I used to go to church with a fellow academic, Dr. Tiffany Gill, who had a hilarious saying.
"Philly will never be great."
Philly is squashed between two major players in business (New York) and politics (DC). It can never compete with either of those cities in terms of importance. Until I moved there as a post-doc, I had no idea that Philadelphia was our nation's first capital, Liberty Bell notwithstanding. Living there, I became thrilled by its foodie culture and enjoyed Denise Madre's tip to go to Dalessandro's for a delish cheesesteak "wit" and with ketchip.
Philly was a relatively less expensive place to live than those other cities, yet was very close. Someone had referred to it as the sixth burough of NYC. Just a two hour drive away, you could easily make a day trip. In fact, some people commuted daily to NYC for work.
Philly is a nice city. I made a lot of friends there, found fun things to do, and until my health required different things, I was comfortable there. When I wasn't I could quickly use its international airport to see family in Chicago or visit friends in NYC.
When I went to Nigeria, Tiffany's phrase came to mind. However, it's not because there are cooler places nearby. Nigeria is the lion of Africa with Lagos as its economic powerhouse. Detty December has economic resonance as the time when all the IJGB (I Just Got Back) of the Nigerian Disaspora return to drive up the cost of living for locals. Afrobeats has taken over the world.
But Nigeria is a country that the Western world never allows to grow from a cub to the King of the Jungle. We've seen what they do to Africans who advocate for their own economic independence, such as Nkrumah in Ghana or Lumumba in the DRC. Many decades later, outside interests continue to actively prevent Africa, including Nigeria, from having self-sustaining economies or doing things as they see fit.
Nigeria is really the formation of three British companies that decided to merge into one. It was created as a state of extraction of its vast natural resources to profit the British Crown and the companies it helped to found. It is a state of many nations since it's borders have little to do with ethnic identities or self-determined boundaries. This certainly helps to create a divide and conquer strategy repeat with regional and ethnic identities that can be very helpful for outsiders to exploit.
Nigeria's major export is crude oil. None of the government-owned refineries are operational. They are a sign that the global capitalists won. Instead, crude oil is taken from Nigeria, refined abroad, and sold back to Nigerians at a huge profit to the companies. With a population of 230 million people, selling to the Nigerian populous is very lucrative. This means that the profits of Nigeria major export does not actually go to Nigerians.
And then there was hope. Dangote Refinery is a company created in 2023 that tried to end this. This is the first time in decades an African country refined its own crude oil. The richest man in all Nigeria, Aliko Dangote, (also the second richest man in Africa) was heading the charge to make oil Nigeria prosperous for actual Nigerians. Dangote Refinery began operating in 2024. It can churn out 650,000 barrels of crude oil each day when running at full capacity.
But there have been a number of issues, The richest man in all of Nigeria complained that there was an "oil mafia" hindering the success of the refinery.
The United States is the largest exporter of oil in the world right now. (I don't even think most Americans know this-I just found this out a few months ago.) Despite being a major exporter of crude oil, Nigeria has imported US oil since it allegedly costs less. When Dangote started refining oil, it used US crude oil rather than the Nigerian version because the Nigerian crude oil is often stolen (to refine abroad??). Therefore there is not enough crude oil arriving to Dangote to have an impact locally. It also relies on foreign shipping companies, not Nigerian companies, to move the oil abroad.
With the recent end of government oil subsidies, allegedly to please the IMF and World Bank, the cost of petrol has increased exponentially and now there is widespread inflation. Although the government reversed some of its policies, millions more people are living in poverty.
And these issues are just the tip of the iceberg. The influence of outside nations and institutions are leading to delerious consequences for Nigeria. Unfortunately, we have seen what happens when Africans decide to take control of their own economies, with Lumumba and Nkrumah as key examples. Until Nigeria stops allowing foreign organizations to interfere in its own policies and economic decisions, Nigeria will never be great.
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