[size=14pt]We have work to do - Cities with higher GDP than Nigeria[/size]

Nigeria: GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate $341.572 billion
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2010&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=694&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=38&pr.y=14

[table]
[tr][td]Tokyo[/td][td]  Japan[/td][td] $ 1479[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]New York City[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 1406[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Los Angeles[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 792[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Chicago[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 574[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]London[/td][td]  United Kingdom[/td][td] $ 565[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Paris[/td][td]  France[/td][td] $ 564[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Osaka[/td][td]  Japan[/td][td] $ 417[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Mexico City[/td][td]  Mexico[/td][td] $ 390[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Philadelphia[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 388[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]São Paulo[/td][td]  Brazil[/td][td] $ 388[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Washington D.C.[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 375[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Boston[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 363[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Buenos Aires[/td][td]  Argentina[/td][td] $ 362[/td][/tr]
[/table]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP (quoting PricewaterhouseCoopers)

Clearly oil is not everything, we have a lot of work to do in all facets of our economy, to raise our GDP to an acceptable level.
While Nigeria is ranked number 32 in the World by size of GDP(PPP), the true figure is revealed when our population is factored in; we hover around number 140 out of about 180. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

There are various sectors of the Nigerian economy that are begging to be tapped and the country would literarily explode financially. But certain aspects of our foundation first need to be addressed; nothing can be built on shaky ground.
In order to unleash our wealth creating potential, it would be necessary to educate the populace in several ways. There would be the normal school education, except that like happens in all progressive ecomies, it must be heavily skewed towards practical’s and field experience.
The other half of citizen education (and by far the most important), would be a solid grounding in the country’s ideology (more on that later). Citizens need to have a common focus to be able to act in unison to achieve the common goals needed to haul the country up the developmental ladder.

Nigerian's are bound together by unnatural strings that have failed to keep our society from fracturing along ethnic, regional and religious lines; talk less of the population acting in unity.

No country can succeed or even function without a national ideology, currently we flounder in every direction and at every task, and that is because we lack the unity of purpose a shared ideology can forge. We do not even have a simple motto or phrase around which Nigerians can feel empowered and energised.
Ideology gives root to productive defined structures and feeds them to produce society that is always optimally productive. It creates the harmony that can drive a diverse people to act as one and achieve mighty things. Therefore, it goes without saying that Nigeria must discard her current chaotic structure, which is at the root of all of our problems, from corruption to tribalism.
We must instead, strive for a structure that is ideologically driven, one that is egalitarian and inspires confidence in the young and old. The new structure, optimised for our multi-ethnicity, would guarantee a sense of belonging and duty in every citizen. The new structure would need to be a deeply thought out form of true federalism.

With true federalism, a massively populated country like Nigeria would always put the right foot first and develop at a pace that would be the envy of other nations. True federalism is the job we need to complete. Can we do it?

A don talk finish, over to una.

.

AGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH Beaf. . . Thanx man. You have made my day!

asha 80:

AGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH Beaf. . . Thanx man. You have made my day!

No probs.

It is NYCthat is surprising me. Over ONE TRILLION USDs!!!!!!!. Omo mehn, we have a whole lotta catching up to do.
I mean Brazil's doing better than we are

@MShittu
Brazil is not doing better than Nigeria. It is just the city of Sao Paulo (smaller and less populated than Lagos) that is doing better than Nigeria. So ordinary Buenos Aires self has out GDPed us, na wah.oh!

And some peeps here are quick to say we have a lot of money and the only problem we have is how to share the national cake equitably.
We never halla at all.

If we don't do something fast, by removing all this yeye central control of important levers of the economy like power generation/distribution, rail transport, waterways, mineral development, telecoms etc., Nigeria may be heading for self obliteration.

Isn't it time we had a thorough discussion on the way forward?

Beaf:

Isn't it time we had a thorough discussion on the way forward?

We are not rich because we are not producing as much as we should. It's all about oil revenue all the time. The middle belt of Nigeria alone is probably capable of generating 3 times our current GDP through agriculture.

