₦airaland Forum

kikero:
The UAE has a smaller population too.

Look, if Nigeria had a population of 9 million like UAE, we would not be having this discussion.

I don't even think we would need more than one power plant to guarantee 24 hr electricity for everyone. The govt would literally be able to buy everyone a brand new Mercedes every year without it registering on the budget. Population is everything.

I suspect that many Nigerians hate to hear this 'alternative' explanation for the nation's state of development, because it implies that THEY bear some personal responsibility - however small - for the nation's development.

Far easier to throw your hands up and blame 'corruption', as that absolves you of all responsibility to the nation, and provides the masturbatory pleasure derived from laying all the blame for its woes on someone else's shoulders.

But every time I see a Chinese, Indian, or Lebanese fly into this country, with one business idea or the other, it chips away at the ''corruption'' excuse, as I realise that the nation has huge potentials to develop itself, with or without ''corruption'', if only her people could see it.

hargbolahan01:
I think you should learn about how to win a argument next time when you are in one... you just can't keep disrespecting people because they have different opinions with you

remember calling someone BRAINLESS bcuz he argued with you.... always lower your temper in argument and stop acting like a kid

YOU are acting like a partial, biased FOOL.

The guy introduced himself by saying I was a little kid who knew nothing about Economics and other insults and snide remarks, which you have completely ignored, only to face me because I defended myself? GTFOH.

I do not tolerate insults for expressing my views here, and if you insult me, expect the exact same back from me.

THANKS.

hargbolahan01:
how can diversification work when we don't have infrastructure to support it and how will the country succeed in diversification where there is poor management

How was Innoson able to build the first and largest black-owned vehicle manufacturing plant on earth, starting with nothing but a spare parts business?

Is he operating in a different Nigeria from you and me?

Why are the Indians, Lebanese, and Chinese rushing in here to start manufacturing businesses if the infrastructure is as terrible as you say?

STOP WAITING FOR NIGERIA TO BE LIKE FRANCE before you can have hope in the country.

We will NEVER get that ''full infrastructural availability' until we diversify sufficiently to be able to AFFORD it.

Even our current budget of 35 billion dollars is our highest ever budget.

It is that 'high' because of diversification. Oil used to account for 95% of govt revenues, remember?

Today it accounts for just 65^%.

So we are on the right track as a nation, in terms of diversification. We just need to accelerate it.

If we can just get to 100 billion dollars a year, it will solve a lot of issues in this country.

Sultannayef:
You're just a little boy struggling in Nigeria. And can't match me in any facet of life, you can never get an interview where I work. Keep deceiving people here.

Can someone tell this P.O.S. that I ain't ''a little boy''?

I've been on this forum since before you learned to pee straight, and I'm probably old enough to be your daddy.

So kindly STFU and learn some respect. And I am self-employed, not an employee like you who attends ''interviews'' to help somebody else get rich.

Sultannayef:
Finally before I leave you. No country in the world has even attempted to diversify without having low corruption index. And I mean mineral-dependent countries.

I disagree.

South Africa was HUGELY CORRUPT when gold and diamonds were their primary export commodities.

Most the wealth earned was embezzled and banked in Europe.

They spent a bit on infrastructure, but the majority black population lived in penury.

The apartheid regime was unaccountable and highly corrupt. BUT at some point they realised the mineral wealth was insufficient for their growing nation, and they focused on diversification, with manufacturing, mechanized agriculture, and the services being major investment areas.

That is why they are where they are today, with an annual national budget of 125 billion dollars.

Godfullsam:
You are making alot of sense.

If only our leaders can think out of the box.

I learnt that the UAE has a population of about 9.6 million and an annual budget of 50bllion dollars while Nigeria, with a population of about 200 million people Haas an annual budget of about 35 billikn dollars.

And some people expect Nigeria be like Dubai

Exactly. The whole UAE, Dubai story of shiny cities and great wealth has only encouraged Nigerians to be more finger pointing in their ''blame corruption'' mentality.

Many think Nigeria should be just like UAE and Dubai because we both export oil. If only it were that simple....

Of course the simple mathematics you outlined totally eludes them.

Sultannayef:
Good luck, you need to grow up.

