It sounds like a fantasy or a fairytale, but this is the kind of fairy tale that could soon become a reality.The United States of America, the most powerful nation on earth, which controls one quarter of the world’s economy, stands so tall that it doesn’t look possible for an African nation to teach the country anything, at least in the near100 years.Anybody who has been to the United States or
lived there would tell you that their colossal status in the world is not by accident. Surely,America is a great nation.
lived there would tell you that their colossal status in the world is not by accident. Surely,America is a great nation.
Let’s check out some statistics about the United States of America:
1. America is the father of modern
democracy.
2. America was the first to put a man on the moon.
3. Coca cola, the world’s best known soft drink product comes from America.
4. America created the modern movie industry in Hollywood.
5. America is the mother of the modern day technological age: Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Apple, Internet, Facebook, Twitter etc.
6. America is a land of opportunities and equality.
7. America is a country of religious liberty.
8. America is the home of the inventors of the airplane through the Wright Brothers.
9. The American dollar is the most popular and most traded currency in the world.
10. America has produced the highest 270 Nobel Prize Winners,the highest nummer in human history.
I can guess what is going on in your mind. What is Pastor Sunday after? How is this guy going to wriggle his way out of this? How is he going to convince his reader that Nigeria is capable to teach America?
Ok, here we go.
Let’s start with the event of recent weeks.
Let’s start with the event of recent weeks.
James Entwistle is an American Ambassador to Nigeria.After the Nigeria’s last elections, he made a remarkable statement that undescored how potentially great Nigeria can be as nation.Despite the inadequacies and failures in the recently concluded elections, the USA.Ambassador made this compelling statement:
“I am very impressed by the decision of INEC to use technology in this election. The Permanent Voters’ Cards are very high-tech, they are even more high tech than my voter card from the State of
Virginia in the US. My voter card is no biometric. It does not have my fingerprint. This high-tech processing makes voting to have more integrity. I congratulate INEC for its choice of High tech.I think we need to come and study it so that we can use it in my country.”
Could this be the proverbial cloud in the sky in the shape of a man’s hand that made Elijah to outrun King Ahab’s chariot? (1kings 18:44, 46).
“I am very impressed by the decision of INEC to use technology in this election. The Permanent Voters’ Cards are very high-tech, they are even more high tech than my voter card from the State of
Virginia in the US. My voter card is no biometric. It does not have my fingerprint. This high-tech processing makes voting to have more integrity. I congratulate INEC for its choice of High tech.I think we need to come and study it so that we can use it in my country.”
Could this be the proverbial cloud in the sky in the shape of a man’s hand that made Elijah to outrun King Ahab’s chariot? (1kings 18:44, 46).
Brethren, I see a picture of things to come for our beloved nation. Somehow, I can see afar off,a day when Nigeria would arise as the leader of the black race, a day when we would outrun the technologically advanced nations of the first world including America.
Mr. James Entwistle might not have had this in mind when he simply pointed out a visible fact during Nigeria’s last election.But beyond the visible, God sometimes allows us to perceive in the spirit things that are to come.
To anyone that has ears, let him hear today that America would eventually be referred to as the SETTING SUN, while the most populous black nation on earth would soon be referred to as the RISING SUN (Star).
Glimpses of this truth abound for those who have eyes to see. Allow me to share with you some of those facts that are already visible in the future greatness of Nigeria.
1. A big news hit the news rooms of the world media in the first quarter of 2015. Stars were born. Munira Khalif from Minnesota, StephanStoykov from Indiana, Victor Agbafe from North Carolina and Harold Ekeh from New York got multiple admission offers in all eight Ivy League schools in the United States of America: Brown University, Colombia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, PrestonUniversity and Yale University. This type of feat is recorded yearly in the United States of America. A semester before, Kwasi Enin, 17, a Ghanaian immigrant attained the same height.
