Temitope

China has risen to the top without copying the Western system of governance.

Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum Presidential Panel yesterday evening in Kigali, I re-emphasised that Africa must put Africa first whilst creating opportunities for intra-Africa collaboration between our countries. Our continent cannot build scale by looking outward first. We must invest in one another, trade more with one another, build the corridors that connect our markets, ensure our innovative youthful population get the support they need, and give African businesses the confidence to expand across African borders. Nigeria’s reforms are not only about fixing yesterday. They are about preparing our economy to lead in the Africa of tomorrow. With AfCFTA, digital trade, shared infrastructure, stronger logistics, commodities exchange, and deeper private sector partnerships, we can turn Africa’s population and resources into real continental prosperity. The global risk and financial architecture must also give Africa a fair deal that recognises our local nuances and contexts. I thank my brother, President Paul Kagame, for his warm hospitality and for Rwanda’s continued leadership in showing what discipline, clarity and execution can do for development. Nigeria will continue to work with Rwanda and other African partners to build a continent that produces more, trades more, connects better, and competes with greater confidence in the world. Africa’s future will not be handed to us. We must build it, own it, and defend it together. ~ Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR

Where is the best state to live in Nigeria?

I saved for my first car, a secondhand Honda Accord imported from Amsterdam, during NYSC. I earned the money through a business opportunity built on observation. Those were the days when being “technical” meant assembling computers from scratch. You bought the motherboard, RAM, hard drive, power unit, and installed Windows yourself. That was the engineering side. But the real lesson was not the technology; it was the positioning. One day, then President Obasanjo announced a major payment package for university lecturers. Early every morning, I would tune to FRCN to listen to Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, then State House Correspondent at the Villa. One morning, he announced that the payments had hit the lecturers’ accounts. Immediately, I saw a market signal. That afternoon, I began visiting lecturers at the University of Jos with a simple proposition: “I will help you buy your first family computer.” I knew liquidity had entered the system. Orders started coming in. I traveled to Lagos multiple times, purchased computer parts, assembled the systems myself, and delivered them. It became a thriving business. Years later, while working in the banking sector, I noticed another pattern. The IT skills that once made professionals special were becoming commoditized. Tasks that once required deep technical expertise were becoming easier, standardized, and widely accessible. I quickly realized the moat was shrinking, and I made the decision to pivot back toward electronics and deeper engineering systems. Looking back, that was one of the best decisions I made because much of that earlier IT market eventually became heavily commoditized. Today, I see another pattern emerging in Nigeria. And that pattern is this: the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 will create immense wealth opportunities in Nigeria during the 2030s. I consider that legislation one of the most important economic and business documents Nigeria has produced in decades. It is upon that thesis that the vision for Contisx Securities Exchange Plc was built. Today, Nigeria’s capital market already accounts for more than 30% of GDP. But the real transformation is ahead. Why? Because ISA 2025 has the potential to move Nigeria from being merely a nation of money into becoming a nation of capital. And nations rise when they operate at the level of capital. Money stored without productive deployment creates limited prosperity. Capital deployed into enterprises, infrastructure, innovation, housing, sovereign instruments, and businesses creates compounding prosperity. That is the shift I see coming. If you are looking for business inspiration in Nigeria, read ISA 2025 carefully. Study it. Nigeria’s capital market is evolving. And I believe abundance is ahead.