Washington, DC — The images coming out of South Africa are hard to ignore: Black immigrants, many of them Nigerians, harassed, displaced and, in some cases, violently driven from their communities. The scenes demand condemnation. But they also demand something more difficult and far more consequential: leadership, and specifically, demand regional responsibility.
At the very moment Nigerian microentrepreneurs are being targeted and pushed out of local economies, another story is unfolding. Speaking at a recent investment forum, Aliko Dangote indicated that his company is prepared to replicate the scale of its Lagos-based refinery across the continent if governments provide the right conditions. "I can give commitment to the presidents here today that if they support the refinery, we will build the identical one that we have in Nigeria, a 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery," he said. That level of industrial ambition is rare anywhere in the world, let alone across Africa.
Nigeria has the opportunity to position itself as a hub for African enterprise, talent and innovation.
