For
@BusinessDayNg.
“Sidi’s dilemma — like Nigeria’s — is a false choice. The path out of poverty lies not in Lakunle’s borrowed scripts or Baroka’s selective cunning but in building three infrastructures which honour the past while forging the future. Cultural infrastructure transforms traditions into systems of innovation, layering technology onto communal practices. Political infrastructure empowers local governance with tools and accountability for locally sensitive policymaking. Trade infrastructure weaves physical and digital bridges, turning rural producers into global players.
China’s playbook shows that development is not a rupture but a dialogue. For Nigeria, this means rejecting both the contractor-driven “progress” of white elephants and the elite capture masked as tradition. It demands rewriting the narrative — one where Sidi leverages cultural resilience, accountable governance, and inclusive trade to craft an ending worthy of her promise. The task is urgent: without these pillars, cities will keep bursting, inequalities will fester, and the jewel of Nigeria’s potential will remain trapped in someone else’s tale.”