₦airaland Forum

QuinQQ:
Which evidence?? The problem is that you people never take time to watch a long video. Shameless VDM was even suggesting to her that she was hallucinating, that it was all her imagination!

WanderingChild:
Long read... you have most of your figures wrong.
You can write a book on the challenges Nigeria faces- same with most countries. Again, that is not why I'm here. I'm interested in identifying opportunities in a changing world. The last two times I preached about opportunities here was last year which I considered a good time to approach the housing market and post covid, when I talked about options outside the UK. I'm glad I latched onto both even when it seemed like folly.

Response – My contention with property as a primary means of investment for growing wealth in today’s age is simply based on the fact that it is immobile and lacks the ability to scale wealth in ways IP does. A simple fund raising and a company is worth millions. Co-founders can extract a fraction of their wealth through debt and still invest in property or other businesses. This is the modern way of creating wealth. Property becomes a top up rather than a main route to wealth. Elon Musk has just demonstrated that again with their planned IPO for SpaceX at $1.25T valuation. Your property story is not being discounted, I am simply proposing an alternative that is timely for immigrants in today’s world.

I'd highlight a few oddities in your post.

1. You make the mistake of comparing GDP per capita without appreciating the economics of scale larger countries wield. Based on GDP per capita, China would be poorer than most European countries. How come they weild so much influence?

Response – If I go with this your logic, countries like Nigeria, DRC and Indonesia should wield similar influence? Economics of scale works when a country is able to develop the capacity of its population to grow wealth. China has been able to leverage its population along with fiscal discipline and a well-managed monetary policy in directly influencing capital allocation and priority areas. Overall, Chinese are much poorer than Europeans when purchasing power is compared. That is what economists use as a metric.

2. Already, over the last 20 years, most of the improvement in living standards happened outside the west. Its said that if you remove those China lifter out of poverty, the world has hardly made much improvement in poverty reduction in the last 20 yrs.

Response – Most of the improvement in living standards happened because of the gap. It is like saying party A is worth $1m today from $0.9m yesterday and party B has recently seen its wealth move from $50k to $500k. This does not mean Party B is worth more than Party A or better, it simply means the development gap Party B needs to cover is significant. This is what creates opportunity for investors. It is expected. Unfortunately, and as you concede, China has been responsible for MOST of this over the last 30 years and is plateauing meaning that growth from most Global South countries will start plateauing in the coming years.

3. Nigerias GDP never got to $800 B and India do not have 240 million in poverty. Get your facts right.

Response – Nigeria rebased her GDP in 2025 adding $235 billion to 2014 GDP. https://intelpoint.co/insights/nigerias-2024-gdp-just-got-a-65-billion-boost-after-the-2025-rebasing/

Reports show India having over 230 million people in poverty - https://thesouthfirst.com/news/india-has-23-4-crore-people-living-in-poverty-highest-in-the-world-un-report/

4. When I mention business interest rates, I point to opportunities to unlock tremendous growth by getting some basics right.

Response – Tremendous growth does not come from high interest rates. China leveraged low interest rates to drive private sector growth. In fact many business sectors were subsidised by the government with its currency deliberately undervalued for years to drive exports. Growth for China came from fiscal discipline, rapid expansion of exports (cheap manufacturing, cheap labour along with cheap loans) and a very well managed and aligned monetary policy. China does not run an exploitative economy. Growth driven by exploitation does not bode well for countries.

5. I don't get your obsession with PO- I'm all about leadership that'd get certain basics right.

Response – PO was mentioned without proper context (a fault on my part). I mentioned him to state that even our best shot (PO) at getting Nigeria right will fail because of the scale of what is needed for which we don’t have the funds.

All said, I can only thank God I'm one of those youths Nigeria produced.

Response – Excellent.


Going forward, let me preview your submissions here first.
As per your submissions :
1. Folks living in Africa are useless to humanity. Perhaps, they should unalive themselves and become manure

Response – You misstate my statement because you fail to contextualise it so not much my response can do here.

2. Any youth not in the top-10 world cities is useless to humanity (which ironically includes most of Europe). Now that Trump is shutting the U.S, should Europeans also convert themselves to manure?

Response – Lol. I actually said 20 and the Network effect of London and Paris covers Europe. Today, living in close proximity to top cities is what creates early access to opportunities to grow wealth. Being able to access funds investing in early and disruptive startups about to IPO is a function of proximity. Being able to even access funds, grants, abundant cloud resources or infrastructure to do significant work in your startup or AI is a function of proximity to top global cities. As harsh as the statement may sound, this is why the most valuable startups and businesses coalesce around these cities and where wealth id mostly created.

3. Anyone without £300k to take risk is useless to humanity. Lol...

Response – Again, you overexaggerate and misstate my statement here. This was talking about folks pooling together £300k and there was a context to this.