I can guarantee that out of Nigeria's $341 billion dollar, Lagos State alone Constitute and contributes  about $150 billion to that GDP Figure, leaving the rest of Nigeria to share $190 billion. If we are to look at it like that then one can take solace from the emerging strength of Lagos State vis a vis other metropolitan cities.

Lagos in the last 10 years of democracy has gained ground against most of the other cities and with investment like Eko Atlantic City,  Lekki free Trade Zone and the Lagos Metro-line coming on stream, Lagos will definitely catch some if not overtake some of the cities listed above. So it is not all doom and gloom, Lagos is definitely punching above her weight despite the shabbiness and lack of of direction of the government at the centre. inc

So Beaf the lack of lustre of your principle is a bigger deterant to progress than anything else. Buhari has given your principle some pointers that needs to be adhered to if we are to make any head way and want to stay afloat without going burst, I just hope your principle would be man enough to effect those changes.

@ Adino I don't know if you've heard int'l news this week. Brazil recently overtook the UK to become the world's sixth largest economy, and they're due to surpass France by next year. Under their last President Lula da Silva, over 20 million people were lifted out of poverty. And you say they are not doing better than Nigeria?

the more reason why fuel subsidy should go

warrior01:

the more reason why fuel subsidy should go

very stupid conclusion indeed!

Need I ask when these GDPs' were documented? Pre-2008 or Post 2008 ? In any case, yes Nigeria still has a lot to do and we need to get that 42million active Nigerian youths to begin chunking out 'brains work' of positive energy and not bombs

warrior01:

the more reason why fuel subsidy should go

I agree with that. In all developed oil producing countries, there is no fuel subsidy; there has to be a fundamental reason why they are all that way. And that reason is borne out by simple economics. You subsidise production (factories, road building, research etc) not consumption like N65 petrol.
If consumption is subsidised you end up bankrolling indolence; which is the case with Nigeria where zero goods and services are manufactured locally. We have ended up subsidising an outlook on life that is incredibly lazy and 100% dependent on oil and Abuja's largess, not on intellectual and physical resources.

There is the Chinese saying that goes, "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
The fuel subsidy is simply giving the man a fish. Nuff said.

As Aigbofa stated earlier, there is abundant opportunity in agriculture. Not just that, we have incredible levels of solar energy that most countries would die for; we also have a very long coastline that can be harvested for free energy; if we simply harnessed wave energy, we would not only generate money and electricity, but will calm the waves and put and end to the ridiculous stories of our breadbaskets, Lagos and Bayelsa getting washed away. We are a nation so blessed, yet so blinded by the ephemeral promise of Eldorado on our few drops of oil even though, year-in-year-out our shortsighted approach only provides underdevelopment, doom, gloom and blood.

We have allowed ourselves to be so consumed in our foolish battle for free and easy oil wealth that mere cities, some even in the developing World actually generate much more money than our entire country of Nigeria. If this is not the deepest embarrassment, somebody tell me what is.

There needs to be a sharp change in our thinking.

@ HNosegbe
Sorry I was quite behind the current trend. Brazil dey vex sha, but my greatest worry is why ordinary Buenos Aires is doing better than Naija.

adino:

@ HNosegbe
Sorry I was quite behind the current trend. Brazil dey vex sha, but my greatest worry is why ordinary Buenos Aires is doing better than Naija.

Maybe the answer lay squarely in their resolve to use their brains and not their muscles like we currently do in Nigeria. Are you aware that Brazil and Argentina have banned the sales of Ipad/BB and all foreign smart phones produced outside of those two countries http://www.gsmtoday.com/iphone-and-blackberry-handsets-face-temporary-ban-in-argentina/

Tell me why Buenos Aires would not post a GDP higher than Nigeria when all we do is keep importing everything and not willing look inwards!

