By Julius Atanawhemera

Nigeria possesses extraordinary human, natural, and entrepreneurial resources. The country has the capacity to become a stronger engine of economic growth within Africa and an increasingly influential participant in the global economy.

The fundamental question, however, is no longer whether Nigeria has potential. The question is:
Why has Nigeria struggled to consistently translate its enormous potential into broad-based prosperity and sustainable development?

After decades of political leadership and substantial public expenditure, millions of Nigerians continue to confront economic hardship, insecurity, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, and limited access to essential opportunities. At some point, national conversations must move beyond explanations and excuses and focus increasingly on measurable outcomes, institutional performance, and accountability.

Public office is a responsibility
Political authority should therefore be evaluated not merely by political popularity or individual achievement, but by the quality of institutions established, opportunities created, services delivered, and measurable improvements experienced by citizens.

Nigeria deserves leadership that prioritizes: competence; integrity; transparency; institutional accountability; economic opportunity; security; infrastructure; education; and measurable development outcomes.

The country’s challenge is not simply a shortage of resources. It is also the capacity to transform those resources into sustainable public value.

Private-sector success and the question of institutional power
The extraordinary achievements of Nigerian entrepreneurs, including Alhaji Aliko Dangote, demonstrate the capacity of African private enterprise to operate at a globally significant level.

Such achievements should be recognised as sources of national and continental pride. However, they also raise an important question about the relationship between private-sector prominence and state capacity:
Why should the international economic identity of a major African economy be so heavily associated with individual private-sector actors rather than with the combined strength of its institutions?

The recent high-level industrial engagement involving Alhaji Dangote and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney provides an opportunity to examine this issue.

Dangote’s industrial achievements represent an important example of Nigerian entrepreneurship and African economic ambition. At the same time, engagements of significant strategic and industrial importance should ideally be complemented by appropriate institutional representation from the Nigerian government.

Nigeria’s diplomatic missions, economic agencies, and relevant government institutions should be sufficiently equipped and strategically positioned to advance the country’s commercial and national interests in major international markets.

The objective should not be to diminish the role of successful private-sector actors. Rather, the objective should be to ensure that private-sector excellence and institutional excellence reinforce one another. A globally competitive Nigeria requires both.

Africa’s industrial moment
Recent developments across Africa demonstrate that the continent is entering an increasingly important phase of industrial and strategic competition.

South Africa’s efforts to attract major international investment in energy and infrastructure illustrate the importance of long-term industrial strategy, energy security, and international investment partnerships.

There are also practical examples of African products reaching international consumers. South African agricultural products, including apples, as well as South African wines, can be found in Canadian markets. Such products provide a tangible illustration of how agricultural production, processing, logistics, international trade, distribution, and consumer markets can connect economies across continents.

For Nigeria, this should be regarded as an important strategic signal. Africa’s largest economies cannot afford to compete solely based on population size or natural-resource endowment.The next phase of African economic development will depend increasingly on: energy + infrastructure + technology + education + manufacturing + investment + institutional capacity.

Nigeria possesses many of these ingredients. The strategic challenge is to integrate them into a coherent national development framework capable of attracting capital, supporting innovation, expanding productive capacity, and creating employment.

Nigeria’s economic ambition should extend beyond being a major consumer market.It should seek to become a major production, investment, technology, and industrial hub for Africa and the global economy.

This ambition was underscored at the Delta State Economic and Investment Summit, held in Asaba from August 3–5, 2026. The summit featured the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as keynote speaker, alongside Vice President Kashim Shettima and other senior national and international figures. The summit was designed around industrialisation, economic diversification, private-sector participation, investment, and sustainable prosperity.

The message is clear: Nigeria possesses the resources and talent necessary to compete. What is required is the institutional capacity, policy consistency, infrastructure, and leadership necessary to convert potential into performance.

Canada and Nigeria: An economic relationship with greater potential
Canada and Nigeria established diplomatic relations in 1962, shortly after Nigeria’s independence in 1960. Since then, the relationship has developed beyond diplomacy into trade, investment, development, mobility, education, security, and private-sector cooperation.

A major institutional mechanism is the Canada–Nigeria Binational Commission (BNC), which provides a high-level forum for discussing commercial, political, development, security, mobility, and other bilateral matters. The two countries’ economic relationship has become increasingly significant.

In 2024, bilateral merchandise trade between Canada and Nigeria totaled approximately C$2.9 billion, making Nigeria Canada’s second-largest trading partner in Africa. Canada’s exports to Nigeria were approximately C$534 million, while Canadian imports from Nigeria were approximately C$2.3 billion. Canada’s principal exports included cereals, motor vehicles and parts, and industrial machinery, while imports from Nigeria included petroleum oils, cocoa, and soybeans.

The relationship also has an investment dimension. Canadian direct investment in Nigeria amounted to approximately C$32 million in 2024, while Canadian portfolio investment stood at approximately C$590 million. Trade and investment are also facilitated by a bilateral double-taxation agreement.

These figures demonstrate that Canada–Nigeria economic relations are not merely diplomatic or symbolic. They represent a significant commercial relationship with considerable potential for expansion.The question, therefore, is whether both countries are doing enough to translate that economic relationship into deeper investment, stronger commercial partnerships, technology transfer, job creation, and sustainable economic development.

