The African Economic Revolution

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1krRT3R9cc

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbtjbCqp10

Where's the economic revolution

Let's be honest with ourselves, bro... what we've got now is akin to consumerism albeit with higher purchasing power accrued from the exchange of our resources and funds from Africans in diaspora....

Any economic revolution without an industrial base is a failure...

^^^
Seconded. What we have is a consumer boom, not an industrial revolution... The litmus test should be what percentage of consumed goods/services that are produced locally.

How many locally-produced goods can be found in Shoprite, for instance?

shymexx: Where's the economic revolution

Let's be honest with ourselves, bro... what we've got now is akin to consumerism albeit with higher purchasing power accrued from the exchange of our resources and funds from Africans in diaspora....

Any economic revolution without an industrial base is a failure...

Sorry, but the mere fact that Africa has witnessed a 6% annual growth in GDP over the last 10 years ON ITS OWN is an economic revolution. The growth percentages prior to that have been abysmal for at least the last 100 years! This growth has led to the dramatic expansion of the middle class. You need a strong middle class for a manufacturing sector to thrive and flourish. Who will buy the goods? So, that expanded middle class/purchasing power is now attracting, among other investors, manufacturers..

As for manufacturing, this has been rising in output year on year. It is a myth that manufacturing is not growing in Africa. In fact, it is growing at nearly 5 times the rate of increase in tourism.

Read this report:

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Whats_driving_Africas_growth_2601

Secondly, economic development is not all about manufacturing. Apart from manufacturing, dramatic growth in agriculture, telecoms, financial services, construction, the services sector account for most of the economic growth in Africa, and maintaining such growth is vital to economic success in the region.

^^
I like your optimism.

Purely speculative crap. I personally don't believe Nigeria will be there in 2050 to be the so called 10th largest economy in the world. Think about it, if people are willing to blow up themselves to make a cheap political point,you imagine those people are concerned about GDP growth?
If a former military dictator will say he shall spill the blood of infidels if he lose an election,do you think such a fellow is concerned about Nigeria's potential as a nation? Those who sponsor violence and Boko Haram are not too concerned about Nigeria's future promise in 2050, if not people like Senator Ndume and others like him will not be giving Boko Haram terrorists vital national security info. to kill the security agents fighting to keep Nigeria united.

Komla Dumor was 100% correct when he said, all these projections are good.But will Nigeria be in existence to see that glory? Ghana perhaps is a prosperous African state which will perhaps live to see that glorious day. As it is better managed and more peaceful country.

cjrane: Purely speculative crap. I personally don't believe Nigeria will be there in 2050 to be the so called 10th largest economy in the world. Think about it, if people are willing to blow up themselves to make a cheap political point,you imagine those people are concerned about GDP growth?
If a former military dictator will say he shall spill the blood of infidels if he lose an election,do you think such a fellow is concerned about Nigeria's potential as a nation? Those who sponsor violence and Boko Haram are not too concerned about Nigeria's future promise in 2050, if not people like Senator Ndume and others like him will not be giving Boko Haram terrorists vital national security info. to kill the security agents fighting to keep Nigeria united.

Komla Dumor was 100% correct when he said, all these projections are good. But will Nigeria be in existence to see that glory? Ghana perhaps is a prosperous African state which will perhaps live to see that glorious day. As it is better managed and more peaceful country.

Anyone can pick up on current difficulties and say ''it will always be bad''. But even as we speak, Nigerians are proving you WRONG on a daily basis by the way their lives are starting to improve, however slowly. Even the World Bank says poverty is reducing in Nigeria. As poverty reduces, there will be less conflict and friction, and greater stability. So we are on the right track. If YOU choose to judge the nation solely on its present political difficulties, then you're missing the mark. Nigeria survived a civil war in which millions were killed. It should survive Boko Haram and Buhari.

The key is economic progress. Keep that going, and groups like Boko Haram would die a natural death.
Actually they won't die. They'll simply clean up their act to partake of the more civilized political process, like the IRA did in the UK (where I believe they are even now represented in parliament) and Hamas in the middle east. Hamas was a rag tag group of terrorist malcontents a few years ago. Today they've seen the light and are now a respected political party which contests and wins elections. Same (or similar) will happen with BH.

HNosegbe: ^^^
Seconded. What we have is a consumer boom, not an industrial revolution... The litmus test should be what percentage of consumed goods/services that are produced locally.