Beaf:

[size=14pt]We have work to do - Cities with higher GDP than Nigeria[/size]

Nigeria: GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate $341.572 billion
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2010&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=694&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=38&pr.y=14

[table]
[tr][td]Tokyo[/td][td]  Japan[/td][td] $ 1479[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]New York City[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 1406[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Los Angeles[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 792[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Chicago[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 574[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]London[/td][td]  United Kingdom[/td][td] $ 565[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Paris[/td][td]  France[/td][td] $ 564[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Osaka[/td][td]  Japan[/td][td] $ 417[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Mexico City[/td][td]  Mexico[/td][td] $ 390[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Philadelphia[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 388[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]São Paulo[/td][td]  Brazil[/td][td] $ 388[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Washington D.C.[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 375[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Boston[/td][td]  United States[/td][td] $ 363[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Buenos Aires[/td][td]  Argentina[/td][td] $ 362[/td][/tr]
[/table]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP (quoting PricewaterhouseCoopers)

Clearly oil is not everything, we have a lot of work to do in all facets of our economy, to raise our GDP to an acceptable level.
While Nigeria is ranked number 32 in the World by size of GDP(PPP), the true figure is revealed when our population is factored in; we hover around number 140 out of about 180. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

There are various sectors of the Nigerian economy that are begging to be tapped and the country would literarily explode financially. But certain aspects of our foundation first need to be addressed; nothing can be built on shaky ground.
In order to unleash our wealth creating potential, it would be necessary to educate the populace in several ways. There would be the normal school education, except that like happens in all progressive ecomies, it must be heavily skewed towards practical’s and field experience.
The other half of citizen education (and by far the most important), would be a solid  grounding in the country’s ideology (more on that later). Citizens need to have a common focus to be able to act in unison to achieve the common goals needed to haul the country up the developmental ladder.

Nigerian's are bound together by unnatural strings that have failed to keep our society from fracturing along ethnic, regional and religious lines; talk less of the population acting in unity.

No country can succeed or even function without a national ideology, currently we flounder in every direction and at every task, and that is because we lack the unity of purpose a shared ideology can forge. We do not even have a simple motto or phrase around which Nigerians can feel empowered and energised.
Ideology gives root to productive defined structures and feeds them to produce society that is always optimally productive. It creates the harmony that can drive a diverse people to act as one and achieve mighty things. Therefore, it goes without saying that Nigeria must discard her current chaotic structure, which is at the root of all of our problems, from corruption to tribalism.
We must instead, strive for a structure  that is ideologically driven, one that is egalitarian and inspires confidence in the young and old.  The new structure, optimised for our multi-ethnicity, would guarantee a sense of belonging and duty in every citizen. The new structure would need to be a deeply thought out form of true federalism.

With true federalism, a massively populated country like Nigeria would always put the right foot first and develop at a pace that would be the envy of other nations. True federalism is the job we need to complete. Can we do it?

A don talk finish, over to una. 

No basis for these comparisons for so many reasons. Economies in these countries have been expanding exponentially for decades. Note that top 20 cities account for a quarter of the world's GDP, so the world's wealth is far from a normal distribution.

If you look @ the per capita of these cities compared to that of Nigeria, the numbers would be even more worrying but it's not a fair comparison. A more accurate comparison would be getting Lagos in there somewhere. It's like comparing apples and oranges IMO.

When we get rid of the Northern parasites then all will be fine Beaf.

hustla242:

No basis for these comparisons for so many reasons. Economies in these countries have been expanding exponentially for decades. Note that top 20 cities account for a quarter of the world's GDP, so the world's wealth is far from a normal distribution.

If you look @ the per capita of these cities compared to that of Nigeria, the numbers would be even more worrying but it's not a fair comparison. A more accurate comparison would be getting Lagos in there somewhere. It's like comparing apples and oranges IMO.

My friend, that is hubris.

So, the fact that mere cities generate much more money than our entire country does not say to you that there is something fundamentally wrong with Nigeria?
I'm shocked.

