Tag: Nigeria

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Nigeria: An African success story?

A new group of economies, known as MINT, are seen as strong current and future emerging markets. We’ve had the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and now we have the MINTs (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey).

In 2014, Nigeria became Africa’s fastest growing nation. A large part of Nigeria’s success has to do with growth in some of its key industries.

Nigerian’s reliance on the oil and gas industry created an attractive economy for further development and it now has high growth in a diverse range of sectors, including mobile phones, champagne, private jets and ‘Nollywood’. Despite the uncertainty and political unrest caused by Boko Haram, Nigeria is attracting a significant amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in a range of sectors, indicating its growing diversity and attractiveness to some of the world’s largest multinational companies.

Boko Haram has certainly had a dampening effect on Nigeria’s growth, as has the lower oil price, but this may create opportunities for further diversification. Furthermore there are concerns about how the wealth of the nation is concentrated, given that poverty is still prevalent across the country. However, Nigeria is certainly emerging as a success story of Africa and surely the question that will be asked is will other African nations follow suit?

The following article from BBC News considers the Nigerian economy.

Nigeria’s ‘champagne’ economy bucks Boko Haram effect BBC News, Vishala Sri-Pathma (27/3/15)

Questions

  1. Is a falling oil price necessarily bad for the Nigerian economy?
  2. Explain why Boko Haram is likely to have a dampening effect on economic growth in Nigeria.
  3. Do you think other African nations will be able to replicate the success of Nigeria? Which factors may prevent this?
  4. If the number of millionaires is increasing significantly, but poverty is persisting, does this tell us anything about what is happening to inequality in Nigeria?
  5. Is is possible to reduce inequality in Nigeria while maintaining economic growth? Might it even be posible for greater equality to be a driver of economic growth?
  6. The Nigerian currency is weakening. What has caused this and why may this be a cause for concern?
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Nigerian entrepreneurs

I found this interesting article on the BBC News website about three students in Nigeria who have created an online job search company. Only five years later, this company now is valued in the millions and employs over 100 people.

The article below contains some interesting insights into the Nigerian job market and the key to success for this company. In particular, they note the effect of the multiplier through job creation and how this has been used to benefit the wider economy. This is particularly pertinent given the severe unemployment problem that has affected this African economy. It has helped 35,000 people to find jobs in the past two years.

How three students created Nigeria’s online jobs giant BBC News, Jason Boswell (2/9/14)

Questions

  1. What are the main causes of the unemployment problem in Nigeria?
  2. The company itself employs hundreds of people, but indirect employment effects have also occurred. How has this happened?
  3. How important are entrepreneurs in African countries as a means of helping their development?