Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has reiterated that Nigeria holds the strongest long-term investment potential in Africa, telling global business leaders that the country is primed to dominate the continent’s economic future by 2050 - provided it embraces disciplined, reform-driven leadership.
Obi, writing on Tuesday after addressing the 4th Africa Day forum organised by the Club des Entrepreneurs Monégasques en Afrique (CEMA) in Monaco, said Nigeria remains the most strategic launchpad for investors seeking sustainable returns in Africa.
He described Africa as a rapidly ascendant continent powered by natural resources and a youth bulge that will define global productivity in the coming decades. With 60 percent of Africans under 30, Obi said the continent has the demographic advantage to drive innovation, manufacturing, and economic expansion.
Focusing on Nigeria, Obi projected that the population could hit 320 million by 2050, with nearly 200 million people in their productive years. He argued that if Nigeria is guided by leaders with “capacity, compassion, character, and commitment,” the country could achieve transformative economic progress.
Obi stressed the need to drastically reduce waste and corruption while prioritising investments in security, healthcare, education, and poverty reduction. He said that with disciplined implementation, Nigeria could grow into a $2 trillion economy by mid-century, raising per capita income to about $7,000.
He noted that sustained reforms could even place Nigeria on track to meet Goldman Sachs’ long-term forecast of a $13 trillion economy and a per capita income of $30,000 by 2075.
Addressing investors in Monaco, Obi urged them to position early and leverage Nigeria’s “immense and underexplored opportunities” as the country moves toward becoming a major global growth hub.
“I reassured them of a new Nigeria that is possible, and indeed a new Africa that is also possible,” he said, expressing optimism that visionary governance can unlock Nigeria’s full potential as the continent’s economic anchor.
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