What do you think Lagos would compare against? Do you want to be provided with the GDP's of mere local govt areas or even villages before you to understand? Even in Africa, Lagos barely measures up; it has the same GDP as Khartoum in Sudan. To put things in even greater perspective, the GDP of Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh, which is a truly wretched country is more than twice that of Lagos.

These turbulent times are our last chance to understand that our governors trooping like disabled beggars to Abuja every month to be handed food money; aside from being a thorough disgrace on the populations they govern, is also a way of keeping the people unproductive, corrupt and in penury. As long as that practise continues, the average Nigerian has only as much dignity as a beggar.
It is our last chance to understand that the oil food kitchen has to close for commonsense and industry to flourish in Nigeria.

The average Nigerian is a mental slave to oil, subsidies and other absurd fuckry. Such types will always go abroad; see the depth of organisation and the immense revenues that adherence to standards and the lack of chaos can generate, only to return home screaming out inanities that further fuel the Nigerian crisis of chaos.

We need a total change in the way we think.

Beaf:

The average Nigerian is a mental slave to oil, subsidies and other absurd fuckry. Such types will always go abroad; see the depth of organisation and the immense revenues that adherence to standards and the lack of chaos can generate, only to return home screaming out inanities that further fuel the Nigerian crisis of chaos.

We need a total change in the way we think.

while I concur with the submission in your last pgh, the preceeding comment is completely uncalled for. The truth remains that it is the poor mangement of our collective wealth by the FG that has resulted in the fuel subsidy being abused by a collective few. The fact is, WE CAN GROW THE NIGERIA ECONOMY WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING A DIME OF THE MONIES MENT FOR FUEL SUBSIDY!

If you take the monumental corruption of Fertilization programme for farmers by the FG in the last 10years, that alone would be enough for the Zimbabwean farmers to create a huge food bank for their nation.

The bottom line is this: MISAPPROPRIATION OF WEALTH by Dispotic leadership whose belly forever remains their god!

Think of how much the local economies of the performing state governments in the last 5years have grown and imagine what could have happened if the FG had taken leadership with fiscal consolidation rather than engaging in frivolous expenditures.

Beaf:

My friend, that is hubris.

So, the fact that mere cities generate much more money than our entire country does not say to you that there is something fundamentally wrong with Nigeria?
I'm shocked.

The average Nigerian is a mental slave to oil, subsidies and other absurd fuckry. Such types will always go abroad; see the depth of organisation and the immense revenues that adherence to standards and the lack of chaos can generate, only to return home screaming out inanities that further fuel the Nigerian crisis of chaos.

We need a total change in the way we think.

The fact that New York or London generates more capital than Nigeria tells me absolutely nothing given the fact that Nigeria's peculiarities is common knowledge- so no surprise there for me. Damn right, we need to change the way we think- the quicker we quit silly paper comparisons and find palliative solutions to our problem the better. I say we start with simple fiscal discipline and shedding the bulk of the recurrent expenditure.

And what does going abroad have to do with anything?

Omo_Tier1:

while I concur with the submission in your last pgh, the preceeding comment is completely uncalled for. The truth remains that it is the poor mangement of [size=14pt]our collective wealth [/size] by the FG that has resulted in the fuel subsidy being abused by a collective few. The fact is, WE CAN GROW THE NIGERIA ECONOMY WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING A DIME OF THE MONIES MENT FOR FUEL SUBSIDY!

If you take the monumental corruption of Fertilization programme for farmers by the FG in the last 10years, that alone would be enough for the Zimbabwean farmers to create a huge food bank for their nation.

The bottom line is this: MISAPPROPRIATION OF WEALTH by Dispotic leadership whose belly forever remains their god!

Think of how much the local economies of the performing state governments in the last 5years have grown and imagine what could have happened if the FG had taken leadership with fiscal consolidation rather than engaging in frivolous expenditures.

What do you mean by "our collective wealth?"
We are not a communist country.

