Nigeria's Economic Options

In the recent days, the international media has come up with some very interesting stoies from Nigeria. Firts, there was a story about the expansion of Calabar by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Then there was a storyu about the abject poverty of the people of Niger Delta.

Nigeria is a major oil producer in Africa. It is also the most populous with some 150 million people. With the oil revenue. Nigeria could start some petro-chemical industries. These would in themselves, start other industries. It is strange that Nigeria produces oil, but does not have an oil refinery. Kenya does not produce oil, but has an oil refinery that serves most East and Central African countries. Some of the refined oil is infact, from Nigeria! And with the oil revenue, Nigeria could improve the infrastructure.

Nigeria has a large population, and this translates into a huge market which needs to be satisfied. So Nigeria should embark on industries intended to satisfy this demand, before going international. This is what China and India have done. You can clearly see the amount of investment that has since been pumped into these countries.

The Niger Delta is the third largest in the world. It has attracted a wide variety of birds and wildlife. It is a home of many trees. But these are fast disappearing, because the people are cutting down trees. They are too poor to buy the oil under their feet for domestic purposes. This is very unfortunate.

If the oil was refined within Nigerian, and was to cater for Nigerians first before the international markets, it would be cheaper. It could then be used to produce and provide cheaper energy and generate electricity. Cheaper energy translates to lower costs. Lower costs translate to a booming economy.

Nice and thoughtful article.
I also watched many of the stories about Nigeria. Infact I watched one on BBC yesterday about the Niger Delta. CNN's Inside Africa this week also focuses on the Niger Delta. Most of those news stories are very one sided, unreliable and and don't paint the true picture.
So in essence, they are not dependable sources for information on Nigeria. Infact, Nairaland gives a much, much fuller picture of Nigeria!

Much of the points you raised, though very thoughtful, they are actually misrepresented- a result of the one sided western media!
In General, your observations and contributions are marvelous, however, Nigeria has a very complex political construction, which in itself has short circuited our ability to unleash this country's potenntial.
Let me pin point some areas you raised, maybe it would explain better the complexities of Nigeria and why the simple suggestions you offered might not cut it with Nigeria.

Eg

lipuka:

In the recent days, the international media has come up with some very interesting stories from Nigeria. Firts, there was a story about the expansion of Calabar by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The expansion of Calabar is not by the Federal Government but by the Cross River State Government. Infact, for useless Geo-political reasons, the incumbent Federal Government refused to sign a Law that would grant a free trade zone status to Tinapa- the $400 million dollar investment that is supposed to serve as a catalyst to the expansion of Calabar. The project has been built and commisioned , but is laying wasted waiting for 2 years now for the Federal Government to approve!

lipuka:

. . . . .  With the oil revenue. Nigeria could start some petro-chemical industries. These would in themselves, start other industries. It is strange that Nigeria produces oil, but does not have an oil refinery. Kenya does not produce oil, but has an oil refinery that serves most East and Central African countries. Some of the refined oil is infact, from Nigeria! And with the oil revenue, Nigeria could improve the infrastructure.

Nigeria has two amongst the Largest petrochemical plants in Africa. . . Eleme and Warri Petrochemicals. However, its sad that for corruption and other political nuisances, by-product chemical industries have not evolved as a result of these plants.
Also, Nigeria has four massive Refineries with capacity of almost 400,000 barrels of refined crude daily. But these refineries are producing below capacity.
The reason is simple- it is very lucrative  for politicians to import refined fuel, very, very lucrative.

It would be too simplistic to assume that Nigeria hasn't progressed because of lack of know-how. Nigeria has more than enough professionals.
Bottomline is that the ruling class and their cronies thrive on the failures of the Nigerian system, so any attempt to better that system would be confrontational to those wielding power.This is the problem with Nigeria.

So, the three points I tried to get across are:
1)The international media has a very depressed way of looking at Nigeria-very flawed.So it is not a dependable source.
2)The problems of Nigeria are not simplistic, but very complex because of the political and tribal composition of the country.
3)Corruption is the key problem, not a lack of knowledge.

and finally, the Niger Delta is not as poor as it is made out to be, as it's citizens have amongst the highest per Ca pita GDP in Africa and it's Cities are amongst the richest.
It's problem is not GDP, but GWB or "Gross Well Being"- which I must admit is pretty low!

This is actually one of the most thoughtful articles I've read on Nairaland, considering especially that it is coming from a foreigner.

What is surprising is that Nigeria does not seem interested in telling it's own version of the story. The result is that we believe what we are told. After all, in law silkence is an admission of guilt