How many locally-produced goods can be found in Shoprite, for instance?

An industrial revolution is not compulsory in a knowledge economy! Africa is leapfrogging the Industrial revolution and bolting straight into the knowledge revolution!To employ our hordes of young people, we would use our huge fertile land resources to feed the world! Its that simple. Afterall, we currently possess 60% of the world's unutilized arable land!

A consumer boom almost always leads to an industrial boom as even the companies producing the goods would sooner or later see the wisdom in locating in Africa and from there transfer of technology takes place.

Incase you think there are no industries spring up, check Dangote. A decade ago he was a cement importer! Today he has factories all over Africa. Trust me, there are many Dangotes in the making all over the continent!

@ ROSSIKE

Bros, i no fit tok. You can as well bury your head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend even the tribalism you see here on NL is just a creation of the bloggers and not a reflection of the reality of the Nigerian state.

It is good you believe simply that economic progress will remove wicked groups who see religion and ethnicity as a means to hate and kill.You have missed the mark by naively believing economic progress alone is Nigeria's issues. Indeed, Nigeria's issues are a fair way to share resources and ensuring each region has control over their resources.

The constant struggle for political power hidden in the desire to control resources stolen from other regions to develop another resource poor region, under the pretext of "one nigeria". Little wonder why we always talk about "Igbo" President, "Yoruba" President, "Hausa" president or "Ijaw" President. This inherent struggle for resources has bred enormous hatred which shall continue to make Nigeria remain an un-viable state. No country is ever assured of it's future if a segment of that country is pressed down and their resources brazenly stolen under false pretenses.

Needless to remind you about the former soviet union which still broke up and even had to go to war with Chechnya over similar issues as Nigeria. Even at a time Mikhail Gorbachev had achieved spectacular economic growth through his "perestroika and glasnost" economic reform policies. People like you in the 1990s would have been projecting the former USSR to surpass USA, inspite of the serious instability inside the former soviet union, where the state brutally held all smaller nations within via brutal force and ignored all appeal for a sovereign conference to determine how former Soviet Union should proceed as a "united" country. Does that sound like present day Nigeria?

That is the ultimate issue of Nigeria. "RESOURCE CONTROL"

ROSSIKE:

Hamas was a rag tag group of terrorist malcontents a few years ago. Today they've seen the light and are now a respected political party which contests and wins elections. Same (or similar) will happen with BH.

In other words, Boko Haram shall one day become a respected political party eh? A beg, i no fit tok.

PapaBrowne:


An industrial revolution is not compulsory in a knowledge economy! Africa is leapfrogging the Industrial revolution and bolting straight into the knowledge revolution!To employ our hordes of young people, we would use our huge fertile land resources to feed the world! Its that simple. Afterall, we currently possess 60% of the world's unutilized arable land!

A consumer boom almost always leads to an industrial boom as even the companies producing the goods would sooner or later see the wisdom in locating in Africa and from there transfer of technology takes place.

Incase you think there are no industries spring up, check Dangote. A decade ago he was a cement importer! Today he has factories all over Africa. Trust me, there are many Dangotes in the making all over the continent!

Very well spoken.

cjrane: @ ROSSIKE

Bros, i no fit tok. You can as well bury your head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend even the tribalism you see here on NL is just a creation of the bloggers and not a reflection of the reality of the Nigerian state.

It is good you believe simply that economic progress will remove wicked groups who see religion and ethnicity as a means to hate and kill.You have missed the mark by naively believing economic progress alone is Nigeria's issues. Indeed, Nigeria's issues are a fair way to share resources and ensuring each region has control over their resources.

The constant struggle for political power in hidden in the desire to control resources stolen from other regions to develop another resource poor region, under the pretext of "one nigeria" This inherent struggle for resources has bred enormous hatred which shall continue to make Nigeria remain an un-viable state. No country is ever assured of it's future if a segment of that country is pressed down and their resources brazenly stolen under false pretenses.Needless to remind you about the former soviet union which still broke up and even had to go to war with Chechnya over similar issues as Nigeria. People like you in the 1990s would have been projecting the former USSR to surpass USA, inspite of the serious instability inside the former soviet union, where the state brutally held all smaller nations within via brutal force and ignored all appeal for a sovereign conference to determine how former Soviet Union should proceed as a "united" country. Does that sound like present day Nigeria?