Still a few years earlier another Nigerian prodigy ,Saheela Ibraheem, attained the same height and ended up going to Harvard at15. She is regarded as one of the 50 smartest teenagers in the world. She was treated to a dinner by no less a person than the President of the United States himself,Barack Obama.
What makes this story of interest today is that,of the four outstanding students this year, TWO OF THEM ARE NIGERIANS, while all four are immigrants. Victor Agbafe and Harold Ekeh were born to Nigerian parents. This goes to prove my point that Nigeria is the rising star of the future world.
2. America is a melting pot hosting all nations and tribes under the sun . Hardly can you find a better platform to access practically every
nation on earth.Friends, listen to this :NIGERIAN IMMIGRANTS HAVE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION IN
HOUSTON AND IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN GENERAL, surpassing whites and Asians, according to a Census data bolstered by an analysis of 13 annual Houston-area surveys, the Houston Chronicle reports. According to a 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 17 percent of Nigerians in the US hold a Master’s degree, 4 percent hold a doctorate and 37 percent have a bachelor’s degree.In comparison to these, 8% of the white population in the U.S. hold a Master’s degree, 1% hold a doctorate and 19% have a bachelor’s degree.
Let’s face it, the educational facilities in Nigerian schools, from Primary School to University level, are inferior to those of the US. Also, the level of preparations in Nigerian universities is relatively low. Students are trained to know what is in the book. The practical area is weak, but in spite of all that, when a Nigerian leaves our substandard schools to a very competitive school environment like that of America, he still beats the rest of the world to it.For all these Nigerians to excel in a very competitive society and environment like America, it goes a long way to point to the tremendous potential of our people.
Let’s face it, the educational facilities in Nigerian schools, from Primary School to University level, are inferior to those of the US. Also, the level of preparations in Nigerian universities is relatively low. Students are trained to know what is in the book. The practical area is weak, but in spite of all that, when a Nigerian leaves our substandard schools to a very competitive school environment like that of America, he still beats the rest of the world to it.For all these Nigerians to excel in a very competitive society and environment like America, it goes a long way to point to the tremendous potential of our people.
3. My next category of Nigerian stars is DR. PHILI EMEAGWALI,the inventor of the World’s Fastest Computer, who used 65,000 processors to invent the world’s fastest computer which performs computations at 3.1 billion calculations per seconds.Dr. Philip Emeagwali’s resume is loaded with many other feats, including ways of making oil fields more productive – which has resulted in the United States saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year. As one of the most famous African-American inventors of the 20th century, Dr. Emeagwali has won the Gordon Bell Prize – the Nobel Prize for computation. His computers are currently being used to forecast the weather and to predict the likelihood and effects of future global warming.I have no doubt in my heart that given the same opportunity as Dr. Emeagwali, there are many more Nigerians that would perform as
well if not better. Our land abounds with millions of Emeagwalis. Nigeria surely can teach the world.
4. Another reason why I believe Nigeria is the rising star of the future is in what the rest of the world would refuse to believe. WHO COULD HAVE BELIEVED THAT A NIGERIAN OWNS THE
SECOND LARGEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN ALL OF GREAT BRITAIN?
Here is the story:
Up until February 2010, very few people had heard about Adebayo Ogunlesi. The Nigerian-born investment banker and money manager made international headlines when he led other investors to acquire
London’s Gatwick Airport from the British Airports Authority in a record£1.51billion deal. The acquisition instantly propelled Ogunlesi, 58, into the global spotlight and earned him a place in history as the man who acquired London’s second largest international airport.
Adebayo Ogunlesi is the chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a
New York-based independent private equity fund focused primarily on infrastructural investments, with over $5.6 billion under his management. The purchase of Gatwick Airport may have grabbed all the headlines, but GIP has some other noteworthy assets in its portfolio including a 75% stake in London City Airport and Biffa Limited, a UK based waste management company.It is interesting to note that most of these outstanding Nigerians are based outside Nigeria.This explains the reason why I am so passionate about seeing Nigeria work.
