‘Nigeria Failed To Thrive Since Independence’ – Harvard University

Harvard, a renowned University in the world has described Nigeria as a “country which had failed to thrive for its thirty years as an independent nation”.

This was contained in an assignment to students tagged ‘Nigeria-Fates in Balance’.

The assignment noted that the country failed to progress in respect to relative China and India, despite its endowment in human and natural resources.

The questions were asked by Harvard Business School, Executive Education Learning Nexus lecturer in his course tilled, ‘General Management and Program 24 Module IV’.

Read the assignment below:

Africa is growing. Seven of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa, and the continent’s largest economies are becoming less dependent on extractive commodities. The continent’s rising middle class has demonstrated a taste for consumer goods and technological innovation, and Africa’s population-currently more than a billion people –is booming and overwhelmingly young at a time when populations in other regions are shrinking and aging. Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy, epitomizes both the promise and the problems the continent face in the 21th century. The country had failed to thrive for its thirty years as an independent nation, despite having a developmental head start relative to countries like China and India, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars in oil revenue. Now, after pathbreaking reforms followed by signs retrenchment, Nigeria’s new President faced both vast opportunity and grave challenges. Would the country flourish or founder in this new era? We will analyze key reforms in Nigeria’s economy, significant political developments and the choices facing the country’s fast-growing private sector.

1. Why did Nigeria fail to thrive between 1960 to 1999, particularly relative to China and India?

2. How would you characterize former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s legacy?

3. Are you bullish or bearish on the next fifteen years for Nigeria? What would make you change your mind? What opportunities do you see? What are the challenges (and risk)?