That is the ultimate issue of Nigeria. "RESOURCE CONTROL"



In other words, Boko Haram shall one day become a respected political party eh? A beg, i no fit tok.

So HOW COME we are witnessing an unprecedented scale of foreign investment in the country?

If the country is about to break up like the Soviet Union, why is it being described as Africa's No 1 investment destination today? As we speak, tens of billions of dollars worth of road, rail, airport, and power infrastructure projects are being developed in the country. Why are investors throwing their hard earned billions into what you claim is a lost case and a failed nation?

Could it be that you are EXAGGERATING the difficulties we face while those seasoned analysts and investors can see the transient nature of our problems?

You even exaggerate the whole 'resource' issue. The world is moving away from oil dependency, and oil reserves are fast depleting, as nations explore energy from hydrocarbons. The US is starting to need less and less foreign oil, as it develops its own massive shale oil reserves. Nigeria's oil reserves may last another 20, 30 years or so and that's it. The key issues of the future and the key sources of wealth, will lie in the harnessing of intellectual capital, not in commodities like oil. So this whole 'resource control' thing will eventually die a natural death, just like Boko Haram.

ROSSIKE:

So HOW COME we are witnessing an unprecedented scale of foreign investment in the country?

If the country is about to break up like the Soviet Union, why is it being described as Africa's No 1 investment destination even as we speak? As we speak, tens of billions of dollars worth of road, rail, airport, and power infrastructure projects are being developed in the country. Why are investors throwing their hard earned billions into what you claim is a lost case and a failed nation?

Could it be that you are EXAGGERATING the difficulties we face while those seasoned analysts and investors can see the transient nature of our problems?

Believe me,I love and pray Nigeria succeeds.But Nigeria is taking a path of forced unity which had failed even in more powerful countries.

Yes, Nigeria is #1 investment destination in Africa and can very well be the #1 in the world. It doesn't change the fact that 2015 shall be a hotly contested election. It doesn't prevent Boko Haram from killing other nigerians or trying to blow up petrol farms or bridges in Lagos. The foreign investments shall NOT prevent other ethnic groups from exerting revenge on others when they feel they 've had enough. You cannot guarantee the backlash outcome of a successful boko haram strike in Lagos. God Forbid!

The point being that foreign investment shall not change the fundamental issues we face as Nigerians. We must solve those issues before we can brag on the guarantee of Nigerian being there in 2050 to fulfill the projections of your "seasoned" analysts.Mind you,the same type of "analysts" said in 1960, that Nigeria shall easily become an industrialized country in 20 years.(Read "The Africans" by mazrui). They didn't take into account the fact that Nigeria's problems might lead to bloody riots in the west,instability or with imposition of state of emergency, military coup and counter coup which could degenerate into a bloody civil war, all within a space of less than 2 years! That is the "factor" i'm trying to get you to consider.How to make Nigeria prosperous as a diverse place.

Foreign investors have invested in unstable places and sometimes,it is merely a calculated business risk. It doesn't guarantee that those events shall not happen.The recession in Europe and much of the world have made the risk of investing in Nigeria somewhat more palatable, it does not remove the risk.

cjrane:

Believe me,I love and pray Nigeria succeeds. But Nigeria is taking a path of forced unity which had failed even in more powerful countries.

Yes, Nigeria is #1 investment destination in Africa and can very well be the #1 in the world. It doesn't change the fact that 2015 shall be a hotly contested election. It doesn't prevent Boko Haram from killing other nigerians or trying to blow up petrol farms in Lagos. The foreign investments shall NOT prevent other ethnic groups from exerting revenge on others when they feel they 've had enough.

You keep foretelling armageddon for the country but it never happens. Why? Because Nigerians do not really want to see their country balkanized into little states. We always find a way to get back together even after the worst bloodletting (see Biafra war). There's no reason to suppose we will split up, no matter what happens in 2015. Eventually the whole place will calm down again and life will continue (that is if there's any trouble at all)

The point being that foreign investment shall not change the fundamental issues we face as Nigerians. We must solve those issues before we can brag on the guarantee of Nigerian being there in 2050 to fulfill the projections of your "seasoned" analysts.