Thanks. You need to use your brain.

Professor with nothing to profess.

Sultannayef:
@OP. It shows you don’t understand economics.
Corruption is the root cause in the case of Nigeria. If there is stable electricity, the GDP of Nigeria will increase astronomically.

Loud-mouthed 'Prof', you clearly haven't studied Development Economics, or you would know that ''stable electricity'' is a LUXURY that only VERY FEW nations on earth, maybe less than 30% of nations, actually enjoy. And even a lower percentage of nations enjoy full access to electricity by their populations, with millions still off the grid in many countries

YET, many of those nations are diversifying their economies and developing steadily. Some rapidly.

SOUTH AFRICA today, suffers power cuts. But the nation is still powering on.

INDIA suffers daily power cuts, but is still among the fastest growing economies in the world. Corruption is also a HUGE problem there, but that still has not stopped them. WHY? Economic Diversification.

The more they diversify, the more money they make, and the more they are able to tackle their economic and social problems.

They have lifted 400 million people out of poverty even with massive corruption, inequality, and power shortages. Because of Diversification and not relying on just one or two income sources.

So learn to think outside the box of finger pointing and blaming, which is the garbage that intellectual inquiry has turned to among our 'learned' class.

In fact, if the money budgeted on infrastructure are actually spent on them, GDP will increase massively through spillover effects. Corruption again and again is the problem.

Absolute garbage.

What money is budgeted for infrastructure? Is our national budget not all about recurrent expenditure, salaries, pensions, debt-servicing, etc etc, with capital expenditure something like 30%?

How does 10 billion dollars a year bridge the infrastructure gap in a country as huge as Nigeria even with zero corruption?

That amount is what the USA is using to renovate La Guardia airport in New York city!

https://mycomply.net/info/blog/top-5-united-states-construction-projects-in-2019/

So we have no money for infrastructure. In fact sometimes when I look around I wonder where we get the money to build what we DO have on ground.

Much of our infrastructure spending is being financed via loans from places like China and the World Bank. In recent years, mostly China, and those loans ARE being used judiciously as we can see from various projects. We do NOT make enough money to finance infrastructural development, even if there was zero corruption.

Go back and READ the national budget amount of Nigeria vis a vis the countries you love to compare her to. Where is the money?

You sound like a kid that just wrote his Honours thesis on economic diversification.
I did that in my PhD thesis.

Thanks

Your type are repulsive. If PhD was the barometer of knowledge, Nigeria would be more advanced than Japan, because we have many empty headed PhD holders who cannot see beyond conventional layman explanations for complex phenomena. Keep banging on about 'corruption' like the average man on the street, you hear? Don't use your brain. Sit there expecting to be ruled by saints before you can develop. You'll wait a million years because there are no saints in this world.

Every day, ''corruption'' this ''corruption'' that.

If we had an annual budget of 300 billion dollars, do you know you won't even notice if there is corruption or not?

People who moan about corruption are people whose countries don't earn enough money.

If your country is making money, you won't even notice if someone steals 20 billion dollars.

Everything will still be working.

Also, abundance tends to discourage corruption and minimize it.

If, as a public servant, you are very well paid and are assured of a comfortable, wealthy existence after retirement, with a hefty pension, you will be less inclined to be corrupt. It's human nature. Corruption is largely a function of fear, financial uncertainty and insecurity. Remove those elements and corruption declines, however slowly.

The great thing about this renewed, zealous national focus on one thing called Economic Diversification, is that all of a sudden, the ethnicity of the next president doesn't matter anymore.

We simply elect the person we all know will be excellent in diversifying the economy, based on his or her past credentials and antecedents.

If it's igbo, fine. If it's Yoruba, fine, If he's Urhobo or Fulani, fine.

Can you DIVERSIFY THIS ECONOMY, and HOW?

That is the main question you must answer before you lead Nigeria.

If as a nation today, we put aside our differences and quarrels, and simply focus on one thing, and one thing alone - ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION - 4 things will happen.

1) National income will increase

2) Development will accelerate

3) Personal incomes will rise

4) Agitation, insurgency, discontent, ethnic rivalries, crime, herdsmen wahala, IPOB wahala, etc etc, will gradually cease to the point they become HISTORY.