Continuing with the communist theme, neither China (which has vast reserves) nor Russia (with double Nigeria's oil reserves), have any fuel subsidies for consumer use. Are we more communist than those countries? It is only in places like Nigeria and other developmental backwaters that govt has been daft enough to subsidise consumerism with the direct effect that productivity has dropped to zero. In other countries, it is productive ventures that are subsidised; things like industry, research, agriculture, education, health etc, because these places are led by people who realise that a subsidy is NOT a gift, but an investment that will grow for the future of the country.

It is hard to understand the degree of foolishness in the leaders minds that produced such a policy as subsidising consumption, but they are mostly ex-soldiers who would otherwise be illiterates. We can not continue on the doomed path they set us on, in fact any wise person can look around themselves and see the ruins from past our monumental errors.
We can only turn away from that moribund model and in future, even the NNPC will not be allowed to trade in oil, the entire chaotic system that only bred corruption and misery will be swept away.

As for what you call "performing states," thats just rubbish. What state in Nigeria can survive without federal allocations? Are the so-called "performing states" manufacturing goods? Do they have expanding industrial and scientific bases that are providing employment for the people?
"Performing states" my foot.

What Nigeria requires is true federalism, complete deregulation and the total withdrawal of the FG from running any sort of business. I posted the following about the root of corruption on another thread yesterday, but it is relevant here as well:

[s]First of all, what is your claim that our refineries cannot or are not operating at more than 30% capacity based on? Sentiment, rumour or solid facts and figures? I challenge you to back up your words or withdraw them.[/s]

Secondly, you have mentioned corruption as a problem as if it exists only in govt, whereas it is an all-pervasive Nigerian disease. To you, corruption might be Nigeria's worst problem, but not everyone shares that belief.
A little meditation easily throws up chaos as the real reason why nothing works in Nigeria.

Corruption itself is merely a symptom of chaos. The reason chaos breeds corruption, is that there are no standard approaches to doing things, everything is done in a crazy, adhoc, cut and nail manner; and in the do-or-die scrambles that result, laws (where they exist) are broken, principles compromised, lives lost, police forces become "roger" collectors, senators and reps spit on their constituents and LovePeddler to the highest bidder; rather than fear jail time for treason,  ex-coup plotters dream of becoming presidents; Abuja pays states and LG's instead of the other way round. . . Its a phucking circus.

GEJ has looked at the mess and repeatedly told Nigerians that his govt will build strong institutions to fight corruption. I cannot understand how those repeated words can be lost on we, the educated. If we have identified chaos as the mother of corruption, where best to bring order, but the source of all our wealth? Kill the chaos there, sanitise the oil industry, provide rigid order through strong institutional frameworks and 90% of our corruption will be gone, because suddenly the oxygen that was freely available to intoxicate the powers would have been cut off, forever replaced with standards and due process.

There are different approaches to fighting corruption, but building strong institutions is the only failsafe one. Other methods amount to flailling against the current; ask Idiagbon the results of his efforts, corruption simply waited for him to go on Hajj to Mecca. The rest is history.
Strong institutions are the frameworks we need to defeat corruption and enthrone development.

Please ignore the reference to GEJ above, since this thread is not partisan.
We can only cure our developmental malaise by completly fundamentally rethinking the way we do things and abhoring all that has gone on before this moment.

@omo tier

You might also find this post interesting, to my mind, these are the real issues pulling our country backwards:

Beaf: [size=14pt]Sovereign Nairaland Conference[/size]

It can be easily argued and observed that Nigeria is not a nation. It is no more than a piece of land on which we exist. We have never entered into a contract between regions and ethnicities that would define the basis of our nationality. The very vagueness of a national definition is at the root of every pressing Nigerian problem. To what does the citizen owe their citizenship? What does the Nigerian state owe the citizen? What is the contract between citizen and state?
Sadly, there is no answer to any of the above, because the formation of the country was faulty and built on the wrong premises; take some of the most explosive statements of some of our “founding fathers”; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-412959.32.html#msg5690683

If the founders of this country either had little faith or wicked plans for its future; it is not surprising that, in 1966, just 6 years after independence; the Aburi Accord documents were shredded and the country was at war. The tragic cost was no less than 3 million of lives. To this day, there has been no recompense, remembrance or mutually beneficial resolution and tempers are still high with the East left out of the Nigerian system.