Nigeria’s diaspora economic engagement in Canada
It was against this broader Canada–Nigeria economic relationship that the Nigeria Diaspora Economic Conference (NIDEC) 2026 was convened in Toronto, Canada, from August 13–15, 2026.

Organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), the conference was conceived as a high-level, outcomes-driven investment platform intended to mobilise Nigerian diaspora capital, expertise, and global networks toward sustainable investment, job creation, and economic growth in Nigeria. The program emphasised moving beyond dialogue toward practical deal facilitation, partnerships, and implementation.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented at the opening by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, urged Nigerians in the diaspora to move beyond sending money home and toward building productive stakes in Nigeria’s economy. This was an important message.

Nigeria’s diaspora is not merely a source of remittances. It represents a significant reservoir of capital, professional expertise, international networks, technology, entrepreneurial experience, and access to global markets.

The strategic question is therefore not whether Nigeria should engage its diaspora. It unquestionably should.

The more important question is how effectively that engagement is structured, institutionalised, and converted into measurable economic outcomes.

Was NIDEC 2026 a missed opportunity?

It is in this context that serious questions should be asked about the effectiveness and long-term impact of the conference.

The objective of an international economic conference should not simply be to assemble government officials, political leaders, diaspora organisations, and businesspeople in one location.

The test should be:

What was achieved?

How many meaningful Canadian–Nigerian business relationships were established?

How much investment was actually committed?

How many transactions were facilitated?

How many partnerships were created?

How many jobs are expected to result?

How many memoranda of understanding will translate into completed projects?

And, critically, what measurable economic outcomes will Nigerians ultimately see?
These are legitimate questions of public accountability.

The conference was explicitly promoted as an opportunity to mobilise diaspora capital, expertise, and international networks toward investment, job creation, partnerships, and sustainable development.

NiDCOM emphasised the need to move beyond dialogue toward practical investment and implementation.

Consequently, the Nigerian government should be prepared to publish a clear post-conference outcomes report detailing the investments, partnerships, commitments, memoranda, transactions, and implementation mechanisms arising from the event.

Without measurable follow-through, an economic conference risks becoming another occasion for speeches, photographs, political visibility, and expenditure without sufficient economic return.

The appropriate response is therefore not simply to declare the conference a success or a failure. The appropriate response is to measure its results against the objectives for which it was convened.

The Canadian side of the equation
There is also a legitimate question concerning the level of Canadian institutional and political participation in Nigeria’s economic outreach.

Canada and Nigeria already have a significant economic relationship. Canada maintains diplomatic representation in Nigeria and provides trade and investment support to Canadian businesses interested in the Nigerian market. The two governments also maintain the Binational Commission as a formal mechanism for advancing bilateral relations.

Against this background, major Nigerian economic initiatives in Canada should ideally seek meaningful engagement with relevant Canadian federal, provincial, municipal, trade, investment, and business institutions.
This is not merely a question of protocol.

Institutional participation matters because economic diplomacy requires institutions.

Government-to-government engagement can facilitate policy dialogue.

Trade agencies can connect businesses.

Investment agencies can help identify opportunities.

Municipal and provincial authorities can facilitate local economic relationships.

Business organisations can connect investors and companies.

Diaspora organisations can provide networks and market knowledge.

Private-sector actors can execute transactions.

Each has a role.

The objective should therefore be to create an ecosystem in which government, business, diaspora, and institutional actors complement one another rather than operate in isolation.

Accountability should include economic diplomacy
If public resources are used to organise international economic conferences, accountability should not end when the conference closes.

Economic diplomacy should be measured by outcomes.

The Nigerian government should therefore consider establishing a formal mechanism for tracking and publishing:
investment commitments; completed transactions; business-to-business partnerships; employment created; technology-transfer arrangements; export opportunities; trade agreements; investment projects; memoranda of understanding and their implementation status; and measurable economic value generated.

This would transform economic conferences from events into instruments of economic policy.

Nigeria does not lack conferences.

Nigeria needs execution.

Nigeria does not lack potential.

Nigeria needs performance.

Nigeria does not lack talented people.

Nigeria needs institutions capable of converting talent into national value.

From potential to performance
Nigeria stands at an important crossroads.

Its population, entrepreneurial energy, natural resources, diaspora, strategic position, and human capital provide enormous possibilities. But potential alone does not produce prosperity.

Prosperity requires institutions.

Institutions require leadership.

Leadership requires accountability.

And accountability ultimately requires measurable results.

Nigeria’s future should therefore be judged not by the number of summits it hosts, the number of speeches delivered, or the number of international delegations assembled.It should be judged by factories built, businesses created, investments completed, jobs generated, infrastructure delivered, exports increased, institutions strengthened, and lives improved.

The same principle applies to Nigeria’s international economic relations.

Canada is an important economic partner.

Nigeria is an important African economy.
The opportunity exists to deepen the relationship substantially.

What is required now is strategic thinking, institutional coordination, professional economic diplomacy, private-sector participation, and—above all—execution.

Nigeria has the potential.

The national imperative is to turn that potential into performance.

Atanawhemera is founder and President, International School of Conflict Management and Diplomatic Studies (ISCMDS), Toronto, Ontario, Canada.