United States President, Barack Obama has promised to support Nigeria’s quest to quell years of terrorism championed by the Boko Haram Islamist sect.Obama made the pledge during a bilateral meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, which held during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor (Mrs.) Viola Adaku Onwuliri, who detailed the president’s engagements at the Assembly, revealed that asides meeting the U.S. president, Jonathan also met the Nigerian Community in the U.S., was at a gues at the New York Stock Exchange, and also addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“Mr. President arrived New York in the early hours of Sunday 22nd September 2013. He had a lunch reception with a cross section of Nigerian professionals and community leaders in New York later that same day. This afforded the president the opportunity, for the first time, to interact with the Nigerian community in the US and to apprise them of developments in Nigeria, Onwuliri said.
“To underscore Mr. President's commitment to the promotion of trade and investment in the Nigerian economy, especially in Agriculture and infrastructure, Mr. President met the Eminent Persons in Agriculture where the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development disclosed that some investments are being expected from the United States including a 37 Million Dollars portfolio for sorghum production.
“Significantly, Mr. President held a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday, 23rd September 2013. During the meeting, the US President pledged his continuous support for Nigeria's democracy and Counter-Terrorism efforts. The President and the First Lady were later that day, treated to a dinner by President Obama.
“In addition, Mr. President was the Special Guest of Honour at the New York Stock Exchange on 23rd September 2013, where he rang the Closing Bell as the fourth African President and First Nigerian Leader ever to do so.
“As you would recall, President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, 24th September, 2013 as the fourth speaker after the Presidents of Brazil, United States and Turkey. It is important to stress that becoming the fourth speaker was as a result of astute diplomacy and goodwill of Nigeria with the UN and the global community. Mr. President's address covered a wide range of issues ranging from Nigeria's domestic issues, regional and International peace, security and cooperation as well as a Renascent Africa and the post-2015 Development Agenda. Mr. President also used the opportunity to call for support for Nigeria's bid for the non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.”
Onwuliri confirmed that the president participated at the Treaty Event during which he deposited the instruments of Nigeria's ratification of, and accession to the United Nations Conventions on the Suppression of Terrorists Bombings and Hostage Taking.
She added that he held bilateral discussions with Secretary-General of the UN, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe; while on Wednesday, 25th September 2013, he honoured an invitation from the Ghanaian President, President John Mahama to attend a breakfast meeting on the new African Urban Agenda hosted by the UN Habitat Group.
“Mr. President used the opportunity to call for collaboration with the UN Habitat in the quest of the group to implement its agenda of Shelter for All and regeneration of the urban environment within the context of post 2015 Developmental Agenda.
“Mr. President also hosted his colleagues, the Presidents of Ghana, Liberia, Senegal and South Africa as well as development partners, to a side event on the MDGs, to showcase Nigeria's accomplishments and continuous commitment to the realization of the MDGs as well as the post 2015 framework. During the meeting, the UN Secretary-General commended Nigeria for the giant strides recorded in the implementation of the MDGs.
“Mr. President was represented at the other events namely: the fourth Investment Forum on Nigeria, organized by the African Business Round Table (ABR), the side event on the High Level Meeting on the Sahel, the Session on Nuclear Disarmament as well as the African Union Peace and Security Council where his various statements were delivered.
“During the High Level segment, the First Lady participated in a series of activities including receptions hosted by Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, the spouse of the UN Secretary-General, cultural event for Spouses of Heads of State and Government and luncheon hosted by Mrs. Obama. The First Lady also participated in the Breakfast Launch of "End Cervical Cancer Now", a global campaign initiative for universal access to Cervical Cancer Prevention. Similarly, the First Lady attended the Sixth Annual World Focus on Autism as part of her active involvement in humanitarian activities.