You're wrong that foreign (and indigenous) investment, especially powered by govt development of infrastructure etc, will have no impact on the social circumstances of the nation. There is a direct link between economic development and social stability which you simply cannot wish away.

Mind you,the same type of "analysts" said in 1960, that Nigeria shall easily become an industrialized country in 20 years.(Read The Africans).

You need to quote more than a single source to buttress that claim, as well as tell us their economic credentials. Today there are projections from VARIOUS respected financial organizations about Nigeria's future, and it's not just words. There is actual economic growth (7% per annum) and an influx of investors never seen before in the country's history. So there's a very big difference.

oily-Yoruba:
The op is nothing but a renowned liar and a battyman. You dum.b african monkeys[/b]should get it into your [b]smelly skulls: africa can only get better when you all sit down and re-draw the african map imposed by the colonialists, starting from the sh;t hole called nigeria.

What I've realized with empty heads is that they input a lot of curse words in their write ups to cover up for the lack of any quality output from their brains. Your brain can only give out whats within. I feel for you though. Hopefully they'll have transplants for these kinds of issues soon.


Now let me help you communicate what you were trying to say.

Oily-Yoruba:"The op is always distorting facts. Africans should understand that the continent can only get better when they sit down and redraw the current African map imposed by colonialist starting from that contraption called Nigeria."


Empty head!

ROSSIKE:

You keep foretelling armageddon for the country but it never happens. Why? Because Nigerians do not really want to see their country balkanized into little states. We always find a way to get back together even after the worst bloodletting (see Biafra war). There's no reason to suppose we will split up, no matter what happens in 2015. Eventually the whole place will calm down again and life will continue (that is if there's any trouble at all)




You're wrong that foreign (and indigenous) investment, especially powered by govt development of infrastructure etc, will have no impact on the social circumstances of the nation. There is a direct link between economic development and social stability which you simply cannot wish away.



You need to quote more than a single source to buttress your claim, as well as tell us their economic credentials. Today there are projections from VARIOUS respected financial organizations about Nigeria's future, and it's not just words. There is actual economic growth (7% per annum) and an influx of investors never seen before in the country's history.

It is often difficult to hold an objective argument with a Nigerian without it being downgraded to you being an agent of doom,or you hate Nigeria because you are this or that tribe. I had initially joined NL to hold meaningful cerebral discussions with other Nigerians from across the globe, but i always found,this wasn't the right forum.
Asking that we consider these things to keep Nigeria stable for true development means i am forecasting Armageddon? Well,let us just pretend what I'm saying is not attributable to Nigeria and it's out-rightly untrue. I thank you for your time Sir.

cjrane:


It is often difficult to hold an objective argument with a Nigerian without it being downgraded to you being an agent of doom,or you hate Nigeria because you are this or that tribe. I had initially joined NL to hold meaningful cerebral discussions with other Nigerians from across the globe, but i always found,this wasn't the right forum.
Asking that we consider these things to keep Nigeria stable for true development means i am forecasting Armageddon?

That's precisely what you have been doing. Not ''asking that we consider these things''. You came in here and your first words were ''speculative crap''. Then you said ''I personally don't believe Nigeria will be there in 2050''. So you are predicting armageddon for the country. Why run away from what you yourself stated?

PapaBrowne:


What I've realized with empty heads is that they input a lot of curse words in their write ups to cover up for the lack of any quality output from their brains. Your brain can only give out whats within. I feel for you though. Hopefully they'll have transplants for these kinds of issues soon.


Now let me help you communicate what you were trying to say.

Oily-Yoruba:"The op is always distorting facts. Africans should understand that the continent can only get better when they sit down and redraw the current African map imposed by colonialist starting from that contraption called Nigeria."


Empty head!

;Dhahaha! papergoat, you are an embodiment of the typical brainless-goat called nigerian/african. Boko monkey! Keep living in lala land, while the rest of the world leave you cave battymen behind. Your women are all over the world doing prostitution and you boko pigs are here making your miserable selves look good on paper by spreading propaganda.

Meanwhile, I don't have to be polite to you monkeys and battymen when I address you goats . I have long cease interacting with goats in civilised manner. I only reserve civil interaction with intellectuals, not boko monkeys like you niggarians

oily-Yoruba:
;Dhahaha! papergoat, you are an embodiment of the typical brainless-goat called nigerian/african. Boko monkey! Keep living in lala land, while the rest of the world leave you cave battymen behind. Your women are all over the world doing prostitution and you boko pigs are here making your miserable selves look good on paper by spreading propaganda.

