The bounty winds have changed course. Across oceans and continents, the pillars of the old world buckle under the weight of new contradictions. Power is roaringly shifting, as nations once constrained by historic fetters jostle for inadequate pickings. Does Nigeria stand a chance in the unfolding world order?
What are the chances of transforming hardship into strength, turning away from borrowed dreams and building something enduring from within?
America is retreating. The model it exported to the world, consumer-driven, debt-fueled, and centred on speculative finance, is beginning to buckle. Trade wars, like those launched by Donald Trump, have severed the threads of global integration. The US-China trade split, and the anti-Russia sanctions fallout from the Ukraine war have also accelerated decoupling from Western financial systems and birthed new alliances like BRICS, which increasingly conduct trade outside the US dollar while consolidating independent technological and payment infrastructures.
As supply chains rupture and flighty capital looks elsewhere, the Global South is becoming the new arena of relevance. This disruption is no accident, as Shahid Bolsen rightly observes, but the deliberate reordering of economic power, and it opens a door for countries bold enough to walk through. Will Nigeria walk through? Or would she maintain the knee, slurping unearned aid and benefits doled to her, piecemeal, by Western looters plundering her fertile fields?
Yet entry into the new era will not be granted by default. It must be earned through clear thinking, determined leadership, and a cultural renaissance that prioritises indigeneity over imitation.
The dominance of the Western economy is being challenged from every side. The pandemic, war, and shifting geopolitical alliances have revealed how fragile and unequal the global system has become. With the West turning inward, capital is moving outward. Nations that once waited in the wings are being called to the main stage.
The rise of BRICS+, the slow decline of the dollar, and growing investments in African tech and infrastructure are signs of this shift. Nigeria has the population, the natural resources, and the strategic location to become a central player in this emerging world order. But opportunity does not guarantee success. It only favours those who are prepared.
Thus, Nigeria must filter opportunity through bristling hardship. There is no gainsaying that the country’s struggles are real. Inflation is biting, the naira is volatile, and public infrastructure remains inadequate. But these challenges are also signals, telling us what we must fix, where we must innovate, and how we must grow.
The countries that will lead in the next phase of global development are not those without problems. They are those who respond to their problems with clarity and courage. The persistent fear of fuel scarcity should push us to invest in alternative energy. Panic over food insecurity should drive us to reform agriculture through technology. And the recurrent talent drain should compel us to build institutions that reward merit and retain excellence.
Every difficulty is a pointer. If we are willing to respond with discipline and focus, Nigeria can become a place where local solutions meet global demand. To rise upward, we must look inward. The time is ripe for cultural rebirth. No country can build a lasting future while borrowing its sense of self from others. For too long, Nigeria has copied the cultural, political, and economic ideas of other nations, even as they persistently fail to fit our peculiar context and serve our interests. The result is a mismatch between who we are and how we live.
We need a reset, not just of our economy but of our mindset. We must embrace our nativity, nourishing its roots from the abstract to the concrete: our languages, philosophies, and prisms of seeing and engaging with the world must be deployed more consciously to serve our short- and long-term interests.
This is an opportunity for us to step forward with something different. Something grounded in community, dignity, and shared responsibility. Nigerian culture is rich, layered, and capable of speaking to the modern age. We do not need to abandon our traditions to be relevant. We should rather adapt and use them to shape our institutions.
But the efforts to shape our public institutions must be built on a sturdy foundation of personal sovereignty. This is the only path to national glory. Real transformation does not begin in government offices. It begins in the private decisions of millions of citizens. The way we conduct business, teach our children, treat our neighbours. A country is only as strong as the character of its citizens. This is not a call to individualism. It is a call to citizenship; to see our personal choices as part of a wider story. To understand that nation-building is not a spectator sport.
To create a functional Nigerian State, we must first sanitise our dreams and rid them of a hankering for ill-bliss. We must also reimagine how our institutions work. Our political and economic systems are not inevitable. They can be re-engineered and rebuilt. We need policies that prioritise productive enterprise, not rent-seeking. We need infrastructure that supports mobility, agriculture, trade, and communication. We need schools that exceed the routine of visionless exams and systems managers, to produce solutions and furnish our growth needs.
Our foreign policy must become strategic. We should deepen our partnerships with countries in Asia, Latin America, and the rest of Africa, not from a position of desperation but from one of mutual respect. Nigeria must assert its stature as a country with value to offer.
Our military and intelligence institutions should also be part of our economic future. Investment in defence can spur innovation in technology, logistics, and manufacturing. Let us learn from others, but not depend on them. Let us train our minds to solve our problems. We must modernise governance through digital systems, accountability mechanisms, and public service reform. The goal is not to chase some foreign ideal of development. The goal is to build a system that works for us.
This is not just Nigeria’s moment. It is Africa’s. And Nigeria, by its size and potential, must lead. But leadership will not come from rhetoric. It will come from results. We must invest in regional infrastructure, trade agreements, and shared development goals. Nigeria’s cities must become hubs of innovation that connect easily with other African capitals. Our people must see themselves as part of a larger African identity that is confident and future-facing.
More importantly, President Bola Tinubu’s youth empowerment drive must not be restricted to beneficiaries within the All Progressives Congress (APC), nor should it be deployed as a bargaining chip or currency to woo fiery critics and antagonists of his administration. Policies and appointments must never be used to buy opposition silence and allegiance.
If we can achieve all these, we can be a foundational country. One that sets the pace and raises the bar. This is not a time to complain. It is a time to build. The economic reset now unfolding is not a threat. It is a signal. A chance to imagine something better and take the steps needed to get there.
We must stop looking outside for answers and start building from within. We do not need permission to begin. We need focus, courage and perseverance.
Credit:The Nation