Teka O.

We have pea-brained elites in Nigeria, and it amazes me how they think. They would rather splurge on houses and cars than invest in manufacturing or create proper value chains. They shut down Lagos and London for birthday parties and graduations, while driving their Cullinans on bad roads in Ikoyi. Look at how long it took for Nigerians to start investing in large-scale retail supermarkets. The Indians, Lebanese, and South Africans cleaned out before we even started playing catch-up. Even in car assembly and manufacturing, it's the Indians and Lebanese. In generator sales and repairs, it's the Lebanese. Fine dining and hospitality? Still the Lebanese. So, aside from masquerading as property developers and collecting subsidies to round-trip petrol and USD, what exactly are the elites doing? I’m asking this because Dangote has disrupted a major business the elite once used to hold us by the jugular. You can’t import and sell cheaper than he does. You can’t say you just want to focus on the logistics. Things like this need to happen so they can wake up to the responsibility of investing and taking chances on business ideas in their own country.