Nigeria - Challenges Turned Into Opportunities

The President,  Muhammadu Buhari has said that his regime plans to create up to 250,000 jobs from its efforts to connect up to five million households to solar power.

Lagos is Africa’s model and fastest-growing megacity with a population growing 10 times faster than that of New York and Los Angeles, and more than the population of 32 African countries combined.  As it is common to megacities globally, Lagos has grappled with shortage of socio-economic infrastructure required to sustain its population.

The Federal Government and the Lagos State Government have collaborated on how to revitalise the national economy through accelerated and inclusive housing development.

Mario Fernandes, Deloitte's director of public power and renewable energy in Africa, believes that financing will be the biggest obstacle to Africa's sustainable transition to large-scale renewables. “There are many financing solutions available. Africa’s winners will be those that can leverage what exists while creating an enabling environment for the private sector through a renewable energy investment facility,” he said.

Currently, half of the continent does not have access to reliable electricity. The report explained that as energy demand increases, the gap could be filled by clean energy alternatives. The potential to accelerate the transition to a net-zero future is therefore significant.

.......palm oil, sugar, cassava starch, cotton textiles and garments, saying the government was prepared to collaborate with investors to achieve its mandate.

“For palm oil, Adebayo said there was a domestic market opportunity of about USD1 billion which potential investors could take advantage of.”

On cassava starch, he said while Nigeria remains the largest producer in the world, the Minister said a significant domestic supply gap existed with more than 95 per cent of cassava starch still being imported.

COMMENT:  Nigeria has over 100 Commodities that it can easily realize $1billion each,  collectively making $100billion annually.

“Conversely, Nigeria with a proper adherence to export market requirements has the innate capacity to rake in $250 billion per annum on only agro-export commodities.”

What you find here is that academically, they are very gifted but they are also very driven. They have huge ambitions, they are very enthusiastic about what they are trying to do and if they get to that point of an interview, they have put themselves, their thoughts and desire into it. You come across passionate, committed, talented, creative and resilient people and I think their enthusiasm is brilliant. You come out of the interviews inspired by what they want to do.

COMMENT: We have the highly cerebral hungry young minds in all sectors of the economy, looking for opportunities to prove their gifting. The natural resources we are endowed with makes other nations to salivate in jealousy. Our weather too is very magnificent.  We must deliberately come up with a solution to get the right caliber of personalities to lead us  and we will be among the top five economies in the world in the next 10years.

NIWA Boss Explains: According to him, Nigerian goods are rejected overseas because such goods spend over three months before they are processed for shipping, a situation which often makes perishable goods to lose quality while transporters incur financial losses.

He said: “We are interested in getting goods to move. Exporters are lamenting that their goods sometimes spend three months at the export terminal in Apapa and another two months before it gets moved.

COMMENT: A Free Trade Zone Port to be built where shipments are managed in the same effective way as in the industrial parts of the world

Lagos is home to 22 million people and counting, more than double New York and London’s tally. 

The city’s population grows by 77 people every hour as Nigerians from less industrialised regions seek jobs. And as the city grows, so too does demand for housing.

Given the huge disparities of wealth and opportunity across Lagos and Nigeria more broadly, Nubi said the government should focus on driving investment in affordable housing in a city with a housing deficit of about 2.5m units and in which two-thirds of residents live in slums, according to UN estimates. “We have this problem of mismatch in the property market in Nigeria,” he said. “What is coming to the market is not actually what people need.”

Rural economies in Africa have become zones of economic misery. According to Dr Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, stimulating economic growth in these areas through agriculture and the food industry should be at the top of the development agenda.

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday disclosed that the state will require about $15 billion over the next five years for infrastructural purposes.

According to the Governor, such a requirement is due to the rising population and limited geographical space of the State.

Cost-benefit analysis published in Nature Sustainability shows average return of USD 1.2 for every USD 1.0 invested in the land restoration project, despite harsh climatic conditions

“Nigeria is sitting on 45 billion tons of limestones and presently all the cement factories in the country combined are producing 30 million tons of cement daily.

Nigeria is one of twelve countries in the world that have large deposit of iron ore, gas and coal, but unfortunately the country is importing steel.

“We spend $2.5 billion annually importing steel to Nigeria.

“With $2.5 billion, we should be able to set up a plant that can produce steel of 1.5 to 2 million tons per annum.”

Local cement production capacity may hit 60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2022 as BUA plans to establish three million metric tonnes cement plants in the country.