Up until February 2010, very few people had heard about Adebayo Ogunlesi. The Nigerian-born investment banker and money manager made international headlines when he led other investors to acquire
London’s Gatwick Airport from the British Airports Authority in a record£1.51billion deal. The acquisition instantly propelled Ogunlesi, 58, into the global spotlight and earned him a place in history as the man who acquired London’s second largest international airport.
Adebayo Ogunlesi is the chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a
New York-based independent private equity fund focused primarily on infrastructural investments, with over $5.6 billion under his management. The purchase of Gatwick Airport may have grabbed all the headlines, but GIP has some other noteworthy assets in its portfolio including a 75% stake in London City Airport and Biffa Limited, a UK based waste management company.It is interesting to note that most of these outstanding Nigerians are based outside Nigeria.This explains the reason why I am so passionate about seeing Nigeria work.
The amount of Nigerians outside the country is less than 1 percent of those in the country, yet they are making a monumental global impact on the world. What would happen if we succeed in fixing most of Nigeria’s problems? What will happen if similar opportunities enjoyed by the 1% are available to the 99 percent of Nigerians living in the country? What kind of results would we then be producing? Nigeria would be able to teach the rest of the world the secrets and the great blessings of success and greatness!
5. WHEN A NIGERIAN MADE DOLL OUTSELLS BARBIE, NOW THAT IS A REVOLUTION! As Barbie sales continue to plummet, another doll is aiming to slide in and take her place. The Queens of Africa and Naija Princess dolls are outselling Mattel’s original. The dolls’ mastermind, 43-year-old Taofick Okoya, told Reuters that he sells between 6,000 and 9,000 dolls per month, claiming 10 to 15 percent of
the small, but growing toy market in Nigeria.
6. The sixth reason why Nigeria is going to be the Rising star of the future world is to found in the fact that THE SMARTEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD IS NIGERIAN.With this,it can be suggested that the country is the nursery of thousands of world’s smartest and brainiest families.
The BBC called the Imafidon family, Britain’s brainiest family. All five Imafidon junior, now aged 12- 24 years, have demonstrated incredible mental abilities in all domains, from music to mathematics and athletics. The youngest, the twins Peter and Paula passed the British high school mathematics examination at 6 and the
Cambridge University advanced mathematics examination, which most Harvard and Stanford seniors will have trouble with,at age 8. The oldest child Anne-Maria was the youngest ever to graduate from Oxford with a Master’s degree in both mathematics and computer science and is now the youngest vice president of a Fortune 500 Company, a Deutche Bank.Another member of the family is occupying a leadership position of the most powerful bank in the world, Golden Sachs. Christina and Samantha also passed the most difficult mathematical examinations in Britain before they were 10. If one were to ask a statistician what are the odds that one family will produce 5 extraordinary geniuses, his answer would have beem about 1 out of 8 billion since it has never happened before.
Dear readers, now I hope you are beginning to agree with me that Nigeria is on its way to teach the rest of the world.
7. Most people know the name Aliko Dangote, but not too many people know that the best is yet to be heard about Dangote. This man is a visionary extraordinaire. He plans to glorify Nigeria and put her on the world stage in grand style. Dangote is poised to make his Nigerian based company the number one producers of cement in the world.Dangote Cement is a fully integrated cement company and has projects and operations in Nigeria and 14 other African countries.Dangote’s current total cement production capacity in Nigeria from its three existing cement plants (Obajana 10.25MMTPA, Ibese 6.0MMTPA and Gboko 4.0MMTPA) is 20.25MMTPA.
The Obajana Cement Plant (OCP) located in Kogi State is reputed to be one of the largest single cement plants in the world with a combined capacity of 10.25MMTPA. A fourth line which adds 3.0MMTPA to the existing capacity will bring the total capacity of Obajana to 13.25MMTPA by 2015.Dangote Cement is also the biggest quoted company in West Africa and the only Nigerian company on the Forbes Global 2000 Companies.
