Engaged in my gastronomical encounter with my plate of salmon, one of Chile’s largest exports, the pleasure of a fine meal was accompanied by a pensive mood. Lest I forget, Chile has spent the past three years developing a brand new Constitution through an inclusive consultative process with its population. In doing so, the country seeks to honestly confront and overcome its many challenges, and move to its next level of national ambition.
As I ate smoked salmon made in Chile last night as part of my dinner, my mind went to what Nigeria’s economy could have been, and still can become: a value-added, export led economy that breaks the “resource curse”. Chile, previously copper-dependent, earned $90 billion from such exports last year. Chile is one of the very few countries of the world to have successfully broken the resource curse and diversified its economy away from dependence on natural resources. Malaysia is another. This is no easy feat.
The resource curse,…