The story was told by the late Mallam Aminu Kano himself (a true and convinced nationalist) of how, when he opted to study law instead of going to the teachers' college decreed by the British District Officer (D.O), his father was summoned by the district head and berated and threatened with sanction if he failed to convince his 'errant son' to drop his idea of studying law for primary school teaching, which the D.O. decreed. The young Aminu said he had to obey to save his poor parent from threatened indignities for producing a son who defied the British design on education for the North.

In other words, the British deliberately prepared two pseudo nations of Nigeria: A conservative, sectarian pan-Arabist North, and a Westernised secular South. This dichotomy of North and South has remained with us. We all know how efforts to balance the ethnic and political and religious equation of the North and South led to Chief Awolowo's treasonable felony trial of 1962, and also to the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70.

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/narticles/national_conference_need_to_make.htm

There is a quota system and Federal Character system that many are unhappy with, because, it seems to promote mediocrity above merit. This directly impinges on pace of development.

The country is 100% dependent on oil, gone are the groundnut pyramids, cocoa and palm nut industries of pre-independence times. Indeed, Malaysia acquired their oil palm industry know-how from Nigeria (the then, foremost producer) along with a couple of palm nuts. Today, Malaysia is the foremost producer and a developed country, while our oil palm industry has perished and we are classified as a state in danger of failure.

Nigeria is located close to the equator, but does not utilise Solar Energy and is afflicted with a comatose electricity supply system. We cannot seem to harness our peculiar environment for our own benefit; always looking to Europe and the US for solutions to peculiar Nigerian problems. The same lack of self pride and identity is evident in several areas of Nigerian life; made in Nigeria goods are discouraged and despised and many cannot speak their mother tongue.

Shocking human rights problems in the Niger Delta have led to the formation of local militias. These militias have directly threatened the Nigerian economy and stability by attempting to drive out the oil companies that have polluted their lands and destroying oil infrastructure. The Niger Delta is the most polluted oil producing area in the World, there is very little federal government assisted development, yet the area produces 98% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange.

Nigeria runs a unitary system of government; it can be argued that this is at the root of all our problems.

Nigeria is said to be a federation of ethnic nationalities. However, the country is run as a unitary system where the central government is overly strong and dictatorial. It gained its style from the British colonial government that invaded, fought and conquered the already independent peoples who lived around the River Niger. So by 1960, after the forceful amalgamation of the so-called southern and northern protectorates, Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa, was born by becoming independent. At its birth about 300 different ethnic nationalities or groups were forced against their wishes to form the union, like in the former Soviet Union which had about 120 ethnic groups.

http://www.greens.org/s-r/46/46-06.html

The purpose of this National Conference is to enable the 300 plus ethnic groups to negotiate modalities of inter-ethnic co-existence and state-ethnic partnership or severance. The lack of such modalities has led to frighteningly brutish pogroms such as the recent Jos occurrences. In 3 months, 1000 lives have been lost in Jos, this is equivalent to losses from all out war between, not one, but several countries. Without a framework or contract for co-existence, our 300 plus ethnic groups have come to see the overly strong and dictatorial central government as the only price worth fighting for and have become willing tools in the hands of evil men.

This National Conference will also thrash out logical propositions for our development. How Nigeria can move from a single commodity country to one that has a diverse and technologically advanced economy. This entails the formulation a workable citizen-state contract and the reorganisation / optimisation of the Nigerian federal architecture in such a way that there is an efficient symbiosis between citizen and state.

---

[size=14pt]Please come forward with your proposals and suggestions for a vibrant, workable Nigeria.[/size]

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-412959.0.html

Even Wal-Mart generates more revenue than Nigeria! We seriously need to get weaned from easy oil money. It's ridiculous.