Meanwhile, I don't have to be polite to you monkeys and battymen when I address you goats . I have long cease interacting with goats in civilised manner. I only reserve civil interaction with intellectuals, not boko monkeys like you niggarians

Theres a lot of technological advancements going on. Hopefully funding would improve for stem cell research and with that brain replacement might just be possible within this decade. I still feel for you though. Your mental defect is really making life miserable for you. I dont know where exactly you are based, I would have used Google and recommended some good NeuroSurgeons. In the meantime, I'll be praying for your speedy mental recovery.

And before I go, who did you say hit your head that caused your mental problems? You know you can sue right??

PapaBrowne:

Theres a lot of technological advancements going on. Hopefully funding would improve for stem cell research and with that brain replacement might just be possible within this decade. I still feel for you though. Your mental defect is really making life miserable for you. I dont know where exactly you are based, I would have used Google and recommended some good NeuroSurgeons. In the meantime, I'll be praying for your speedy mental recovery.

And before I go, who did you say hit your head that caused your mental problems? You know you can sue right??

You are a battyman and a boko pig . Quite regurgitating same old weak line, it makes you look like a nigerian goat, devoid of any atom of intellect. I'm toooooooo advanced for you boko monkeys. You battymen in nigeria are finished and the world is not buying any of your old recycled lies. Battyman!

What manner of analyst thinks there's no risk because there's an influx of foreign investment? Countries like Iraq are also getting foreign investments.

Furthermore, the mercenary is quick to brandish economic growth rate of 7% but he cleverly avoids to talk about poverty and unemployment rates. Listen the fantasist, economic growth rates do not guarantee development!

Leaders in developed and emerging economies have their eyes on the GDP growth figure as the leading indicator to decline in poverty incidence through reduced unemployment, increased household income and reduced inequality.

In Nigeria however, despite the impressive economic growth over the last 10 years, unemployment and the incidence of poverty has worsened since 2004.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the poverty incidence figures for 2010 and forecast for 2011 for Nigeria. The figures suggest that the incidence of poverty in Nigeria worsened between 2004 and 2010.

The report indicates that the number of Nigerians living below poverty line rose from 68.7m to 112.5m (63.7% rise in poverty incidence) during the period while the population rose from 139.2m to 158.6m (13.9% rise in population) over the same period.

Earlier figures on unemployment in Nigeria corroborated this situation as the number of unemployed members of the labour force continued to grow from 12.3% in 2006 to 23.9% in 2011. However, during the same period, Nigeria economy grew strongly at an average annual growth rate in excess of 6.6%, making the country the 5th fastest growing economy in the World in 2010 at 7.87% real growth rate.

What can a reasonable person call this except the paradox of growth? It conflicts rational economic and social theories as well as historical trends. It highlights vividly the structural disequilibrium in the Nigerian economy which has sustained the key productive and high employment sectors below potential while supporting consumerism and rent-seeking.

They foolishly bandy economic growth rates and foreign investment but keep mute on wealth disparity among the people.

They carpet those who say there are Nigerians that live in poverty and penury but they turn a blind eye on the Lorenz curve of Income Distribution in Nigeria.

In its 2010 report, the NDIC revealed that only a mere 6% of bank depositors owned a whopping 94% of bank deposits in Nigeria!!!!!

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/6-depositors-own-94-in-banks-ndic-report/

Can you now see where the touted growth rates are going? The revolution is in the pockets of a few!!!

Much of the revolution is in the pockets of Rossike's masters and their apologists!

HNosegbe: ^^^
Seconded. What we have is a consumer boom, not an industrial revolution... The litmus test should be what percentage of consumed goods/services that are produced locally.

How many locally-produced goods can be found in Shoprite, for instance?

Don't mind them.

Imagine the ignorance embedded in the statement that 'an industrial revolution is not compulsory' for development! Some people won't stop to amaze.

Let them name one country, only one, that has successfully leapfrogged industrial revolution to become developed.

ROSSIKE:

Very well spoken.

I don't even know which side of the economic divide you belong.

You strongly lampoon and insult those you've labelled as 'oyinbo' worshippers yet you hailed and endorsed a position that says African countries can leapfrog industrial revolution.

