, who spoke to THISDAY via telephone, on the occasion of the 48th Independence Anniversary, said the gap between poverty and prosperity is not as wide as people think.


He said, "transforming from poverty to prosperity is a reality closer than many people think, as basic structures are getting embedded and with clear vision, Nigerian passion and superior leadership, I am more encouraged that the future is bright.

"There is formula for success, we have seen it in China, India , Korea , Singapore and to a lesser extent in Malaysia and Indonesia . Nigerian possibilities and potentials give me fillip to see Nigeria as a member of G20 in 12 years. Be upbeat," he added.

Advising government officials in positions of key responsibilities in the country, Babalola said, "as managers of our various economies, to pursue initiatives aimed at strengthening fiscal responsibility, public procurement and effective management of debts, we must ensure that more resources are allocated to projects that have direct bearing and touch the lives of the common man.

He said the channels we allocate our resource is a major determinant of what beckons our society in the far horizon and philosophizsed that, "we are a blessed nation because we are a free nation. We are a blessed nation because we are a nation that understands there are responsibilities attached to the various offices at all levels of governance in the federation.

"Let us use this golden opportunity to upscale our service delivery and the surest way to do that is to help improve the lot of humanity to the glory of God. It is worthy and a noble venture, he said.

AllAfrica

I'm not trying to sound like a cynic or anything, but I'm not all the way convinced by this article, when looking at the state of Naija today. We do have oil, but we need to diversify our economy tremendously to even imagine being among the worlds largest economies. In the coming years, I'D want to see Nigeria become a manufacturing powerhouse, with agriculture being a big industry also. Other areas that deserve major investments in are the IT industries, and tourism. The southern coasts are just begging for world class resorts, and the IT field is already slowly being invested in as we speak. The Film making industry (Nollywood) has major potential too as a major driving force to pull our economy up tremendously.

With all of the above being said, I believe if our government would pay attention to diversifying the economy even more off of oil, I can really see Nigeria being in the ranks of the Worlds 20 largest economies. Leadership and personal will needs to be major also. I notice Entrepreneurship in Naija needs to be promoted on a wide scale, because honestly there needs to be more of us opening up businesses in our cities, to build this economy ourselves too.

What does everyone else think?

Can anyone point to any particular time in the history of Nigeria that the country has been found lacking when it comes to having potential?? I mean come on . . ., can we please stop saying it as if these POTENTIAL came out of the winds from nowhere. Nigeria has ALWAYS had potential. POTENTIAL has never been a problem in Nigeria, NEVER. When will all that potential energy or at least some of it, be converted into actual kinetic energy, hence actual development. . . that ought to be the question.

Nigeria has all it takes to lead and be economic powerhouse, but we lack mnagement.

A Big Dream for Nigerians!

common, it is possible, but it will involves us all to get our act together

Fhemmmy:

common, it is possible, but it will involves us all to get our act together

You are just deceiving yourself

Maybe we need to start with what it takes and se if it is possible.
If we have to remove Nigerian's money from the world market, what do you think will happen to it,you think world bank wont burge or feel it? i am sure they will, so if we can move it all back home, the nation invest wisely and all the rogues that has stolen our money cld put them back into circulation and not under their pillow, and manger it well, we can do it.

That is all a Dream of Poor Nigerians, the Nation does not have a Foundation for all of that, how can you build a Nation without Foundation?

The reason why some houses in lagos are being uprooted was cos they have no foundation, so they uproot and refound it, so yeah, no foundation, but we will restart and rebuild and make the foundation base on a solid rock that will stand the test of time.
i do agree with you, that we need a fresh start.
But we can do it and we will.

Not with the Present Path, we need to change Path to make our dreams come true, it doesn't matter whether Nigeria is there or not, because it is not a being, but what matters is the People living in the area to have a better life.

auwal87:

That is all a Dream of Poor Nigerians, the Nation does not have a Foundation for all of that, how can you build a Nation without Foundation?

by building a foundation? stop being so pessimistic. some of you guys do so much whining rather than thinking of ways to make the country better.

bawomolo:

by building a foundation? stop being so pessimistic. some of you guys do so much whining rather than thinking of ways to make the country better.

I am not presenting a Pessimistic idea, but ideas that are the only lasting solution to all our problems, it is far beyond what ordinary people think, the Country called Nigeria is a Dream, and will come to Pass. Take Note of this please.

I bet Nairaland will exist when it will come to Pass.

Nigeria go better

Join us, come with us, we are on our way/
Education for all, by the year 2000/

No be today wey Government start to sell us false hopes about the future. I will believe in Vision 2020 when they start to fight corruption seriously.

Minister of State for Finance, Mr Remi Babalola, yesterday expressed confidence that Nigeria will definitely be in the league of the 20 leading economies of the world by 2020.

idle talk from a useless fellow.

They spent $16bill to buy darkness and he has the mouth to tell us rubbish.

You cant drive 1km in Nigeria without atleast 20 FAT pot-holes.

2020(thats 12yrs from now) my foot!

[size=15pt]All men dream dreams, but the most dangerous dreamer is the one that dreams with his eyes open[/size]

bump!

Nigeria to be among top 20 leading economy's by 2020

ha ha ha ha

sheeeeeeeeeeeah riiiiiiight. Keep dreaming my mr. finance minister.

[size=15pt]After year 2020, maybe the next dream would be year 2030 ![/size]

LOL, @Kobo you are still waiting for the Kinetic energy?  . On a serious note though, i think a law should be passed that stops people in public offices from opening their mouth and vommitting rubbish on the faces of the masses at home and abroad when nothing solid has actually been done to warrant such rants. It really is getting ridiculous. Of course i believe Nigeria has potential, the potential did not start today. Such potential will begin to bear fruit when actions are taken to make them achievable. But when no actions are taken to realise such then speaking about being upbeat and the potential just gets quite irritating. Honestly though i know this is a democracy but can people please stop all this vision 2020 threads without some kind of parallel thread that shows a solid positive action that has been taken to reach this? LOL. It is quite embarassing, enough talking, GET ON WITH THE JOB

That's really a big dream for Nigeria.....

need to smile?? Watch this a"IF IPHONE WAS INVENTED BY AN AFRICAN" so dope..[/b]