“The Honourable Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, represented Mr. President at the High Level Round Table Meeting on the Realization of the Millennium Development Goals and Other Internationally Agreed Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities on the 23rd of September, 2013. Other Ministers who were members of the Nigerian delegation also took part in several events. The Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala participated at the side events on Domestic Resource Mobilization within the Future Global Partnership for Development on the 24th September 2013. In addition, the Senior Special Assistant to Mr. President on MDGs, Dr. Precious Gbenol delivered a statement on Nigeria's impressive records in this regard.”
The honourable minister of foreign affairs represented the president at the 7th Annual Scientific Conference and Exposition and the First Economic Forum of the Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA).
In his remarks, he invited the over-7,000 Members of NAPPSA to key into the Transformation Agenda and partner with his government to advance the Pharmaceutical sector and the delivery of improved health care to all Nigerians. The high point of the conference was the conferment of the "Distinguished Leadership Award" on H.E. President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR "in recognition of his commitment and efforts to transform the Nigerian Healthcare system".
Nigeria also participated actively in the High Level segment of the General Assembly, under the leadership and guidance of Mr. President; while the minister attended several multilateral meetings, including the following: High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament, the Annual Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM), the Peace-Building Commission (PBC)/UN Women High Level Ministerial Event on Women's Economic Empowerment for Peace-building, and Counter Terrorism Forum hosted by the US Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry.
Continuing, Onwuliri said: “Furthermore, Nigeria co-hosted and co-chaired together with the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, the Consultative Meeting on Responsibility to Protect (R2P). The meeting was also attended by the UN Under-Secretary-General for the Prevention of Genocide and 12 other Foreign Ministers with 20 others as observers and development partners. In its intervention, Nigeria advocated preventive diplomacy as a panacea to conflict situation including observance of the rule of law, human rights and protection of vulnerable groups and persons.
“Nigeria also participated at the Inaugural Session of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), the successor to the Commission for Sustainable Development. In addition, Nigeria participated in other multilateral fora, including the AU Consultative Meeting Preparatory to the Extraordinary Summit Meeting of the AU Assembly scheduled to hold in October 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement; the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 15.
“At the meeting of the OIC Foreign Ministers and the meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Mali, Nigeria, represented by the Honurable Minister of State II, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed, expressed the hope that the Organization will continue with its laudable support to the new Government to enable it discharge its mandate to the people of Mali. Nigeria also reiterated its position for a negotiated settlement of the Middle East crisis on the basis of a two-state solution. In addition, Nigeria called for a political dialogue towards ending the conflict in Syria.
“It is important to note that Nigeria delivered statements at these meetings in the course of which broad and specific themes of the sessions were addressed. For example, at the AU Peace and Security Meeting, Nigeria called for support for the consolidation of democracy in Mali, as well as concerted global efforts in tackling the menace of terrorism in the sub-region. At the Counter-Terrorism Forum, Nigerian delegation reiterated its call for assistance and cooperation in dealing with this menace.
“At the informal consultations at Ministerial level on preparation for the proposed AU Extra-Ordinary Summit, cooperation between the African Union and the International Criminal Court was discussed. In the context of current indictment of the Kenyan President and his deputy, Nigeria and other African countries reiterated its solidarity with the Government and people of Kenya, including its condolences on the recent terrorist incident in Nairobi. While affirming its readiness to participate in the proposed Summit, Nigeria further urged African countries to speak with one voice in defence of the dignity and solidarity of the continent.
“At the UN High Level Ministerial Meeting on Women's Economic Empowerment for Peace-building, Nigeria reported on the giant strides recorded in this sphere by the Jonathan Administration and presented the “Abuja Commitment” of Global Power Women Network Africa, which was also presented to the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting.”
A series of bilateral meetings at the ministerial level were held with colleagues from the following the Netherlands, Ethiopia, Russian Federation, Argentina, Honduras, Morocco, Latvia, Luxemburg, Hungary, Djibouti, The Gambia, Angola, Kenya and Lebanon, and so on.
Similar meetings were held with the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mr. Mark Simmons and the President of the International Crisis Group, Ms. Louise Arbour, who commended Nigeria's role in conflict prevention and resolution in Africa.
