The Scramble for Nigeria

A fresh wave of optimism is sweeping through the Nigerian economy, as reforms in key sectors yield positive results, attracting a deluge of foreign investments

Nigeria is basking in a rare global spotlight. With all its well advertised blemishes in the form of poor infrastructure, corruption and activities of the Boko Haram insurgents, the country is now rated a new development frontier with prospects of growth that can even out pace some developed countries in the next 10 years.

With real gross domestic product, GDP, growth rate of 6.5 per cent recorded last year and seven per cent projected over the next three years, experts forecast that at this growth rate, Nigeria’s economy will double in the next 10 years. The country’s capital market, regarded as the barometer of the economy, where foreign investors account for around 70 per cent of transactions, is considered one of the world’s best performing markets, with return on investment, RoI, of over 60 per cent in dollar terms in 2012...

This was an article I stumbled upon in one of our local magazines and it got me thinking, amidst the current high level of insecurity in the country, Foreign investors still find the country attractive to do business, if this is so, it therefore translates a case where Money has no fear for the bullet ...as the popular saying Money Answers All things, looking at it from this perspective does it mean that there is a level of potential investment haven after the insecurity storm or are these Foreign Cash Magnets thriving in the turmoil that is dwelling in the country, we see lots of Foreign diplomatic gestures toward the troubled land and the urge to carve out from these barking tree in Africa....is Nigeria really a fertile ground, or a fertilized ground, the scramble for Nigeria is really a food for thought