Nigeria’s cheerless economic growth indicator

President Goodluck Jonathan

By Paul Arhewe

Economics is full of ambivalences; some would add it is a whole load of bullshit. Why? Economists talk from two sides of the mouth. A reality could be painted good and bad, all at the same time in the same way they could talk of growth without development. What sets me on the edge is the recent revelation that our dear Nigeria is the third fastest growing economy in the world. With annual growth rate of 7.68 percent, she trails behind Mongolia (14.9 percent) and China (8.4 percent). The above revelation, no doubt, should have been one that should have boosted the dampened spirit of the highly impoverished people of the country, especially from the ethereal level against a future expectation that things might turn better for them. I would rather such indexes came as in-dicators for the real economy situation on improved standard of living for Nigerians.

Of the US, North’s underdevelopment and Boko Haram

 By Paul Arhewe

A rural Nothern Nigerian houses



Can the United States of America afford to be indifferent to developments in Nigeria? The answer is a categorical no! Reason is that there is a strong trade relation between both coun-tries, mostly on oil. It is worth over $42 billion a year and growing. In 2010, the two countries entered into a Bi-national Commission Agreement, which is de-signed to deepen bilateral relations be-tween the two countries. The strategic interest of Nigeria to the US and indeed the West lies in the fact that she is Africa’s most populous nation, its largest contributor of peacekeepers, its largest producer of oil, and the largest recipient of direct investment by the American private sector in sub-Saharan Africa. It is therefore, natural that the American government cannot ignore the problems facing our dear Nigeria. I reason within the context of the recent statement credited to the US Assistant Secretary of State, Johnnie Carson linking the pervasive poverty in the North with the deadly attacks of the Islamist militant sect, Boko Haram.

The travails of Nigerians abroad

Nigerian rounded up by Polish police

By Paul Arhewe

Many Nigerians believe that un-less they travel to a foreign land they cannot achieve their desires in life. But, in most cases, these Nigerians end up being worse off than their counterparts that choose to remain at home. Reports of racist attacks against foreigners, especially in the United States and Europe and, lately, South Af-rica, have continued unabated. A larger proportion of Nigerians, as with citizens of other developing nations, who travel abroad in search of a greener pasture have had sad tales to render. The recent deportation of 125 Nigeri-ans by the South African government, for allegedly carrying fake yellow fever vaccine certificates, is only one of the many abuses being suffered regularly by citizens who travel abroad, legally or otherwise.

Obama and Okonjo-Iweala’s World Bank bid

Ngozi-Iweala

By Paul Arhewe

The race for the presidency of the World Bank is reaching a crescendo with the billed appearance of Nigeria’s Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala before a 26 member panel of assessors yesterday. Her rivals, Jose Antonio Ocampo of Colombia and Professor Jim Young Kim, nominated by President Barack Obama, will take their turn on Tuesday and Wednesday re-spectively. On a personal note, I am still at a loss over the rationale behind Obama’s nomination of the relatively low profiled American-Korean Kim for the exalted position. It is to say the least, perplexing.I have followed the international dis-course on the politics of appointing the presidency of both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Of the three potential candidates for the World Bank presidency, one thing analysts are agreed on is that Jim Young Kim, the public health professor, has the least appealing credentials. I find it rather baffling that the USA President throws his weight behind a candidate that is a hard sale when his candidacy is juxtaposed over the more qualified Nigerian Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Colombian Jose Antonio Ocampo.