@KnowAll,

According to a Reuters Analysis of sometimes 2months ago, thanks to Ekt_Bear, Lagos GDP stood at about $54billion. So please, that assumption of almost $150billion is WRONG. If you look at the GDP components and their AVG Q1, Q2 and Q3, Agriculture represented the highest contributor with 40.17%, Second in line was Wholesale and Retail Trade 19.35% while the third was Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas with 15.31%. With about 75% representing this three sectors, you do the math and tell me how Lagos accounts for a large % portion of each three.


No to put Lagos down or anything, we know Crude oil and Gas goes to SS Region, Agriculture (Cocoa --- SW, OiL--- SE, and Fresh produce --- NE/NC or whatever so long they are north. Wholesale and Retail trade, Lagos and Onitsha takes a huge chunks, but lets not take out other secondary and tertiary markets in other states. Now do the math and see for yourself why Lagos cannot take about 50% of Nigeria's GDP.

MAKE WE, STOP BLOWIN GRAMMAR HERE. FORM NAIRALAND COOPERATIVES . INVEST IN REAL SECTOR.(AGRIC MASS HOUSING,MASS TRANSPORT ,SOLID MIN AND YES EVEN OIL AND GAS ETC

Beaf:

What do you mean by "our collective wealth?"
We are not a communist country.

Continuing with the communist theme, neither China (which has vast reserves) nor Russia (with double Nigeria's oil reserves), have any fuel subsidies for consumer use. Are we more communist than those countries? It is only in places like Nigeria and other developmental backwaters that govt has been daft enough to subsidise consumerism with the direct effect that productivity has dropped to zero. In other countries, it is productive ventures that are subsidised; things like industry, research, agriculture, education, health etc, because these places are led by people who realise that a subsidy is NOT a gift, but an investment that will grow for the future of the country.

It is hard to understand the degree of foolishness in the leaders minds that produced such a policy as subsidising consumption, but they are mostly ex-soldiers who would otherwise be illiterates. We can not continue on the doomed path they set us on, in fact any wise person can look around themselves and see the ruins from past our monumental errors.
We can only turn away from that moribund model and in future, even the NNPC will not be allowed to trade in oil, the entire chaotic system that only bred corruption and misery will be swept away.

As for what you call "performing states," thats just rubbish. What state in Nigeria can survive without federal allocations? Are the so-called "performing states" manufacturing goods? Do they have expanding industrial and scientific bases that are providing employment for the people?
"Performing states" my foot.

What Nigeria requires is true federalism, complete deregulation and the total withdrawal of the FG from running any sort of business. I posted the following about the root of corruption on another thread yesterday, but it is relevant here as well:

Please ignore the reference to GEJ above, since this thread is not partisan.
We can only cure our developmental malaise by completly fundamentally rethinking the way we do things and abhoring all that has gone on before this moment.

The fact remains that government all over the world engage in REGULATION for a purpose. It is to ensure that what collectively binds a nation state is not plundered by the few with access to power and might, be it political or business.

I really think you are muddling things up big time! Fuel subsidy is NOT the issue. The issue is the model you choose to adopt and how you go about operating it. The UK, US governments subsidies Fuel Power, but they do it using a different model. Go figure out the tax breaks the energy companies get in the US, and the less duty imposed on these companies by the UK, and what they are ment to do. Simple, push down the operating cost of these companies, which the government hopes would trickle down to the consumers of their products in the form of less cost at pump price. Same goes with Canada.

Nigeria's approach was flawed from the beginning because it was designed to enrich the pockets of those who designed it. Otherwise, why would you design such a cruel system that sends jobs to other countries, depreciate your economy and places you in a position of huge energy security risk!

Also, the FG wanting to remove subsidy is not the problem, rather it is the seemingly inability of the FG to manage anything efficiently that is the reason why people are very much against the removal. Do you really expect a FG that could not manage a Fuel Subsidy shceme to the betterment of Nigerians, to be able to manage a multi-billion dollar projects she plans to embark upon with the money realized from the removal of Fuel subsidy? Has the FG told you what they have done the moneies realized from the DEREGULATION OF diseal? Or did it not occur to you that by deregulating diseal, the FG realized a hugh amount of money from that process?

