I shared GDP per capita which typically correlates with standard of living even though we know that it is not perfect. You may ask me what is perfect in social science since it is never Physics. That data shows that Nigeria is below the African average at #18, making it clear that Nigeria has work to do.
Many people are not happy, attacking the messenger instead of the message. Yes, I blew the bubble of the “giant of Africa” with the largest fleet of private jets, French suits, and Brazilian hair.
For those who did not like GDP per capita, we have another data set, focusing on oil producing countries and relying on energy cost. Nigeria did not do well there also.
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And the one Ndubuisi Ekekwe has developed: immigration arrows, focusing on the directions most average citizens will travel if they’re asked to pick a country to move to. My assumption is that the direction of flow tracks perception of opportunities across economies. In that dataset, Libya ranks higher than Nigeria as more Nigerians continue to perish on the voyage to Libya than the other way around. In short, when you do all the modeling, it correlates with GDP per capita; Libya’s GDP per capita is more than 2.5x of Nigeria’s at $6,300 while Nigeria’s is below $2,400.
Fellow Citizens: we have work to do. Let us stop fighting data. This problem started in 1960, and we have not shown capacity to address the root cause which remains enshrining a merit-based system which will accelerate productivity and development of the nation. Of course, you can have your data where Nigeria is leading Africa; share and we will debate. But get it from me: Nigerians must get to work!
And the big one: I did not say that the current government is the reason we have a low GDP per capita (social media is really mindless with comments people write!). Why would someone write that for a government that is less than 3 months?
Nigeria Underperforms in Africa’s GDP Per Capita Ranking; Nigeria 18th, Seychelles 1st
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It is not your job to cure ignorance, you can only share information, it’s left for disgruntled creatures to use as they wish.
The fact is that you cannot advance a young nation with federal character model, no matter how sincere/objective the framers were. This is because, at default state – neither talent nor capacity is evenly distributed across regions and tribes, anyone who claims otherwise should step forward with facts! It is impossible to carry everyone along at the beginning, but Nigeria wanted to be the first country in the world to develop everyone and everywhere concurrently, so it ended up slowing down a lot of people.
The first five presidents of the United States all hailed from the state of Virginia, why was that the case, and could it be that other states didn’t have anyone to push to become president? What it tells you is that at those critical points in a nation’s life, recourse is given to the individuals and tribes capable of saving the nation state, and when everything stabilizes – activism and pursuance of ‘rights’ can begin, bringing the disadvantaged and underprivileged to the table.
Everything is not tribalism or nepotism, you have to give the most treasured things to those who secure treasures best.
We will get out of our retrogression if we focus less on government doing the transformation and allowing individuals in the private sector transform Nigeria. Government is the obstacle.
Nigerians are not going to libya as a destination. The truth of the matter is that they fo to Libya in transit to Europe.
Anyone that cares can verify this. They stay in Libya or any of the countries of North Africa waiting for an opportunity to cross over the Mediteranian Sea into Southern Europe.
Libya used to be beautiful country prior to Arab Spring degenerated into violence.
I am not sure they have recovered so far.