₦airaland Forum

On May 1 2026, the founder and CEO of Moniepoint, Tosin Enioluranda addressed Pastor Poju Oyemade's The Platform. In telling his story, he talked about the problem of getting the right people to fill work spaces - the below par work productivity and capacity of young Nigerians. Interestingly many have been angry and maligned him for daring to say what he said.

Everyone of us who have gone through the corporate world and have ran a business knows he is saying the truth. There is a serious problem with the work ethics and skills of young Africans. Unfortunately, many Africans most times are too uncomfortable with the truths and only like to hear what pleases them. I dealt with this in Chapter 9 of my book which x-rayed religion and the role it's playing in the kind of values young people are imbibing in Sub Saharan Africa.

Religion from ancient Egyptian to Greco-Roman, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, African Traditional and the Dharmic faiths have all had varied positive influence on development. Christianity and Islam brought positive development to the continent also but their evolution over time has become very controversial. When you read my book, you will get a very honest assessment of how misapplication of religion negatively influences young people and draws the continent back.

The Real Reasons Africa is Poor: Culture, Uncomfortable Truths and the Path to Africa's Rise

CHIEFCHICKEN:
It's actually corruption influenced by religion

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Thanks for your take. Corruption plays a role, and yes Religion plays a role. But they play roles in ways we have never previously considered. I will share my take on corruption.

This was dealt with in Chapter 2 of my book. I heavily referenced Alan Beattie’s book “False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World” (2009). Julius Nyerere, a very good man never associated with corruption impoverished Tanzania in the same era that Suharto, described as a corrupt crook developed Indonesia. Now if you think this is an outlier, I went further to reference Robyn Meredith’s “The Elephant and the Dragon” (2007) and compared the rise of India and China. Both countries were rated very low on global anti-corruption indices thirty years ago but they continuously recorded above 8% growth and industrialized during that period.

As to why China achieved faster than India, it was pointed that corruption in China was orderly and organized while that in India was chaotic, amorphous and rancorous – in China, everyone knows who to pay bribes to – the Communist party official, in India, its democratized. The same analysis apply to Indonesia where despite corruption, Indonesia moved ahead and grew its manufacturing sector in an era where Suharto and his cronies formed a conduit of corruption.

Now this is controversial. The cost of corruption are overbearing on any country, particularly Sub Saharan Africa. But countries outside Africa still developed in spite of the chokehold. Could it be that the more salient issue was the nature of corruption rather than corruption itself? Find out when you read the book

I dealt exclusively with the issue of Religion in Chapter 9. You will love it brother.

"The Real Reasons Africa is Poor: Culture, Uncomfortable Truths and the Path to Africa’s Rise."

Good day all,

Would like to share excerpts of my upcoming book here titled The Real Reasons Africa is Poor: Culture, Uncomfortable Truths and the Path to Africa's Rise.

The obvious blame why Africa is poor is usually corruption, bad leadership, slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism etc. What if there are other more fundamental factors at play? I did my research on this over several years and my findings were as interesting as they were uncomfortable; things we don't like to tell ourselves. But we have no choice; Africa have missed out on both the industrial and technological revolutions and cannot afford to again miss out on the emerging AI revolution while pretending to ourselves and blaming others.
My research makes an interesting read. It is well researched, very authoritative, historical, cultural, practical and ultimately offers a path to Africa's rise.

Good day all. Please I have concluded the manuscript of my book and I need an agency to help me edit and structure it for publishing in Amazon and Selar as well an into audio format. There are too many adverts on social media claiming to be experts in the field. Based on experience,can someone please recommend a good agency or person to me?