Dear friends, I so much believe in Nigeria. My reasons are not just because of emotions and sentiments. I mean, my belief is not because I come from Nigeria myself. Believe me,I have travelled the world over and I can tell you, for a fact, that there are hardly more gifted and more resourceful people in the world like Nigerians. This is a question of empty pride or sheer arrogance It is a raw fact resulting from my interactions with people from almost every nation on earth.
That is why nobody would make me keep quiet until we address and fix our vices as a nation. Because I want to see the full potential of Nigeria realized in my generation.
That is why nobody would make me keep quiet until we address and fix our vices as a nation. Because I want to see the full potential of Nigeria realized in my generation.
8. Another reason why Nigeria is the rising star of the future world is THE PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF NIGERIAN BANKS. Thirteen Nigerian banks have been listed among the leading 1000 Global Banks as published by The Banker magazine of the Financial Times Group in its 2014 edition.
The Nigerian banks that made the ranking based on Tier-1 capital are Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank and Ecobank Nigeria.Others are Skye Bank, First City Monument Bank, Diamond Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria and Union Bank of Nigeria.The report, which listed the 13 Nigerian banks that made the ranking, underlines Nigeria’s financial leading economic and financial position in Africa where no other country has up to 13 banks in the Top 1000 World listing of banks.According to the report, Zenith Bank ranked top in Nigeria at 293 in the world. Guaranty Trust is number 415 in the world. First Bank is number 424 in the world. Access Bank is number 532. United Bank for Africa was ranked 539. And Fidelity was 622th.I don’t have any doubt in my mind that ,with an more stability in our economic and political life, our banks would rank higher and higher. The sky is the limit for the future of Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
9. The best bet Nigeria has to lead the world however, is in her young people, which she has in abundance. The trend seems to be whenever Nigerians are given the right environment to function, they tend to exceed their contemporaries and colleagues. I would like to mention a few outstanding young individuals who left the shores of Nigeria to become the best in the various nations in which they have found themselves .
I. A 22-year-old Nigerian, Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, made history at John Hopkins University, United States of America. Ohuabunwa from Arochukwu, Abia State, did the nation proud by becoming the first black man to make a Grade Point Average of 3.98 out of 4.0 to bag a degree in Neurosciences in the university. He was also adjudged as having the highest honors during the graduation that was held on May 24 that year.
II. A genius could be referred to as an
exceptional child who is academically sound.But, how would you describe an individual who never misses a point in his examinations from his first year in the university to the final year? If there is any adjective to qualify such a person,
that word could best describe Tunji Olu-Taiwo, an Engineering student of Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus who obtained 4.0 CGPA out of 4.0 CGPA, the first ever in the department.
III. Over the past five years, Nigerian students at the Russian National Research Medical University have consistently topped the graduation chat, bagging honors and contributing their wealth of knowledge to the
University’s academic status.
University’s academic status.
IV. Olalusi, who,for three years represented Nigeria in the University’s Hall of Fame, delivered valedictory speech as the best graduating Student in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences with a grade point of 5.0CGPA out of
5.0CGPA possible.
V. In the same University in the year 2011, another Nigerian student, Ganiyu Sanusi bagged the “Best Student of the year” award at the University’s quiz competition. He graduated as the best student in the faculty with first-class honors and a CGPA of 5.0.
VI. Another Nigeria,Alonge Olanike Omotola, who in 2010 represented the country on the Russian national research university hall of fame, bagged first-class honors degree in Medicine and Surgery. She was the best Graduating student and valedictorian for that year.
VII. A 24-year-old Nigerian, Uwa Osamede Imafidon, graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington(UTA) in the US with Masters in Microbiology and made a 4.0 CGPA out of the maximum 4.0 CGPA.
5.0CGPA possible.
