KEY POINTS:
In the old days, for some, going shopping in Nigeria meant going to London.
Now Nigerians, at least in Lagos, can go to the country's first shopping mall and parade past air-conditioned shops of clothes and jewellery, or sit in a coffee shop, sipping a latte or cappuccino.
The centrepiece is a South African Shoprite supermarket - again Nigeria's first - where the middle classes can buy ordinary things such as biscuits and pre-packed beef.
Not far away, on the edge of the street, are the old shops - open-air markets where women sit with little piles of tomatoes or onions on the ground in front of them. Nearby, in the open air hang slabs of meat feasted on by flies. Until a few years ago, these markets and a few family stores were all that was available as shops.
Elements of the old Nigeria are still visible at the Palms Mall. The Shoprite manager, Andrew Mweemba, complains that containers of perishables regularly get held up at the port. The local electricity supply is too unreliable, so the whole mall is powered by generators, which puts prices up. But, says Mweemba, they are hitting their targets and controlling costs.
They are planning several other malls in what must be one of the last countries in the world to enjoy retail services the rest of the human race take for granted. This is probably the most visible sign of a new Nigeria, a country that is becoming more in tune with the rest of the planet. Its cause is the growth of a young middle class, many of whom have returned from London or New York to work in the booming financial services industry.
The Nigerian "Big Bang" started in 2001 with a free auction for Nigeria's mobile phone licences. Stung by a global reputation for corruption and fraud, President Olusegun Obasanjo's government started to reform the banks, reducing their number from 89 to 25, and supporting businesses that wanted to do things according to international standards.
In the old days Nigerian business people were simply agents, getting contracts from the state or acting for foreign companies. Nigeria produced little except oil and gas, and its exceedingly rich elite stayed rich because of connections, not competence.
Osaze Osifo, 39, who worked for HSBC in London, is typical of the new generation. He and six other Nigerian professionals are setting up a US$300m ($407m) equity fund in cool, glass-panelled offices with a view across the lagoon and out to sea. They have international businessmen on to their board to make sure everything is done in accordance with international business practice.
"It is not just local people and people coming back from overseas," he explains. "Nigeria is where it is at. The hotels are full, and the merchant banks are beginning to arrive." What encouraged people like him to return was the business space opened up by the economic reforms. Obasanjo picked a business-minded team to run the economy and the national bank, and appointed a brave young police officer to run the anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Its spectacular investigations and arrests of prominent people have helped to persuade outsiders that you can do business in Nigeria without being corrupt. The sale of mobile phone licences in 2001 was the start of the new era, according to Osifo.
The business tyros are challenging the old oligarchs in business and, inevitably, in politics. "More and more people in Nigeria have too much at stake.
"They have something to fight for, and they don't want their businesses ruined by the reputation for corruption," says Osifo.
Lagos also used to have a frightening reputation for robbery and violence, but that too has subsided. Ten years ago the biggest companies on the Nigerian stock exchange were subsidiaries of multinational corporates. Today, the three richest companies are all Nigerian. Its top 10 banks, most of them new, have announced returns of between 14 per cent and 38 per cent on shares.
Nigeria's richest business man, Aliko Dangote, turned 50 last week. A manufacturer of everything from cement to orange juice, he is reported to be worth US$8bn ($10.8bn) - and may not be the richest man in Nigeria. Some of the oligarchs may be richer, but not for much longer.
- THE INDEPENDENT
Nigerian elections
Nigerians go to the polls today to choose state governors and legislators in the first of two elections, which if successful will give a big boost to democracy across Africa. The conduct and results of the state-level vote will provide an indication of what to expect from presidential polls in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer a week later.
Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous army rule, and these elections should lead to the first handover from one elected president to another since independence in 1960.
"If Nigeria works well, so might Africa. If the democratic experiment in Nigeria stalls, the rest of Africa suffers and loses hope," said Robert Rotberg of the US Council on Foreign Relations in a special report.
President Olusegun Obasanjo must step down after serving for the maximum eight years. He has promised free, fair and transparent elections, but rights groups and foreign observers have reservations.
Dozens of people have been killed in political violence in the months leading up to the polls, and many candidates have been disqualified because of controversial indictments for fraud. Observers say preparations have been poor.
Nigerian governors control big budgets and have enormous powers in their states, making the state polls as important to many Nigerians as the April 21 presidential vote.
In eight years of democracy, more than 15,000 people have been killed in ethnic, religious and communal fighting.
- REUTERS
