It is time for Nigeria to come up with a radical foreign policy that forms unions with large African nations like DR Congo

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigeria has a population of 220m, while Africa’s second most populous nation DR Congo has 116m people. Between them, they account for about 4% of the world’s population but alas, Africa as a whole only accounts for 1% of global manufacturing

[2] These are two of the world’s most blessed mineral rich territories that also have an abundance of human resources. Surely, it makes sense for them to pool their energies together and create an African economic vanguard along with other potential giants like South Africa and Ethiopia

[3] Sadly, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo will account for 40% of the world's poor people by 2050 according to a report published by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which laments the lack of economic growth in both nations.

[4] Both nations are projected to see further population growth over the next 30 years. However, the economic growth rates in both nations is not matching this rise in population, leading to the increase in poverty

[5] In the damning report from the foundation, poor nutrition, high maternal and infant mortality are major contributors to relatively low average life expectancy in Nigeria. According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, by 2050, Nigeria will have 152m people in extreme poverty, out of a projected population of 429m.

[6] It blamed this on the lack of investment in human capital to correspond with the increasing population growth. Nigeria is currently the sixth most populous country in the world. If you ask me, we have a population almost identical to Brazil, so should seek to match all their economic and developmental indices

[7] Now, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation report, produced in partnership with Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, at the University of Washington, tracks progress being made on the United Nations sustainable development goals. It makes for grim reading, as we have not found a way to combat poverty

[8] According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nigerians are getting poorer due to the lack of coherent and comprehensive economic reforms

[9] Furthermore, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation added that by 2050, 86% of the extremely poor people in the world are projected to live in Africa. More than 40% of the extremely poor people in the world will live in just two countries, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Even within these countries, poverty is still concentrating in certain areas."

[10] With us sitting on this time bomb, we simply need to act. An action plan of some sort is needed. We cannot just keep hoping that our problems will somehow miraculously solve themselves

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