Picking up the pieces: How Nigeria’s economy can bounce back

"Money is not Nigeria's problem, but how to spend it"—this statement is famously attributed to General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s military head of state from 1966 to 1975. It captures a critical truth about Nigeria’s economic trajectory: abundance without direction leads to missed opportunities. In a New York Times article dated 16th March 1975, titled “Nigeria is Struggling over Control of Her Wealth,” it was revealed that Nigeria’s workers and professional classes felt entitled to a larger share of the country’s booming prosperity. However, t