Let us face the future with wisdom.

DMerciful:
Oyo state is bigger than The Netherlands yet they generate $20 billion from agriculture alone. 4 litres of groundnut oil is more expensive than 8 litres of petrol yet you do not need massive investment and environmental degradation to get groundnut oil.
We need to go back to our cash and food crops like in the 50-60s

Absolutely, but also move into big time manufacturing, the services, and tourism. This is what South Africa has done. There was a time when all they produced was gold, but they moved on from that and now their manufacturing and services sector are something else.

DMerciful:
It's this oil that's not really profitable that has led to abandoning of our agriculture

The thing is there was a time when the oil revenue seemed huge, which was in the 1970s, when our population was 50 to 70 million etc. Even then, the money was too small, but for an African nation in the 1970s, it was still a lot of money, which was why we switched off agriculture and other pursuits.

But fast forward to 2020, and the oil money is just a mere pittance for the country, with its 200 million people.

Even out of that measly 35 billion dollar annual budget, I doubt oil and gas revenues make up more than 20 billion.

Most Nigerians think they would be living like people in Germany, USA, Dubai, UK etc... IF ONLY our leaders did not steal and 'loot' so much of the oil and gas revenues the country earns.

THAT IS THE BIGGEST DECEIT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY.

Nigeria does NOT make a lot of money from oil and gas commensurate to its huge population of 200 million.

The money is actually a pittance.

Nigeria's annual budget is 35 billion dollars.

Contrast that with South Africa's annual budget of 125 billion dollars.

Or the UK, 1.2 trillion dollars.

Or France, 1.7 trillion dollars.

Or Germany, 2.2 trillion dollars.

Or the USA, 7.6 trillion dollars.

NIGERIA NEEDS TO DIVERSIFY FROM OIL AND GAS TO EARN MORE AS A COUNTRY.

THAT is our Number 1 issue as a country.

Not corruption.

Not mismanagement.

Not tribalism or nepotism.

Not Boko Haram.

Not Fulani herdsmen.

Not IPOB.

But ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION.

Even with ZERO corruption, the money we earn today is grossly insufficient to develop the whole country and get everything working to perfection.

If you ask me, we're even doing quite well considering how little we actually earn.

Thank goodness the govt recognises the situation, and is doing well in diversification efforts through supporting manufacturing and agriculture especially.

Nigerian youths: Word of advice: Put your talents to use, and help in the nation's DIVERSIFICATION EFFORTS.

Start a business. Learn a skill. Go into manufacturing. Or agric processing. Or the services. You can start small scale and grow.

ADD YOUR QUOTA TO OUR DIVERSIFICATION DRIVE.

That is the ONLY way forward.

Alternatively, you can sit around perennially disgruntled and angry that the ''massive oil revenues'' of your IMAGINATION have not materialized before you, or led to a 1st world existence.

I SALUTE.

Kenplay:
I dont buy into this lame excuss, so you are telling me the reason Nigeria suffers from lack of stable electricity, poor infrastructure, low Educational and medical standard is because our population is high despite all the large oil revenue?

What ''large'' oil revenue?

Dude, Nigeria does NOT make a lot of money from oil commensurate to its huge population.

The money is actually a pittance.

Nigeria's annual budget is 35 billion dollars.

Contrast that with South Africa's annual budget of 125 billion dollars.

Or the UK, 1.2 trillion dollars.

Or the USA. 7.6 trillion dollars.

NIGERIA NEEDS TO DIVERSIFY FROM OIL AND GAS TO EARN MORE AS A COUNTRY.

THAT is our Number 1 issue as a country.

Not corruption. Not mismanagement. Not tribalism or nepotism.

But ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION.

Look, even with ZERO corruption, the money we earn today is grossly insufficient to develop the whole country and get everything working to perfection.

If you ask me, we're even doing quite well considering how little we actually earn.

Thank goodness the govt recognises the situation, and is doing well in diversification efforts through supporting manufacturing and agriculture especially.

Kenplay:
But China has over 1 billion people, why are they still developing?

China is developing but is still a POOR country and a DEVELOPING country.