“These meetings provided the opportunity to further engage witrh the global community and exchange views on bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest. During the interactions, request for support for Nigeria's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council was reiterated and the countries pledged their endorsement,” the minister enthused, emphasizing the significance of the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Honduras, during which an agreement on the establishment of Diplomatic relations at Ambassadorial level was signed.
“Remarkably, Hungary disclosed its preparedness to reopen its diplomatic Mission in Abuja soon, which will facilitate people-to- people contacts and visits by Nigerians to Hungary.
“In all, Nigeria's outing in the on-going Session of the General Assembly has commenced on a sure footing with Nigeria's robust engagement with the world. Remarkably, Nigeria had the rare honour of speaking on the first day of the General Assembly. In recognition of Nigeria's untiring efforts against terrorism and its commitments to international peace and security, Nigeria was invited as one of the first speakers at the High Level event on Nuclear Disarmament alongside the Presidents of Mongolia, Brazil and the Prime Ministers of Ireland and Japan.
“Nigeria made insightful statements at all the High Level Meetings and Multilateral fora, thereby participating in the agenda setting of global discourse. At the bilateral level, Nigeria held talks with an unprecedented number of countries from across the globe which provided the opportunity to strengthen and deepen vistas of cooperation and engagement, in addition to fostering Nigeria's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2014-2015 Biennium.”
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The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has offered whistleblowers between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent of recovered stolen Nigerian assets held abroad for information that leads to their recovery.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
According to him, the ability of EFCC operatives to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence have played important roles in the commission’s success in securing non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.
He also described the EFCC as having some of the best investigators in the world and stressed the importance of protecting and encouraging whistleblowers.
He said anyone with credible information about stolen Nigerian assets taken or hidden anywhere in the world could receive between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent of the recovered assets as an incentive, with payment made after the recovery.
Olukoyede further revealed that the EFCC had forfeited cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government within the past three years.
He cited several cases involving the recovery and forfeiture of assets, including cases linked to a former Chairman of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a former Attorney-General of the Federation.
The EFCC chairman explained that the commission is legally empowered to seek the forfeiture of suspected proceeds of crime by applying to the High Court for an order. He said the process is similar to procedures used in countries such as Australia and Canada.
Olukoyede also recalled a case involving an aircraft allegedly acquired by an individual who was accused of receiving about $30 million in bribes in connection with a power project. He said the aircraft was forfeited about three months ago and had subsequently been added to the presidential air fleet.
He also referred to a property containing about 753 housing units that was forfeited from a former CBN governor, against whom the EFCC has filed criminal charges in three courts.
Speaking about the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, Olukoyede said the EFCC opened an investigation following allegations of abuse of office. He claimed that investigators traced about 57 properties to Malami and that approximately 48 of them had been forfeited.
The EFCC chairman further mentioned the forfeiture of a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health. According to him, the official voluntarily surrendered the property following the commission’s investigation.
Olukoyede said the measures demonstrate the importance of asset tracing, international cooperation, credible intelligence and whistleblower protection in the fight against financial crime and the recovery of stolen public assets.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has raised concerns over the growing volume of imported petrol entering Nigeria, warning that it could be forced to export more of its own production if the trend continues.
The refinery said imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) made up roughly 43 per cent of the petrol supplied to the Nigerian market in July. It argued that the development was creating serious difficulties for a domestic refinery with the capacity to produce enough fuel for the country.
Dangote Refinery explained that it has maintained sizeable petrol reserves since commencing operations to ensure that consumers across Nigeria have access to a reliable supply. Keeping those reserves, it noted, requires substantial expenditure on storage, transportation and working capital.
However, the refinery said the continued granting of import licences without adequate information about expected import volumes has made it increasingly difficult to determine how much petrol should be produced and stored for the local market.
The company said holding large quantities of petrol becomes financially burdensome when there is no certainty about how much imported fuel will compete for the same market. It therefore considers exporting surplus stocks a more commercially viable option than allowing them to remain in storage indefinitely.
