Nigeria To Become a Global Economic Powerhouse in 2015 – Jim O’Neill

Renowned economist Jim O’Neill has tipped Nigeria as one of the four nations that would lead the global economy in 2015. In an interview with Al Jazeera, O’Neill, who coined the term BRICS (an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in 2001 to represent four of the fastest growing economies in the world, noted that Nigeria along with three other nations have what it takes to take over the lead among fast-growing economies. The new set of countries identified by O’Neil are known as the MINT countries/economies, which are Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. The economist was particularly optimistic about Mexico and Indonesia joining the top 10 economies in the world, but added that Nigeria and Turkey may not be too far off if they do not live up to the parameters that would include them in the top 10. According to O’Neill, the MINT economies have certain advantages that are not available to the BRICS economies. These, he said, include the fact that “they are well placed geographically and three of them are commodities producers.” He noted further that Mexico had the advantage of its proximity to a developed nation as the United States, while Indonesia’s is also geographically-influenced due to its prime position of being in Southeast Asia and its ties to China. Additionally, Mexico, Indonesia and Nigeria are commodity producing economies similar to Russia and Brazil, two successful BRICS economies. Particularly, O’Neill noted, Mexico and Nigeria are making concrete efforts to reform their energy markets.

Nkem Ifejika, a BBC correspondent in Lagos, explained that Nigeria has several hurdles to cross before it can live up to these projections by O’Neill. Power, which is still an inherent challenge, according to him, will play a crucial role in this regard. “Nigerians have a personal kind of optimism about themselves,” he observed, adding that “Power is terrible. New York City produces five times the amount of electricity as the entire Nigeria. For us to become a huge economic powerhouse we need to overcome these challenges,” Ifejika noted.