4. Not too long ago, you were mocking those who bought houses- an endeavour which has been a sure way to build wealth in the west

Response – I never mock. I stated that the property thread had died off. This was an observation and was contextualised with the rising anti-immigration sentiments in the UK. Most immigrant facing possible extension of their stay in the UK won’t be eager to take a mortgage. It is just gumption.

5. Now, you're preaching to folks to liquidate their pensions- a path that is sure to render many destitute in retirement.

Response – Again, you overexaggerate my statements. I was specifically talking about state pension reforms and how the government will be coming for immigrants by making it a benefit. When I responded to you earlier, I argued about wealth protection strategies for immigrants without settlement in light of growing anti-immigrant sentiments.

There is more to life than ip. The reality we live in far different from aspire to acquire.

Response – Not sure what this means but in today’s age, IP is the default wealth creation strategy hence the prevalence of VCs and startups and innovation, etc. It is IP everywhere. It does not discount other means but if people can also explore it, why not? Aspire to acquire is more the field of Fela Durotoye and co. Not sure how it works in today’s world. Maybe when I bring my “much anticipated” course on “10 proven ways on how to be a millionaire from your startup”, I can sign up to the group.

Lastly, it's easy to hide under the cowardly phrase- 'you're lucky because you're doctor' without appreciating the difference in mindset and approach. I was singing it like a song several years back that we're in the west cos we're needed, some folks thought I was proud and they were being invited to a lovefeast. Today, its kitikata. I had every opportunity to remain in Nigeria and the UK and be a top- 5% earner for the rest of my career. Yet I left - unapologetically. I'm glad that I'm at a point today where I can ask myself- to what end and not live to chase the next pay check.

Response – Hmmm…. You are not lucky because you are a doctor. You are lucky or fortunate because you left Nigeria timely and was able to thrive in societies that made sense of your prior training and availability. If you remained in Nigeria, would you have seen any significant rise in your quality of life compared to what it is today or the resources you can access? One’s profession is not necessarily important in wealth creation today. What matters is that you are in an environment that can take you and enable you create wealth. People “in the abroad” are killing it in food business and fashion design and startups and professional careers. There are also people with solid mindsets in Nigeria overwhelmed by poverty. Their mindset notwithstanding, they are unable to defeat the barriers setup by ecosystem that bounds them.

I think we are somehow aligned but talking past ourselves.

The key issues you raised ab initio to which I replied are as follows:

Most of the economic growth that the world would see in the coming decades would likely be outside the West. Many western nations are stagnating with things not looking to get better as their population ages.

Response – Not true again. Population growth is getting decoupled from GDP. In fact most of the $10T in wealth Donald Trump destroyed with his tariffs came from the US, UK, and Europe. AI has made population “irrelevant” as wealth has become intangible. The US GDP has been growing at averagely $1T yearly just from intangibles. Remove China and most of the Global South has plateaued or is in decline.

As we clobber to get in, let's remember we'd be fighting for a hardly growing pot without the headstart native populations have. The statistical reality is that many coming in would be stuck art lower rungs of society except they work terribly hard. The odds are stacked against them. We can see this among descendants of Caribbean migrants in London and the midlands- quite a few are struggling.
At some point we'd ask ourselves... to what end? (Yes, I can appreciate most narratives and see how they tie-in)

Response – This has been disrupted. World economy is growing (proxy GDP). Folks from migrant communities are getting into the financial space and startup space and changing the dynamics wealth-wise. Diversity policies have created pathways for many to secure access to ivy leagues and on to great careers in fantastic companies. Opportunities are actually more now than ever before because of AI and innovation in general.

I have increasingly seen my colleagues think home -not because they look to relocate soon but because they see the opportunities there. Many have set up short-term lets some of which are priced in USD. I remember strongly considering investing in the Nigerian st0ck market a few years back as it seemed primed. I ultimately decided not to but its grown over 2x since. No regrets.

Response – Nigeria’s stock market is a giant ponzi scheme with limited liquidity. Transcorp moving from 51 kobo to 51 Naira is bonkers.

PO once mentioned how Indians in the west took readily available 'cheap' loans to invest in India. I saw the point but devaluation was the achilles heel. A successful business in 9ja owner recently told me they were seeking a bank loan and being quoted an interest rate of 37% with 2yr repayment by their bank. This got me scratching my head both for the locked opportunities and growth that could ensue when that is tapped.

Response – China deliberately devalued its currency for years and that made its exports cheaper. Devaluation is a sound strategy when you are export heavy. Black market finance operations is evidence of market and government failure. When systems work (not perfect but work), they die off easily. No country builds wealth on exploitation and thrives.