According to the refinery, increased exports in recent months should not be interpreted as evidence that Nigeria lacks sufficient refining capacity. Instead, the exports are being driven by excess stock resulting from unpredictable import volumes.
Dangote Refinery maintained that it remains fully committed to supplying the Nigerian market and has the capacity to meet or surpass the country's petrol requirements. It said its decision to export surplus products was aimed at managing inventory efficiently and avoiding unnecessary storage and financing expenses.
The refinery also warned that market disruptions caused by excessive imports could make it harder for domestic refiners to accurately predict demand. Any resulting supply problems, it said, should not automatically be blamed on local refineries.
It urged regulators and other industry stakeholders to improve transparency around petrol imports and strengthen coordination within the downstream petroleum market.
The company argued that policies that give greater support to domestic refining would help Nigeria reduce its dependence on imported fuel, conserve foreign exchange, strengthen energy security and maximise the economic benefits of investments in local refining infrastructure.
Dangote Refinery said it remains prepared to supply the country but stressed that a more predictable and transparent market environment is necessary for efficient production and inventory management.
Business
In The Spotlight
A group of heartless carpetbaggers have captured the Nigerian state, and it appears that they, their biological and political descendants, will hold the levers of government and access to Nigeria’s commonwealth for a long time to come.
When you consider news reports of how previous and current state actors steal public funds, buy choice properties in the toniest districts of Nigeria’s major cities, acquire private jets, and even establish private universities, you wonder if some people have more than two heads, to adopt a Yoruba phrase.
Either because of an inability to deliver the greatest good to the greatest number of Nigerian citizens, or by intention, the political elite have kept the people poor, causing them to depend on the largeness of heart of the same elite to meet their existential needs.
That explains why poor, downtrodden, and unconnected Nigerians eagerly collect crumbs of measly N5,000, rice, gari and whatever else the politicians offer to obtain their election votes or acquiescence after rigging the elections.
When watching an economically disadvantaged individual tell a politician who is seeking to become a legislator the good news that his wife just had a new baby, and he needed to prepare for the naming ceremony, it felt like the oppressed poor were enabling his oppressor to further oppress him.
It was like the classic case of Stockholm syndrome, of victims collaborating with their “captors” to cement the oppressive stranglehold that they already had over the state and the commonwealth of the nation, thus unwittingly arresting their own future development.
A running mate to a former governorship candidate in a Southwestern state hilariously regaled Nigerians with the story of how constituents would have raided all the alcoholic drinks in his refrigerator in the early hours of the morning, even before he woke from the hectic campaign tour of the previous day.
The political elite have practically cornered the Nigerian state for themselves, children, tribesmen and acolytes, and have devised a way to admit only those that they have found to be loyal, or pliable, into their rank of oppressors.
The oppression of the citizens of Nigeria is easily accomplished because of the high illiteracy level amongst the poor masses. The use of the weapon of illiteracy is more evident in Northern Nigeria, whose political leaders somehow turn a blind eye to the illiteracy and underdevelopment of their people.
In 2024, UNICEF revealed that out of Nigeria’s 18.3 million out-of-school children, about 12.1 million, or 66 per cent, were resident in the Northwest and Northeast regions. Yet, instead of expanding educational facilities and opportunities, some Northern governors are arranging mass weddings for children who are hardly out of their teen years.
And this is not to deny the weaponisation of illiteracy even in Obafemi Awolowo’s Western Region, which is regarded as the Athens of Nigeria, after its pre-Independence head start of free, universal and compulsory primary school education.
As if he had a premonition that Nigeria’s so-called democrats would eventually compromise education, to the detriment of the lowest and marginalised masses, that Karl Marx described as the “lumpen proletariat”, French political thinker Montesquieu argued a long time ago that “It is in a republican government that the whole power of education is required.”