That position is straight from the hypocritical minds of the same 'oyinbos' who incidentally did not leapfrog industrial revolution.

The idea that developing countries can somehow or largely skip industrialization and enter the post-industrial phase directly is a fantasy!

Services are a poor engine of growth because of their limited scope for productivity growth. Also, the low tradability of services implies that a more service-based economy will have a lower ability to export.

Lower export earnings translates to a weaker ability to buy advanced technologies from abroad, which in turn leads to a slower growth.

As for those who say Nigeria can leapfrog into knowledge-based services, I ask : which knowledge? Is it banking, consulting or engineering?

Britain and the US - two countries that are supposed to be the most developed in the knowledge-based services - are unlikely to meet their balance of payments needs in the long run through the exports of these services. If they can't, it's unlikely that any developing country can.

In the US, supposedly another model post-industrial economy, the trade surplus in knowledge-based services is less than 1% of GDP. That of Britain is less than 4% of GDP.

Papabrowne and Rossike, you may continue to delude yourselves but stop deceiving gullible minds.

shymexx: Where's the economic revolution

Let's be honest with ourselves, bro... what we've got now is akin to consumerism albeit with higher purchasing power accrued from the exchange of our resources and funds from Africans in diaspora....

Any economic revolution without an industrial base is a failure...

Correct.

No industrial base, no economic revolution.

Pukkah: As for those who say Nigeria can leapfrog into knowledge-based services, I ask : which knowledge? Is it banking, consulting or engineering?

Britain and the US - two countries that are supposed to be the most developed in the knowledge-based services - are unlikely to meet their balance of payments needs in the long run through the exports of these services. If they can't, it's unlikely that any developing country can.

In the US, supposedly another model post-industrial economy, the trade surplus in knowledge-based services is less than 1% of GDP. That of Britain is less than 4% of GDP.

Papabrowne and Rossike, you may continue to delude yourselves but stop deceiving gullible minds.

^^^^

Well said.

Pukkah: As for those who say Nigeria can leapfrog into knowledge-based services, I ask : which knowledge? Is it banking, consulting or engineering?

Britain and the US - two countries that are supposed to be the most developed in the knowledge-based services - are unlikely to meet their balance of payments needs in the long run through the exports of these services. If they can't, it's unlikely that any developing country can.

In the US, supposedly another model post-industrial economy, the trade surplus in knowledge-based services is less than 1% of GDP. That of Britain is less than 4% of GDP.

Papabrowne and Rossike, you may continue to delude yourselves but stop deceiving gullible minds.

To be honest, when they talk here I just imagine deluded folks who have not been out of their rooms for the past 20 years. It is like reading the misguided opinion, rehashed here daily, that Nigeria and other African Nation can be manufacturing and industrial world giants at this stage when some developed nation are not even chasing that route because it is not economically viable or even a moderately cost/time effective template for development.

The facts on the ground indicate we have no business chasing that at all. If the UK can concede white good /consumer electronics manufacturing to Japan and Asia, over the past decades, yet has not lost it's place as one of the world's economic powerhouse, then only redundant thinkers will not realise we must match economic success to existential economic reality as many Nations have done worldwide.

Simply put, concentrate on what you can do well and have significant competitive advantage over. You cannot wake up today, with a lot of ground to make up, only to state you want to leverage economic success on the production of world class cars/electronics/industrial machinery et al that can 'crack' and gain significant share in all major world markets.

The reality of trying to do that would prove infinitesimally more expensive and unproductively time-consuming, and perhaps even futile, than simply embracing obviously advantaged and naturally viable economic routes such as agriculture, optimal refinement and sale of derivatives of crude, commercial extraction of valuable mineral endowment, aggressive pursuit (because of our population) of the increment of human skill level to attract large-volume international manufacturers/employers of labour (Nike, Levis et al) etc, etc , etc. Yet it is instructive we are not doing these simple things, that can bear fruit soon and optimally, while some prefer 'pie-in-the-sky' self-deceit about some 'revolution' when we all know the rest of the world will certainly not stand still.

The best template for an economic revolution is to focus on and optimally develop , in the context of today and the near future, the areas of activities we have the ability and endowment to excel at.