I am not trying to convince anyone, but just like it was clear to me years back that I had better opportunities outside the UK, it's clear to me now that there are ready opportunities back home. All I pray for is a decent government and fairly stable currency. I dont even want the government to work wonders- just don't be a Buhari.

Response – You cite anecdotal reasons, so I cannot argue with that. The data however says otherwise.

Kemetian:
I SWEAR, THAT IS A GOOD LIST TO SEE NIGERIA ON....

BEAUTIFUL LIST.

NwaliE01:
We are not the 6th. This was not ranked. Vietnam & Saudi Arabia contributed more than Nigeria.

seunmsg:
Nigeria is now the 6th largest contributor to global GDP. This speaks volume to how far we’ve gone in rebuilding our economy for global competitiveness. Now, we can all see why Shell wants to invest $20billion in our country over the next ten years.

All these are happening and some hate filled folks will still keep lying that the economy is not improving. We must never allow them to derail this trajectory of growth and prosperity that we are experiencing. This progress must continue. Kudos to Mr. President and his team for the great job they are doing.

chicfarmer:
No, Oyo was part of the 450bn that was disbursed thereby leaving a balance of 467bn.

ogascomax:
Some of you can not think no comprehend.

Reference:
That is not the issue at hand.
Did Governor Makinde receive N50 billion.
Where did it come from and where did it go, period.
That is the accountability the citizens who are about to be 'tax reformed' need to know so that they decide whether it is worth it.

dre11:
https://thenationonlineng.net/breaking-ibadan-explosion-fayose-releases-documents-insists-makinde-got-n50bn-from-fg/

SAMBARRY:
Una no go condemn Chris Okafor who dey use him preek dabira and other pastorpreneurs moving mad with their preek wey no dey stay 1 place and of course the muslim terrorist killing Christians in the North,na ini edo film be una problem

WorkTheTalk:
Economist, Scott Bolshevik writes:



https://x.com/scottbolshevik/status/1988889848338436504?t=S0Z8EabRwtUQEjvfOOra7Q&s=19[/quote]I've been saying same here for aeons...reeks of abysmally low self esteem. To these ones, their lives have no meaning until they have lived in/moved to the west. Their cup of tea anyway

Zahra29:
💯
It's a bit similar to when they labelled Tiamiyu a treasonous, treacherous, traitor 😂 for speaking simple truths about the student visa Japa route. No one could really say that what he said in the interview was a lie, but the fact that he said it openly was what made him public enemy #1. As if the British public is stupid and couldn't work out for themselves what was going on.

Kemi definitely says the wrong things sometimes, but I don't see what's wrong with her recent identity comments.

When Lavida, the brave towncrier lol, urges people not to forget their home country Nigeria, he is roundly jumped on, with some claiming that the UK is now their true home, having lived here for 2/3/4 years. No whahala.

But when Kemi says that her home, heart and identity is now in Britain having lived here for 30 years (two thirds of her life), plus being married to a Brit of Scottish heritage, there is plenty whahala - she is excoriated and called self-hating, mental and "failed by her parents".

Truly hilarious
🚶🚶

Lexusgs430:
What side of your bed, did you wake up from....... 😁😊

Hope you did not encounter a kick, from a donkey...... 😁😂

Zahra29:
Lol your writeup was lengthy because you're quite obsessed with Kemi and appear to be on an active lookout for any opportunity to criticise her.

Re the bolded, don't take my word for it. It's clearly stated in her interview/the article:

Speaking on former MP and television presenter Gyles Brandreth's Rosebud podcast, she said she was "Nigerian through ancestry, by birth" but "by identity, I'm not really"...

"I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I'm very interested in what happens there," she said. "But home is where my now family is."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24z77yg16eo.amp

Not sure what's so wrong with the above, her own personal view.

Lexusgs430:
Remember the case of the Ghanaian boy that sued his parents, for deporting him back to Ghana. He won his appeal...... 😁😂

I don't know the house he would be returning to in the UK, or would the state take responsibility over him or would the judge mandate his parents to assume full responsibility...... 😉😁

Mosun8220:
They are currently in foster care and we don’t have access to them.

One of them sneaked out of the house to his friend’s place without the knowledge of my wife . It was from his friend’s place that he told them we used to beat him with TV cable which is not true. They informed the social worker and we got arrested. Then my employer was informed and I was disengaged me and my COS was cancelled.

Currently we are in court. Both parents are involved.

dominique:
Which one is Nkiri? Hearing about it for the first time

Axis313:
That country is just emerging from a brutal civil war that lasted for many years and caused large scale destruction.
Unlike Nigeria,it has no known natural resources to power the economy,therefore the development and growth will be slow.

KillahPriest:
Why is our vice president Shettima being so disrespected despite his quietness and loyalty ? Damn