Western Nigeria’s free education scheme was gradually abandoned from the days of the Second Republic when some Yoruba members of President Shehu Shagari’s political party knocked it off its bottom with the argument that “qualitative” education was better than “free” education.
It is more than a shame that a free, universal and compulsory primary school education scheme was abandoned under President Shagari, who not only was a trained teacher, but had a career as a teacher before his political career.
Awolowo had warned Nigeria’s political elite with the following quip: “The children of the poor that you failed to educate will not let your children sleep peacefully.” The insecurity that currently occurs in nearly every part of Nigeria only drives Awolowo’s point home.
Probably the realm of the Nigerian republic that has been most complicit with the carpetbagger political elite is the media, whose members either serve the elites as press secretaries who kill media brushfires, or editors who either run planted stories, or spike stories that the politicians do not want published.
The media is so compromised that it can hardly perform those responsibilities assigned to it by Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution, which are to “be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in (Chapter II of the Constitution) and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.”
Some apologists have argued on behalf of the media that the political elite have so run the economy aground that the media, which can only thrive as commercial enterprises within Nigeria’s quasi-capitalist economy, cannot stay afloat, especially with the devastating inroads that the digital media are making into their audience, advertising revenue and profit.
The absence of regional economies, the argument goes, prevents the emergence of regional newspapers that can thrive on advertising revenues from regional companies, the way it obtains in the economies of North America and Western Europe. Many Nigerian newspapers, that are essentially regional, often pretend to be national to receive advertising revenue from companies whose market is national.
Two other collaborators of the political elite are the election management agencies and the judiciary at both the national and sub-national levels of government. The conspiracy between these agencies and the political elite is almost like that of Siamese twins conjoined by the belly button.
After the election management agencies may have deliberately bungled (especially) governorship and legislative house elections, and declared false reports, the losers, who felt that they won the election, would then approach the temple of justice, with significant financial inducement to ask for justice(?).
From that point on, the justice that both contestants hope to corruptly obtain could swing according to the heft of the naira in the Ghana-must-go bag that they will be hauling into the chambers of the denizens of the corrupted judiciary.
Thus, the “award” of electoral justice is “a matter of cash”, to quote Basi, the protagonist of “Basi & Co”, the television sitcom produced by environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who himself was denied justice from the judiciary that served the regime of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s most notorious military dictator.
In Nigeria, the lines of separation of powers that demarcate the duties of the three arms of government –the legislative, executive and judiciary– and the checks and balances that empower each arm to check the others have become almost irredeemably blurred.
As legislators use constituency projects as a ploy to carry out the functions of the executive, the president issues executive orders that are essentially legislative in nature. Though the judiciary does not perform the duties of the other arms, it fails to check them as it indulgently winks at their excesses.
If those who are regarded as Nigeria’s political elite really know what is in their enlightened self-interest and would like to protect the future of their descendants from what Thomas Hobbes described as a short, brutish and nasty existence, they will use their current privilege to correct the evil they have done to Nigerians.
They must urgently redeem the future before it delivers violence against their children.
By Lekan Sote
In The Spotlight
Lagos alone is worth more than Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda and Mauritius combined.
Let that sink in.
With an economy of N41.17tn — about $102bn in 2021 — Lagos State dwarfed the entire gross domestic products of four countries. Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Bayelsa sit on oil wealth that funds nations. Ogun, Anambra and Imo churn out goods, services and commerce that would make small economies jealous.
By the numbers, Nigeria’s states are giants.
But walk the streets of Lagos, and you will still find mothers cooking with firewood. Drive through Port Harcourt, and you will see communities drinking water polluted by the same oil that makes the state’s GDP glow. Visit Umuahia, Abeokuta, or Minna and ask the average trader what “trillion-naira economy” means to her dinner table.
The answer is: nothing.
That viral video telling you “10 Nigerian states are richer than countries” is both true and a lie. True, because the 2021 BudgIT figures don’t lie — Lagos at N41.17trn, Rivers at N7.96trn, and so on. A lie, because those numbers are GDP, not prosperity. They measure how much economic activity happens _in_ a place, not how much of it reaches the people who live there.
