Leading lights, including WTO frontrunner Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, spell out a nation’s highs and lows, and their hopes for the future
Tony Elumelu — economist, entrepreneur and chair of the United Bank of Africa
What is Nigeria’s greatest achievement?
Our people make me proud: the resilience, creativity, hard work and spirit of enterprise demonstrating time and time again that they can excel in spite of our difficult operational environment. The Nigerian spirit is like no other.
Its biggest disappointment?
The lack of access to electricity despite decades of oil income, a general sense of ineptitude that appears to be pervasive, and the feeling that Nigerian lives no longer matter. The lethal combination of extremism, police brutality and heightened insecurity cannot be ignored. These issues cause the greatest concern.
What is your dream?
I want to see a country that works in my lifetime; one that makes all black people everywhere in the world proud. I want a country where the tenets of Africapitalism — economic prosperity and social inclusion — are embraced and embedded in our social fabric, one that empowers our youth.