China's GDP per capita is 9,000 dollars per annum.

By comparison, the USA's is 62,000 dollars

Nigeria's is around 2,400.

China can reasonably argue that its 1 .2 billion population is why it has not achieved a higher GDP per capita than 9,000 dollars, despite all their rapid development in the last 30 years.

If they were say 300 million in population, their GDP per capita would be around 32,000 dollars

So POPULATION MATTERS.

India is in the same boat. Economy doing well, but as they have a population of 1 billion, their GDP per capita is still just 2,200 dollars, even less than Nigeria's.

If you dispute these figures, I'll gladly post links to sources.

It is basic common sense really.

If you give a man 10 million naira to look after 1000 people

and give another man 10 million naira to look after 50 people, which set of people would be richer after 1 month?

Even a 5 year old can answer this.

kingzizzy:
Thats Nigeria for you. In Nigeria, if it is not Boko haram killing you, it is ISWAP killing you, if it is not herdsmen killing you it is the security forces killing you. Every Nigerian has at least 5 armed groups, including their security forces, that is always out to kill him.

IPOB were right to agitate to leave the killing field known as Nigeria because only a crazy person would want to belong to a country where many people are running around with AK47 killing unarmed people, including their security forces.

RIP bro, they killed you for agitating for your freedom, but dont worry, nothing fraudulent lasts forever and thats why Nigeria will not last forever

Wow.. everyone is running around killing everyone else. Pray....How come YOU are still alive, and all of us here on Nairaland are still alive?

All this mass killing must be going in your donkey head.

Asswipe.

jrtorrents:
Under Obasanjo, Ghana and Nigeria enjoyed the best relationship the two nations have ever had.

And the fact that you’re yearning for the return of a murderous dictator who stole massive amount of Nigerian money proves why your country is still a shithole. Such low level thinking !

An imbecilic wretch like you from a tiny, dependent, weak country with just one half city surrounded by backward, wretched villages does NOT come on Nairaland insulting the Federal Republic of Nigeria, UNDERSTOOD?

You nasty little maggot.

Do you see Nigerians going to your Ghana websites? What are you doing here? Get your dirty, rotten self out of this place and go mix with your nasty ilk.

Cyberterror:
Orji Uzo Kalu is the one. A unifier, a pan Nigerian. The beginning of a new era in Nigeria.

You are truly shameless to be supporting a known criminal and thief to be president of Nigeria.

Igbochief001:
based on everything u listed the compromise choice is orji kalu ...he is not the best but best compromise ..

no section of Nigeria have anything against him

SHUT UP. HE IS A THIEF.

These things only happen to minor officials far removed from the top echelon of Chinese leadership.

None of the officials close to Xi Xing Ping has ever been arrested talk less of executed.

And there is large scale corruption in the Chinese govt.

Ask the average Chinese about these things and they will tell you it's all for show.

THEY are not easily fooled, unlike some Nigerians.

FrLukas:
And you think the powers that be will sit back and allow you do the bolded in your comment?

That they do it in other African countries doesn't mean they'll allow you do the same. I hope you know that.

You seriously overrate the influence of ''the powers that be'', by which I presume you mean the west.

Where were they when Liberia and Sierra leone needed defending?

They couldn't stop mere ragtag rebels from destabilizing those countries, but it is NIGERIA they will stop?

Are you sure you're ok?

Ykc2:
if 70 000 american are killed per annum in a country where an invidual can buy machine guns 1000 pieces if you have the money, inshot there re more than 300 millions fires arms in civilian's hands in america ,so america is still heaven to nigeria where fulani people can kill a whole village kidnap bus full of passengers,

Another brainless comment.

Do you prefer a homicide rate of 70,000 to the few hundred killed by herdsmen per annum? Yes or no.

You must be INSANE to say the situation in America where there are 300 million guns in private possession is ''heaven''.

Yakubu113:
If our so called leaders know what they are doing why will a Nigerian citizen relocate to Ghana in the first place.

Why do the Chinese come to Nigeria?

The Indians and Lebanese too?

Is it because their govts ''don't know what they are doing''?