V. In the same University in the year 2011, another Nigerian student, Ganiyu Sanusi bagged the “Best Student of the year” award at the University’s quiz competition. He graduated as the best student in the faculty with first-class honors and a CGPA of 5.0.
VI. Another Nigeria,Alonge Olanike Omotola, who in 2010 represented the country on the Russian national research university hall of fame, bagged first-class honors degree in Medicine and Surgery. She was the best Graduating student and valedictorian for that year.
VII. A 24-year-old Nigerian, Uwa Osamede Imafidon, graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington(UTA) in the US with Masters in Microbiology and made a 4.0 CGPA out of the maximum 4.0 CGPA.
This is just a small list of incredibly talented young Nigerians who are scattered all over the
world pursuing their dreams and proving to be best in their fields. In the next 20 years, these people will be leading the world for sure.
world pursuing their dreams and proving to be best in their fields. In the next 20 years, these people will be leading the world for sure.
Friends, I don’t have any doubt in my mind about the place and future of Nigeria among the comity of nations.
10. Finally, in all humility. I am not going to allow anybody to forget about Pastor Sunday Adelaja,the only black man in the world that leads a congregation of mostly Caucasians in 50 countries.
Below are some facts about Pastor Sunday’s life and ministry:
• Pastor Sunday is the pastor of the largest Evangelical Church in Europe with a population of 99.9% white Europeans in Kiev Ukraine.
• His ministry has charity units that feed over 5000 people on a daily basis.
• Through his ministry,over 30 thousand people have been delivered from drug and alcohol addictions.
• He helped raise over 200 millionaires in US dollars in his church, most of whom were former drug/ alcohol addicts and societal outcasts.
• He has raised a global movement that is influencing over 70million people around the globe.
• Branches of his church are in over 50 countries.
• He has spoken in different nations of the world on National Transformation.
• Pastor Sunday is one of the few, if not the only African, who has ever spoken in the US senate.
• Pastor Sunday is one of the few African pastors who has spoken on the floor of the UN.
• He has addressed the Japanese Members of parliament.
• He has spoken in the Knesset to members of Israeli parliament. The list goes on and on.
• His ministry has over 500 hundred government officials holding different government positions in Ukraine.
• He has written and published over 300 books and recorded thousands of messages.
Many have challenged me to come to Africa to contribute my quota. Have no doubt about it. I am coming sooner or later. Right now I am busy fighting the demons, forces of evil and principalities of Europe and Russia. But, in the meanwhile, I am also thinking about my beloved county Nigeria and mother Africa for which I am developing some grand plans and projects. By the grace of God, by the time I am privileged to come to Africa, everything I have achieved so far would dwarf compared to what I would be doing for the African continent by Gods grace.
• Pastor Sunday is the pastor of the largest Evangelical Church in Europe with a population of 99.9% white Europeans in Kiev Ukraine.
• His ministry has charity units that feed over 5000 people on a daily basis.
• Through his ministry,over 30 thousand people have been delivered from drug and alcohol addictions.
• He helped raise over 200 millionaires in US dollars in his church, most of whom were former drug/ alcohol addicts and societal outcasts.
• He has raised a global movement that is influencing over 70million people around the globe.
• Branches of his church are in over 50 countries.
• He has spoken in different nations of the world on National Transformation.
• Pastor Sunday is one of the few, if not the only African, who has ever spoken in the US senate.
• Pastor Sunday is one of the few African pastors who has spoken on the floor of the UN.
• He has addressed the Japanese Members of parliament.
• He has spoken in the Knesset to members of Israeli parliament. The list goes on and on.
• His ministry has over 500 hundred government officials holding different government positions in Ukraine.
• He has written and published over 300 books and recorded thousands of messages.
