Nigeria is in the news now because of the bizarre Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls. It is a nation of 177 million people, half of whom are Muslim, and 43% of whom are under that age of 14. It has Africa’s largest economy in terms of total GDP, at $478.5 billion. That translates to $2,800 per capita, but with a high degree of inequality that contributes to the political unease. . And, much of the economy is based on oil and gas, with the corruption that so often goes along with resource-based economies. The CIA estimates that 62 million people in Nigeria live in a state of extreme poverty. When they see the nation’s potential wealth, they have to be frustrated.
Nigeria is a dynamic nation. One of its better-known products is the 419 scam, but it has plenty of legitimate businesses, too. In fact, Nigeria is the film production center of Africa. Welcome To Nollywood is a documentary about the Nigerian movie business, released in 2007. It is a great story about the sheer ingenuity of daily life and commerce. Most of the movies are funded by their directors, so they are keenly aware of the time value of money. Films are made fast, almost with guerrilla tactics, and usually go straight to video.
The movies tend to be dramas that reflect stories in the news or those from ancient Nigerian history. The viewers want local content, and that’s what the producers deliver. So far, there hasn’t been a Nollywood movie that has broken worldwide, no Slumdog Millionaire
or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, but some day, there will be.
To some extent, the Boko Haram activities are a distraction to Nigeria’s growth. However, they show some real issues with the dysfunction of the nation’s government and the dissatisfaction with the rate of growth in the country. Nigeria is at an inflection point. From an investment perspective, it is attractive to speculators now, but could become a growth powerhouse in the very near future.
