The ant-hills are not built by the elephants but by the collective efforts of the little ants. The triumphs of 2024 will not come because of our individual efforts; it will take a team, a village, a community, and a nation to ascend.
We have learnt in the past that the strongest among us is limited by the weakest in our midst. From most Nigerian experts, 2024 has many attributes to repeat the 2023 economic vagaries of high inflation, deterioration of currency, loss in manufacturing productivity, high cost of energy, and broad economic stasis.
But I tell you something: we as a people can reverse those challenges and deliver abundance for all. It comes down to what we can do for our communities, states and the nation.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 14 (June 3 – Sept 2, 2024) begins registrations; get massive discounts with early registration here.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
A recent report from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that 27 states in Nigeria attracted $0 foreign investments for the first nine months of 2023. These are the states:
- Bauchi
- Bayelsa
- Benue
- Borno
- Cross River
- Delta
- Ebonyi
- Edo
- Enugu
- Gombe
- Imo
- Jigawa
- Kaduna
- Kano
- Katsina
- Kebbi
- Kogi
- Kwara
- Nasarawa
- Osun
- Oyo
- Plateau
- Rivers
- Sokoto
- Taraba
- Yobe
- Zamfara
You may wonder how such could be possible since these states have ministries and departments focusing on investments. Does it mean no one tried or they just hired highly unqualified people with no impacts?
Good People, while we always look at the governors, it goes beyond them to the team, and that means every person must do his or her job. Imagine if those governors clean houses today, and bring in some motivated people from our local banks, etc to support the states. It is troubling that 27 states out of 36 states recorded $0 when the message everywhere is how to attract foreign investments into Nigeria. That must change.
(Meanwhile, I thank my state of Abia for attracting $150 million in Q3 alone; the year 2024 will be better).
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Jun 3 - Sep 2, 2024), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
You first need to weed out beggars; extortionists and bribe takers from the system, and then replace them with smart, professional and passionate people. The environment is not even attractive to begin with, so when you now have layers of unscrupulous and mindless creatures to contend with, you simply move elsewhere.