How Indonesia overtook Nigeria
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-11399866

I had never before been to Jakarta, the chaotic and teeming capital of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

But, as the plane dodged in and out between the clouds, there it lay below. And just as I had been told it would, it looked like my former home - Nigeria.

"Indonesia and Nigeria?" I'd protested to the friend who first suggested the comparison to me some weeks earlier.

"They're 7,000 miles apart. One's Africa, one's Asia. There's no comparison to make."

It was late 2003, and I was flying in from Singapore - a smart, modern Asian city, now two hours behind me to the north. I'd just been appointed Asia editor for the AFP news agency, after four years as its Nigeria bureau chief.

Lagos, my former home, is Africa's megacity, the country's hustling, bustling, trading capital. It is noisy, sometimes violent but pulsing with life.

From its crowded waterfront districts to the low-rise slums inland, it hums with activity; people making deals, making money, taking a chance and just getting by.

Looking down out of the plane's window, I took in the airport below.

"Ok, so it looks like Lagos," I thought.

Then, emerging minutes later from the plane, I settled into my taxi for the long drive into the city centre.

When we stopped at a crossroads, crowds of noisy children emerged as they would in Nigeria to hawk their wares, offering us everything from spicy foods to soft drinks, typewriter covers to newspapers.

Both Indonesia and Nigeria, my guidebook told me, are the giants of their region, home to tens of millions of people. Both were formed as one nation by Europeans around 1900. Both were governed by the colonial system of "indirect rule". Both once made money from palm oil, and later discovered oil and gas.

At independence, the standards of living in the two countries were comparable on most measures. And since independence, both have suffered three decades of military misrule and corruption.

Nigeria and Indonesia in figures (2010)

Gross national income, per capita
Nigeria: $1,160
Indonesia: $2,010

Gross domestic product
Nigeria: $207.12 billion
Indonesia: $510.73 billion

Population below poverty line
Nigeria: 70%
Indonesia: 17.8%
Sources: UN, World Bank, CIA World Factbook

rainmon:
This article was published in 28 September 2010, or almost a decade ago. But now it seems like the gap of the development between the two countries get wider.



Jakarta today is almost on par with other East Asian cities like Seoul, Beijing and Taipei albeit still poorer than mentioned cities.

tylann:
Is Indonesia rich in oil like nigeria

Cousin9999:
Indonesia is a popular resource for human trafficking and domestic labor. All throughout the rest of Asia you find Indonesian housekeepers.

rainmon:


Indonesia is far from being the source for human trafficking, not even close.

As for the domestic labor, due to its rapid growing economy, since 2015 Indonesia has banned its people to work as domestic workers in more than 20 countries.

Indonesia is not even among the world's top remittance recipients.

Cousin9999:


The rest of Asia only knows of Indonesians as house slaves. People from a thriving economy generally don't jump at the chance to be a servant, and they definitely wouldn't go to toilets like China to do it if they did.