^^^^^Uncle Gbawe, you have continued to disappoint me with some of your posts of late... Why should we use an already peaked and declining economy such as Europe as the blueprint for Nigeria?? To be honest, Europe(West) is hanging onto economic revolution today because that's the only area it has an advantage over the rest of the world... I don't need to remind you that Europe has little or no raw-materials/mineral-resources and there are no more colonies for it to loot like it did in the past - hence why it's hanging onto its last straw(economy) before it finally collapses??...

It's a new world and if Nigeria/Africa is going to make it in the scheme of things in the world - we have to follow the Chinese and Brazilian template... We need to start with an industrial revolution and develop a manufacturing base using our natural resources... Enough of selling our raw materials to the rest of the world in return for finished goods that we can easily manufacture in our own country... Thus, creating employments for the youths - and saving overhead costs...

Everything we're witnessing right now is just an economic bubble - and we need to get our acts together before it's too late..

PapaBrowne:


An industrial revolution is not compulsory in a knowledge economy! Africa is leapfrogging the Industrial revolution and bolting straight into the knowledge revolution!To employ our hordes of young people, we would use our huge fertile land resources to feed the world! Its that simple. Afterall, we currently possess 60% of the world's unutilized arable land!

A consumer boom almost always leads to an industrial boom as even the companies producing the goods would sooner or later see the wisdom in locating in Africa and from there transfer of technology takes place.

Incase you think there are no industries spring up, check Dangote. A decade ago he was a cement importer! Today he has factories all over Africa. Trust me, there are many Dangotes in the making all over the continent!

Sorry dude what are you on about? What is a knowledge Revolution by the way? It is a fallacy that a consumer boom leads to an industrial boom. The world as it is well placed today knows just one word: EXPLOITATION. If you do not have the capacity to produce in your own house, someone will come sell you what you cannot produce and the truth is, you will end up paying more.

No doubt there are industries in Nigeria, but they are no where near what Nigeria requires. Today, Nigeria can hardly boast of a small to medium companies who can design and manufacture products for Automotive, Aerospace, Railway, Health and Agricultural industries. That we still go to Asia to import Tractors, Harvesters, and Bolts and Nuts say it all.

For Nigeria to truly develop, we need to start manufacturing the basic things we use and rely less on importation of bespoke components and equipment.

Gbawe:

To be honest, when they talk here I just imagine deluded folks who have not been out of their rooms for the past 20 years. It is like reading the misguided opinion, rehashed here daily, that Nigeria and other African Nation can be manufacturing and industrial world giants at this stage when some developed nation are not even chasing that route because it is not economically viable or even a moderately cost/time effective template for development.

The facts on the ground indicate we have no business chasing that at all. If the UK can concede white good /consumer electronics manufacturing to Japan and Asia, over the past decades, yet has not lost it's place as one of the world's economic powerhouse, then only redundant thinkers will not realise we must match economic success to existential economic reality as many Nations have done worldwide.

Simply put, concentrate on what you can do well and have significant competitive advantage over. You cannot wake up today, with a lot of ground to make up, only to state you want to leverage economic success on the production of world class cars/electronics/industrial machinery et al that can 'crack' and gain significant share in all major world markets.

The reality of trying to do that would prove infinitesimally more expensive and unproductively time-consuming, and perhaps even futile, than simply embracing obviously advantaged and naturally viable economic routes such as agriculture, optimal refinement and sale of derivatives of crude, commercial extraction of valuable mineral endowment, aggressive pursuit (because of our population) of the increment of human skill level to attract large-volume international manufacturers/employers of labour (Nike, Levis et al) etc, etc , etc. Yet it is instructive we are not doing these simple things, that can bear fruit soon and optimally, while some prefer 'pie-in-the-sky' self-deceit about some 'revolution' when we all know the rest of the world will certainly not stand still.

The best template for an economic revolution is to focus on and optimally develop , in the context of today and the near future, the areas of activities we have the ability and endowment to excel at.

Gbawe, I beg to disagree with your submission. What most people do not realize is that the Heart of the UK manufacturing is Medium companies that manufacture bespoke components and parts for Global giants. The UK have continued to maintain their competitive edge in this regard, and this is one of the reason they are still a global power house.

Any nation that think they can become a global power house without being a design and manufacturing giant is deluded! Brazil clearly knew this is the case and that is why today Brazil is seen as an economic power house because she design and manufacture much of what she needs within, requiring her to spend less of her currency on importing such products.