Nigerians, like those other nationals, are natural traders and entrepreneurs and will always travel for new markets regardless of what is happening in Nigeria. So leave the govt out of this.

Nemere2020:
PRESS RELEASE

Nigeria Will No Longer Tolerate Harassment of Its Citizens in Ghana - FG

The Nigerian Government is deeply concerned by the incessant harassment of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities, and will no longer tolerate such.

In this regard, the Federal Government is urgently considering a number of options aimed at ameliorating the situation.

The Federal Government has been documenting the acts of hostility towards Nigeria and Nigerians by the Ghanaian authorities. These include:

- Seizure of the Nigerian Mission's property located at No. 10, Barnes Road, Accra, which the Nigerian Government has used as diplomatic premises for almost 50 years. This action is a serious breach of the Vienna Convention.

- Demolition of the Nigerian Mission's property located at No. 19/21 Julius Nyerere Street, East Ridge, Accra, another serious breach of
the Vienna Convention.

- Aggressive and incessant deportation of Nigerians from Ghana.
Between Jan. 2018 and Feb. 2019, 825 Nigerians were deported from Ghana.

- Closure of shops belonging to Nigerians. Over 300 Nigerians shops were locked for four months in Kumasi in 2018; over 600 Nigerian shops were locked in 2019 and, currently, over 250 Nigerians shops have been locked.

- Residency Permit requirements, for which the Ghana Immigration Service has placed huge fees, far higher than the fees charged by the Nigerian Immigration Service.

These include the compulsory Non-citizen ID card (US$120, and US$60 for yearly renewal); Medical examinations, including for Covid-19 which is newly-introduced (about US$120), and payment for residency permit (US$400 compared to the N7,000 being paid by Ghanaians for residency card in Nigeria)

- Outrageous stipulations in the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act. When the Act was initially promulgated in 1994, a foreigner is required to invest at least US$300,000 by way of equity capital and also employ 10 Ghanaians.

This Act has now been amended twice, with the 2018 GIPC Act raising the minimum capital base for foreign-owned businesses to US$1m. Though targeted at foreigners, it seems GIPC's definition of foreigners is Nigerians. The GIPC Act also negates the ECOWAS Protocol.

- Media war against Nigerians in Ghana. The negative reportage of issues concerning Nigerians resident in Ghana by the Ghanaian media is fuelling an emerging xenophobic attitude towards Nigerian traders and Nigerians in general.

The immediate fallout is the incessant harassment and arrest of Nigerian traders and closure of their shops.
- Harsh and openly-biased judicial trial and pronouncement of indiscriminately-long jail terms for convicted Nigerians.

There are currently over 200 Nigerians in the Nsawam Maximum prison in Ghana alone.

The Federal Government will like to put on record the fact that even though over 1 million Ghanaians are resident in Nigeria, they are not
being subjected to the kind of hostility being meted out to Nigerians in Ghana.

Also, Even though the main reason given for the seizure of Federal Government property at No. 10, Barnes Road in Accra is the non-renewal of lease after expiration, the Ghanaian authorities did not give Nigeria the right of first refusal or the notice to renew the lease.

By contrast, the lease on some of the properties occupied by the Ghanaian Mission in Nigeria has long expired, yet such properties have not been seized. Nigeria has time after time demonstrated its fidelity to the long cordial relations with Ghana.

But indications, especially in recent times, are that Nigeria's stance is now being taken for granted and its citizens being made targets of harassment and objects of ridicule.

This will no longer be tolerated under any guise.

In the meantime, the Federal Government wishes to appeal to its citizens resident in Ghana to remain law abiding and avoid engaging in self help, despite their ordeal.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
Honourable Minister of Information and Culture
Abuja
28 Aug. 2020
https://twitter.com/FMICNigeria/status/1299327948978376708?s=19

Mynd44
Lalasticlala

Excellent response by the FG. I suggest Nigeria temporarily withdraws from ECOWAS, just to get the rest of West Africa to sit straight.

Nigeria contributes nearly 80% of all ECOWAS funds and those funds help with so many things, from regional security to emergency food and health supplies.

The Nigerian GDP is 75% of West Africa's GDP. West Africa has 14 nations that basically depend on Nigeria for their survival.

