By Sunday Adelaja
For anybody that cares to listen, Nigeria is going to be known as the rising star of the future world! Many indices to support this assertion
… I so much believe in Nigeria. My reasons are not just because of emotions and sentiments. I mean, my belief is not because I come from Nigeria. Believe me, I have traveled the world and I can tell you for a fact that there are no people like Nigerians. This is not about pride or arrogance, this is raw facts out of my interactions with people from almost every nation on earth. That is why nobody would make me keep quiet until we address and fix our vices as a nation.
Another reason why I believe Nigeria is the rising star of the future is in what the rest of the world would refuse to believe. WHO WOULD HAVE BELIEVED THAT A NIGERIAN OWNS THE SECOND LARGEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN ALL OF GREAT BRITAIN? Here is the story:
Up until February 2010, very few people had heard about Adebayo Ogunlesi. The Nigerian-born investment banker and money manager made international headlines when he led the acquisition of London’s Gatwick Airport from the British Airports Authority in a recorded £1.51 billion deal. The acquisition instantly propelled Ogunlesi, 58, into the global spotlight and earned him a place in history as the man who acquired London’s second largest international airport.
Adebayo Ogunlesi is the chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a New York-based independent private equity fund focused primarily on infrastructural investments, with over $5.6 billion under his management. The purchase of Gatwick Airport may have grabbed all the headlines, but GIP has some other noteworthy assets in its portfolio including a 75% stake in London City Airport, and Biffa Limited, a UK based waste management company.
Can you notice a repeating tendency that most of this outstanding Nigerians are based outside the country? This explains the reason why I am so passionate about making Nigeria work. The amount of Nigerians outside the country is less than 1% of those in the country, yet we are having such a global impact on the world. What would happen if we fix Nigeria’s problems? What will happen if we give similar opportunities to the other 99% of Nigerians living in the country? What kind of result would we then be producing?
Nigeria, indeed, can teach the rest of the world!
A further reason is when a Nigerian made doll outsells barbie; now that is a revolution! As barbie sales continue to plummet, another doll is aiming to slide in and take its place. The Queens of Africa and Naija Princess dolls are outselling Mattel’s original. The dolls’ mastermind, 43-year-old Taofick Okoya, told Reuters that he sells between 6,000 and 9,000 dolls per month, claiming 10 to 15% of the small, but growing toy market in Nigeria.
That reminds me of the analogy we gave above about the SUN SET and the SUN RISE. For anybody that cares to listen, Nigeria is going to be known as the rising star of the future world!
The next reason why Nigeria is going to be the rising star of the future world is because THE SMARTEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD is Nigerian.
The BBC called the Imafidon family Britain’s brainiest family, and members of that family feature in most of the major media in Britain. And, most recently in the premier business magazine in the world, Forbes. All five children, now aged between 12 and 24, have demonstrated incredible mental abilities in all domains. From music, to mathematics, to athletics. The youngest, the twins Peter and Paula, passed the British high school mathematics examination at six and the Cambridge University advance mathematics examination, which most Harvard and Stanford seniors will have trouble with at age eight.
