Nigeria Needs Ideas From China, Not Loans – Peter Obi

Ex-Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Peter Obi has come out to say that Nigeria should be borrowing ideas from China, not money.

He recently revealed this at the 60th Founder’s Day Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

According to him, China has battled several stages of national development to reach its current level, and it would make sense for Nigeria to copy China’s economic development, instead of borrowing loan.

He added that the massive economic development in China is because of their huge investment in the MSME sector, which instantly decreased unemployment and boosted government revenue.

His words, “MSMEs in China which constitute about 95% of Chinese firms, account for 60% of China’s GDP and contributes more than 65% of the import and export business in China.

“They also contributed about 50% of the overall tax revenue of government. MSMEs constitute about 95% of all enterprises in China.

“China’s GDP is today about $14 trillion, which means that 60% translates to about $8.4 trillion— about 21 times the GDP of Nigeria.

“MSMEs account for over 60% of industrial output and provide over 60% of the overall employment and 80% of urban employment in China.

“Talking about the growth of the MSMEs, 10 years down the line, 60% of these MSMEs have shown to become large corporate when compared with Nigeria that 96% are still at the micro stage. “China has about 840 million people employed (which is 60% of the population), and MSMEs provide 60% of these, which is 500 million people.

“In urban employment, the contribution of MSMEs is even greater; 80% of urban employment is attributed to MSME; of about 500 million people employed in urban areas, MSMEs employ 400 million.

“China had planned to create 50 million jobs from 2015-2020, which is 10 million annually, and is religiously following the plan year-on-year.

“In fact, China has consistently surpassed its annual target. China has an unemployment rate of only 3.7%.”