Nigeria should LEAVE ECOWAS for them, and ask Nigerian businesses in Ghana to return home.

3 of the top 5 banks in Ghana are Nigerian banks. Order them to withdraw immediately from Ghana, let us see how the Ghana economy can withstand that shock to their system. That move alone will plunge their economy into recession in a matter of days.

Also, 70,000 Nigerian students are in Ghanaian universities, and they are made to pay in dollars there. This brings in billions of dollars to Ghanaian coffers each year. Nigeria should declare that it will not recognise degrees from Ghanaian universities henceforth, and end that phenomenon.

Let us see how long before Ghana gets their head straight after these measures.

If they continue their madness, the FG should consider sponsoring rebel movements in northern Ghana and neighbouring Burkina Faso to infiltrate and destabilize that country, and effect regime change in favour of a more pro-Nigeria administration.

Do you know that Ghana hasn't got a single fighter jet?

Not one. I've done the research. Their military is ranked 28th in Africa, while Nigeria is 3rd or 4th. Even Burkina Faso is ranked above them militarily.

They are very weak and vulnerable to military/terrorist/rebel attacks and incursions, and have spent very little on their military, because their government has taken it for granted that Nigerian forces will defend them like we did in Liberia, Sierra leone, Gambia etc, in the event of a crisis.

No more.

Ghana have become too proud and arrogant at the relative peace and prosperity they have enjoyed under the regional economic and security umbrella that Nigeria has provided the sub-region over the last 20 years.

Today, they are welcoming black Americans in their thousands, offering them free citizenship and free land to live and work on, while chasing Nigerians around, locking their shops, and demanding they pay 1 million dollars each to work.

They are like the great Chinua Achebe's little bird nza, who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal, that he challenged his personal god to a wrestling contest. Needless to add, the deity picked him up and with one swift, deft move, dashed him unto the cold stony earth.

They must be taught a lesson they will never forget.

Goldencheese:
Empty threat. A serious government would take punitive actions not threaten to do so.

Wrong. You MUST let the world know WHY you are taking hefty measures. A serious govt does not just act unilaterally without intimating the world on the situation prior.

fuckingAyaya:
But we can tolerate bandits and Herdsmen

BRAINLESS COMMENT.

America 'tolerates' a homicide rate of 70,000 per annum.

Does that mean they will sit down and let you harass their citizens in a foreign country? No. So use your brain. It's not there for decoration.

SocialJustice:
Rubbish. We civilised them and we're nothing today.

Donkey.

History does not work according to YOUR timeline and dictates. Nations and continents rise and fall, and rise again. That is HISTORY. Europe experienced its Dark Ages for nearly 1000 years between 7 ad and the 1400s when Africa was a place of learning and development, and was lifted up with the help of the black African Moors, bringing her into her Renaissance which led on the Industrial Revolution. Africa and Asia today are growing faster than Europe economically, signalling another shift. THAT IS HISTORY. THAT IS HOW IT WORKS. No region is on top permanently and no region is at the 'bottom' permanently either, so WAKE UP and get rid of your inferiority complex and low self esteem.

Blackmoran:
what is the pride and logic in us been the first race to be civilized and today in anything development we are always at the back... abeg there is nothing to be proud. you see people crossing desert and redsea just to escape from this hell of a continent....

You reason like a donkey. Your glorious past should be an inspiration to you to move forward, not something for you to spit on like a cursed imbeci.le with no brain.

RuudVanNisteroy:
Rossinky, your a spokexman for the fantastically corrupt ruling elite. you lost me defending leaders that move in 8-40 car armed convoys.

Who created the insecurity? If not the failed leaders that turned the country to the poverty and corruption capital of the world.

Abeg shut up.....Who created the insecurity in America that causes 70,000 Americans to be shot dead each year?

Who created the insecurity there that led to President John F Kennedy getting assassinated in his car?

Mumu, the same thing or worse will happen in other countries, and you will be kissing their butts night and day regardless, but let 1/10th of it happen in Nigeria and all hell breaks loose in your head, and it is your sign of a ''failed state''.

Demented person drowning in inferiority complex.

Hope you don't infect your kids with your lunacy.