Mint, Re-Based Gdp and Poverty : A Commentary on the Identity Crisis in Africa's "Largest" Economy

Since 2000 Nigeria's economy is said to have grown consistently by an average of seven per cent, bringing with it a wave of 'Naija optimism" and series of external endorsements of the country's macroeconomic environment and potentials. One of the most celebrated of these external endorsements in recent times is the inclusion of the country in the MINT emerging economies. MINT is a neologism referring to the economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. The term was originally coined by the Boston-based asset management firm Fidelity and popularized by the British economist Jim O'Neil, who also coined the acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in 2011 as the world's future super economic superpowers. The term caught on and has been common parlance since then, popularizing O'Neil in the process. In April 2014, Nigeria announced the rebasing of her GDP which saw the size of the economy jump to N80.3 trillion ($509.9bn) overtaking South Africa's GDP of $370.3bn at the end of 2013, to make it the largest in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. But just as some Nigerians were beginning to thump their chests came news from the World Bank that the country has the third largest concentration of the abjectly poor in the world - behind China and India. The article discusses these developments and their implications for the country, including its quest for a bigger role in the world stage.