As for what you call "performing states," thats just rubbish. What state in Nigeria can survive without federal allocations? Are the so-called "performing states" manufacturing goods? Do they have expanding industrial and scientific bases that are providing employment for the people?

You keep banging about allocation from the FG, and how no state in Nigeria can survive without a recourse to FG allocation. But you forget to mention that the funds allocated to these state were generated by or in these states! The reason this model was adopted was to ensure EVEN development in Nigeria. But over the years, poor leadership across the three tiers of government have resulted in a situation we are today.

I repeat, there is nothing wrong in this model, but there is everything wrong in the implementation of this model by those entrusted with the leadreship of the country at all levels. FYI, the UK operates this model and it works for them!

Go figure out, no state in the USA has or ever had expanding industrial and Scientific bases created by the state alone that is providing employment for the people, rather what you have is the enterprenueral spirit of the people encourage by less 'intrusive' regulatory frame work by the 'state'.


What Nigeria requires is true federalism, complete deregulation and the total withdrawal of the FG from running any sort of business. I posted the following about the root of corruption on another thread yesterday, but it is relevant here as well:
The part in bold makes me want to ask if you really live in the world!

Brilliant write up, its been like forever since I saw such quality here.

Nice thread.

Oil is not the answer. Electricity is.

Regarding GDP of Lagos and Nigeria, it is roughly 20-25% of Nigeria's economy. I saw an estimate of $43 billion on The Economist, and $53 billionish or so elsewhere.

Btw there are two ways to calculate GDP, current prices and PPP (purchasing power parity.) I think most of these mainstream papers/analysts tend to use current prices.

Using that technique, Nigeria's GDP is more on the order of $230-240 billion, not $340+.

Using the World Economic Index, Nigeria's GDP is $340bn +. But that really is not the issue. Sao Palo post GDP in excess of $300bn but so you know they have one of the world's largest slums with millions living along the poverty line?

In essence, we should not let these numbers blind fold our eyes. Lagos with the GDP of over $50bn does not tell of the actual fact that the population of lagos is ranking in the millions, with over  65% of that population living less than $4 a day!

I think the challenges faced by Nigeria is multi-facet which requires multi-facet approach. The clamour that 'True Federalism' will solve our current ills is unfounded, as the proponents are doing so out of innate desire to control the wealth of the geographic existence where their power influence hold sway.

True Federalism itself, goes beyond resource control which is what much of what the present agitators seems to be after. If Nigeria were to adopt true federalism, it would mean Lagos for example may be in a position to deny other citizens certain states rights or benefits and may be in a position to pass employment laws that forbids people not from Lagos from enjoying benefits so attached to being on the employment books of Lagos State Government or companies so registered with Her.

I don't care whether you use PPP or current prices, so long as you do so consistently.

The point I am making is that the 43 or 53 billion bandied about for Lagos is current, not PPP.

So comparing Lagos's GDP to that of Nigeria's and using current for the former and PPP for the latter is like comparing my height in centimeters to that of someone else in inches.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify this so people have the right ballpark figures in their minds.

Beaf:

Isn't it time we had a thorough discussion on the way forward?

The way forward is to invest the little money we have in areas that will grow the economy, instead of wasting it on government salaries, security vote and presidential food.

We need to spend the bulk of our budget on power plants, railways, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, sewage systems, mass transit, broadband networks. If the government can just do it's own little part, the Nigerian people will lift themselves out of poverty.

The poblem is that the people in power have no interest in doing the right thing. Take subsidy for instance. I understand that susidising fuel is not the most efficient use of our resources, but the governement has taken the N600billion budgeted for it last year and put it in next year's recurrent expenditure. Trust GEJ to find an even more useless way to waste our money.