Nigeria's recalculated economy is worth $510 billion and it is the biggest in Africa. The new value of Nigeria's GDP adds previously uncounted industries like telecommunications, information technology, music, airlines, burgeoning online retail outlets and Nollywood film production that didn't exist when the last GDP count was made in 1990. Then, there were 300,000 landlines. Today, Nigeria has 100 million cell phone users.
Investors' attention will be drawn by the fact that while oil remains the biggest source of government revenue, about 80 percent, oil production is declining while Nigeria's agriculture, communications and service sectors are enjoying healthy growth. Nigeria has been Africa's biggest drawer of direct foreign investment despite myriad woes, from massive corruption and oil thefts costing the country some $20 million a day to an Islamic uprising in the northeast that has killed more than 1,200 people so far this year, to a paralytic electricity supply that keeps businesses dependent on diesel-run generators.
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Even after this rebased GDP calculation, and many years of strong economic growth, millions of Nigerians argue that only the very wealthy at the top are better off. With one of the world's highest levels of corruption, and crony capitalism, Nigeria's high FDI and growth is seldom felt by its millions of people living in poverty.
Does this just prove imperialism at its finest? Most African countries are distorted by colonialism, even when they have the resources to grow as a nation they are not able to. In this case its because of corruption. Are there also MNCs taking advantage of these resources and not allowing the civilians to prosper from the wealth it could bring in?
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