Many have challenged me to come to Africa to contribute my quota. Have no doubt about it. I am coming sooner or later. Right now I am busy fighting the demons, forces of evil and principalities of Europe and Russia. But, in the meanwhile, I am also thinking about my beloved county Nigeria and mother Africa for which I am developing some grand plans and projects. By the grace of God, by the time I am privileged to come to Africa, everything I have achieved so far would dwarf compared to what I would be doing for the African continent by Gods grace.
Now on a personal note, I would like to say that when I was growing up in Africa, I never saw anything special about myself that could distinguish me from the millions of kids in my nation. As a matter of fact, there are still so many millions of Sunday Adelajas wasting away in their villages and hamlets without any sort of recognition whatsoever.
I was destined to be in their number if not for divine grace. Whenever I visit Nigeria I see myself in all those young men. I see myself in those barefooted boys and girls running about the streets with protruding stomachs without shirts, hawking one product or the other for survival. That was me!
In fact, I still count it the biggest miracle of my life when a distant relative paid off my fifty naira WAEC fee (Final high school exams). Otherwise I was on my way out into the world without a high school certificate, because of fifty naira that my whole family could not come up with. Friends, believe me mine was not the only case. Cases like this abound in their millions all over Nigeria and Africa.
Many of them are wasted in the villages and farms of the continent. The Emeagwalis, the Adelajas, the Chimamandas, the Ogunlesis, the Dangotes, the Imafidons, the Okoyas etc.
Imagine what awaits Nigeria when all our potential is harnessed towards the development of every Citizen, Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.
I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT NIGERIA WILL ONE DAY LEAD OUR WORLD!
This article is called WHEN NIGERIA TEACHES AMERICA. But in the same vein, it could easily be called: The Next World Super Power or When Africa Leads the World. I see that many people who read my articles
can’t seem to understand the reason for my passion about Nigeria. I have seen the future of this country
“Let others lead small lives, but not you.
Let others argue over small things, but not you.
Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.
Let others leave their future in someone else’s
hands, but not you.”
– Jim Rohn
Besides I have been privileged to compete in universities where we had students from 99 countries of the world and a Nigerian was leading the pack. This is not unusual as seen in the stories above. In over 60 countries of the world where I have been, Nigerians are always the head and not the tail, the first and not the last.
I remember in 2005 while in Seoul South Korea. Some South Koreans scientists told me they carried out an experiment, which showed that Nigerians have one of the 3 top IQ’s in the world.
Nigerians are resilient, hardworking, passionate, enterprising and aggressive even though most people tend to unfairly emphasize only the negative part of Nigerians, but there is much more to Nigerians than negative tendencies. I admit we are not without our demons, yet as said by Mario Andretti:
“If everything is under control, you are not going fast enough.”
Can you imagine, a country where there is NO functioning electricity 24 hours? What will begin to happen if all our citizens have a 100% electricity supply? If Nigerians could come top in all the above listed areas of life, without any basic amenities. Imagine then what will happen if they were to have all these things.
Friends, can you imagine what would happen if every Nigerian child, in every village is raised up in a sanitized environment, with good nutrition, libraries, water supply, transportation system, equal opportunities, access to money, education, good health facilities etc? We don’t have much yet, still we are leading the world.
What will happen if all the above mentioned facilities are in place?
We know the long list of our failures, despite all the things we lack as a nation, yet we perform.
Now imagine what could have been. Today Nigerian’s economy is ranked number 26 in the world.
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. Matt 19:30
I am convinced that if we get just one thing right which is electricity. Our GDP growth will double from 6% yearly to 12% which will propel us to become one of the top 3 countries in the world in the next 20 years.
I believe in Nigeria, that is why I would not compromise nor refrain from speaking the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The truth that will be able to set us free from the shackles of our weaknesses and inadequacies and propel us into our glorious destiny.
NIGERIA SHALL INDEED ONE DAY TEACH THE WORLD.
“Let others lead small lives, but not you.
Let others argue over small things, but not you.Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.
Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.”
– Jim Rohn
SO HELP US GOD!!!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHURCH AND NATION.
By Pastor Sunday Adelaja.