A country with $7,778 GDP per capita, like Botswana, will still feed its citizens better than a state with $102bn in total output but $2,058 per capita, like Nigeria. A state can host a port, an oil rig, and a tech hub, yet fail to build a hospital that works.
So, the real question isn’t “Which state is bigger than which country?”
The real question, and the one our governors should lose sleep over, is this: When your economy is bigger than a nation, why are your people still living like they have nothing?
In this edition of The Bottomline, we follow the money from GDP to the gutter — and ask why Nigeria’s trillion-naira states have not become trillion-naira lives.
The viral numbers are not new. They were lifted straight from BudgIT’s 2022 State of States report and reflected 2021 estimates: Lagos at N41.17tn, followed by Rivers at N7.96tn, Akwa Ibom at N7.77tn, Imo at N7.68tn, Delta at N6.19tn, Anambra at N5.14tn, Ondo at N5.10tn, Ogun at N5.03tn, Bayelsa at N4.63tn and Niger at N4.58tn.
The trick is in the timing. To pitch those 2021 figures against 2025 country GDPs is statistical fraud. Nigeria has since rebased. The NBS moved the base year from 2010 to 2019, and the whole map shifted. Lagos itself has moved on: its 2025 _Lagos Economic Development Update_ puts the state at N43.06tn in 2023, with forecasts of N54.77tn for 2024 and N66.47tn for 2025. Those are projections, not fresh NBS post-rebasing observations, but they tell you the direction: up.
There is no debate that Lagos is Nigeria’s economic engine. From a colonial port to federal capital until 1991, it never lost momentum. Today, trade, manufacturing, ports, telecoms, tech, entertainment, real estate and finance all cluster in just 3,345 square kilometres. Compare that footprint to Botswana’s 581,730 sq km, Namibia’s 825,615 sq km, Rwanda’s 26,338 sq km, and Mauritius’ 2,040 sq km. Yet in 2021, Lagos’ $102 billion economy was several times larger than Botswana’s $19.9bn, Namibia’s $15.1bn, Rwanda’s $16.4bn, and Mauritius’ $16.2bn, according to 2025 World Bank figures.
That comparison is legitimate. The conclusion people draw from it is not.
GDP tells you how much value was produced in a territory. It does not tell you who owns it, who earns it, or whether the roads work, the lights stay on, or the hospital has drugs.
A state can run a trillion-naira economy and still have mothers boiling water on firewood. A country can have a smaller GDP and deliver a better life. Look at the per capita numbers: Botswana at $7,778, Namibia at $5,309, Mauritius at $11,819. Nigeria sits at about $2,058. Even Rwanda, at just $773 per capita, has pushed its $3-a-day poverty rate down to 38.6 per cent — proof that size is not destiny.
The oil states expose the fraud most brutally. Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Bayelsa rank high because petroleum inflates their GDP. But oil wealth does not flow into state coffers in equal measure, and it certainly does not flow into household wallets. BudgIT’s own fiscal sustainability index proves this. In 2022, Rivers topped overall fiscal performance despite Lagos having the biggest economy. A big economy without revenue discipline, jobs, and services is just a billboard.
Nigeria does not have a GDP problem. We have a translation problem.
We have pockets of enormous economic power. Lagos. Rivers. Akwa Ibom. Ogun. Anambra. Delta. The output is real. What is missing is the bridge between that output and ordinary life.
Until economic activity creates real jobs, until IGR rises and addiction to federal allocation falls, until infrastructure supports production instead of strangling it, those trillion-naira figures will remain a cruel joke.
So let the video go viral. Let Lagos be “bigger than Botswana”.
But governors, commissioners, and citizens should ask only one question:
If my state can outproduce a country, why can’t it out-deliver a decent life for the people who call it home?
Until we answer that, we are not rich. We are just big.
By Raphael Mbamalu