Adejoro74: Remove oil money and remove Igbos, Lagos is door-knob dead.

Rossikk:


[size=15pt]Nigerian Economy Gaining on Regional Heavyweight South Africa[/size]


Peter Cox

VOA

September 24, 2013

JOHANNESBURG — While South Africa remains the most appealing investment destination on the African continent, the economy of the continent's most populous nation, Nigeria, is growing quickly. A new survey from a major South African bank predicts that, within the next couple of years, Nigeria will be the most attractive country to investors.

For three straight years, South Africa has topped the "Where to Invest in Africa" survey done by Rand Merchant Bank, but this year the survey predicted the West African nation of Nigeria may overtake South Africa within the next two to four years.

Nigeria is currently the leading African oil producer.

The survey takes several metrics and surveys from other economic organizations into consideration.

South Africa retained first place this year, while Nigeria moved from third to second place, ahead of Egypt. The survey is meant to give investors a long view of investment in the country. Countries like Libya and Egypt, though currently facing unrest, are also included in the top 10 among African countries.

Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana, an Africa analyst with the South Africa-based Rand Merchant Bank, said, "the scoring gap between South Africa and Nigeria is narrowing quite rapidly."

"Now one would argue that Egypt has fallen down a couple of places because of its political unrest, but that's not necessarily the case based on our ranking. It is in fact because of Nigeria's expeditious growth rates and also its growth in market size with the potential to actually overtake South Africa in the next couple of years," continued Ramkhelawan-Bhana.

Nigeria has also made huge gains in the world rankings, climbing 35 places in the last decade to come in at 38th place. South Africa came in at 33rd place this year.

Ramkhelawan-Bhana says Nigeria already has a gigantic market thanks to its 164 million residents, and with growth in sectors like technology and agriculture, Nigeria is diversifying away from its historic dependence on oil.

That growth is likely to be bolstered further when Nigeria rebases its Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, by the end of the year.

Rebasing helps governments to adjust GDP calculations for changes in the economy, including new sectors and industries. Ghana recently rebased its GDP figures and the country's market size increased by 60%. Nigeria hasn't rebased in 17 years. The possible growth of such a rebasing has analysts excited.

"Now Nigeria's economy is about two-thirds the size of South Africa. Imagine an increase of around 60%. It will far exceed the levels that we are seeing in South Africa at the moment," said Ramkhelawan-Bhana.

So where does this leave South Africa? The country is expected to grow at a tepid 3.2% over the next five years as Nigeria grows at around 6%.

"I think it is something that South Africa should be desperately aware of. We are in a phase where we need to consolidate our gains, look at how we can spur different industries, how we can generate growth on a more sustainable basis," said Ramkhelawan-Bhana.

South Africa's economy still makes up 17% of the continent's purchasing power. However, the consumer-driven economy has suffered because of slowdowns in mining and manufacturing, labor unrest and decreased productivity.

Nevertheless, South Africa does have several large advantages over other African economies - a very strong and complex banking system and strong infrastructure, which is something Nigeria lacks.

Paul Alagidede, a professor at the University of Witwatersand's Business School, in Johannesburg, says Nigeria's growth and economic prosperity in other African nations aren't necessarily bad for South Africa.

"In terms of regional clout here, on the continent, South Africa is very well positioned to take advantage of the growth potential of other countries within the continent… Talk about Shop Rite in Ghana, in Nigeria, talk about MTN, we have Standard Bank spreading all over, so these are companies that are doing a lot of work in other countries… So the growth in other parts of Africa should be good news for South Africa, even if we are not seeing the fiscal evidence of that in South Africa itself."

That kind of continental investment is expected to increase in the future. Just last week, Famous Brands, a South African franchise group, bought a 49% stake in the Nigerian chain Mr. Bigg's.


http://www.voanews.com/content/nigerian-economy-gaining-on-regional-heavyweight-south-africa/1755773.html

Bash92: FORMER Special Adviser to the President on National
Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, has reacted to
speculations making the rounds on the reasons for
her sack. Irked by reports that her sack was not unconnected
with the bribe-for-impeachment drama that allegedly
rocked the House of Representatives recently, Emodi
denied knowledge of anything that has to do with
‘money-sharing’ in the National Assembly. She stated that she has never been part of any plan to
give financial inducement in order to impeach any
member of the House. Speaking with Vanguard, yesterday, she also denied
having any shouting match with anybody over $
25,000 allegedly given to National Assembly
members, saying most of the reports published about
her were false. “I was surprised to read the report of my alleged
involvement in the money-sharing scandal. I was not
given any money to share and definitely, the alleged
money shared did not pass through my office. I have
never brought any money to the National Assembly. If
they brought money to the members, they know who brought it but not me. I don’t know anything about it.
And more over, I don’t encourage such things. “They said I had a shouting match with Diezani and
that was not true. I have never fought with her. She is
my friend and we only meet during occasional
meetings. She is not a member of the National
Assembly. “I have heard all kinds of things since last Friday but
you must realise that National Assembly members
are my colleagues. I used to be one of them. I was
there as a member of the House and a senator. I was
relating with them through dialogue and diplomacy.
You don’t achieve anything by fighting.”[b][/b]
Asked to shed more light on what transpired before
her sack, she said she owes a lot of gratitude to
President Goodluck Jonathan for letting her serve as
his Adviser. “I thank the President and all the legislators for the
opportunity given to me to work with them. I enjoyed
working with them” President Goodluck Jonathan had last week Friday
relieved Mrs Joy Emodi, (Special Adviser on National
Assembly) and Dr. Tunji Olagunju, (Special Adviser on
New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) of
their duties without giving any reason. The statement
of her sack was read by Mr Rueben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media. Senator Emodi was appointed to the position in 2011,
and walked the difficult path of forging cordiality
between the administration and the often skeptical
National Assembly. She was able to win the
confidence of the legislators despite the hard feelings
felt towards some elements in the administration while Mr. Olagunju had served as Special Adviser to
the President on NEPAD since June 2007. The new Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP in a reaction
had kicked against the sack of Emodi urging her recall. The party’s statement read: “We learnt Senator Joy
Emodi was sacked as Special Adviser to the President
on National Assembly Matters because of her candid
advice that inducing members of the National
Assembly financially to impeach their principal
officers would be counter-productive. If this is true, we hereby demand her immediate reinstatement. For Senator Emordi to be bold enough to tell Mr.
President the implication of such a corrupt inducement
of the lawmakers should earn her commendation
rather than a sack. Instead of sacking such a
forthright and patriotic Amazon, the President should
sack those hawks around him planning to ridicule him by encouraging him to embark on acts capable of
making him very unpopular amongst his supporters
and followers.”

plaindealer: Mega city is defined as a metro with 10 million or more people and the entire population of amambra state is 4 million. There is nothing mega about both states..

They need to go find something better to do.....