What Nigeria Must Do To Compete Regionally and Globally

Great feedback on the piece on how Nigeria’s neighbours are outsmarting it (case in point: CFA Franc has gained on the Naira by 10x in less than a decade). I understand that many people do not want comparison, and that we must leave Nigeria alone. That is not acceptable on this feed as we will continue our thought-leadership as ordinary citizens.

Reading the comments, a key question was: what can Nigeria do? I think we have written extensively on what the nation must do to compete regionally and globally here. My position remains that Nigeria must see this as a process where we go to the root cause of the issues. My points again:

Merit-based system – no nation has advanced better than its ability to inspire, motivate and reward via merit. Without a nationally transparent merit-based system, Nigeria cannot progress.

Pragmatic Innovation – focus on what works, over the purity of scoring political goals. The implication is that we have to seek and execute the best ideas irrespective of where they may be coming. Would Nigeria have benefited with a deep seaport in Akwa Ibom over adding another in congested Lagos?

Honest Leadership – the citizens are smarter and can only take cues from their leaders. People willingly pay taxes when taxes work in their lives, they say. If we preach one thing and do another thing, you lose the citizens. This is not about having an MBA or being educated in Harvard, the issue is simple: honest leadership. If that leader is honest, he/she can hire managers from anywhere to improve the nation. Afterall Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest leaders for the British people, did not attend any university! Honest leadership will take corruption to the museum. 

Integrate Rural and Urban Nigeria – we need to have a functioning postal service, to bridge the huge gap between rural and urban Nigeria. That will advance the economic state of the nation. As that happens, bring a regime of property rights so that dormant assets can work for Nigeria. Those assets include lands, cows, farmlands, goats, cocoa farms, etc. Today, most are outside the balance sheets of banks, and Nigeria. No nation has advanced without fixing its property rights.

You can read more here  and also a longer one with videos here .

How can we make Nigeria great?

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