Business
Nigeria growing faster than South Africa – more work needed from Nigeria to reach parity
“The country (Nigeria), becomes unavoidably on the radar for anyone looking at Africa opportunities,” said Fola Fagbule, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) vice-president for origination and coverage.
Nigeria has work to do if it wants to leverage this new profile.
In international eyes the nation remains a byword for corruption and sleaze, a perception reinforced by a recent US$6.8 billion scandal over fuel subsidies.
South Africa is meanwhile seen as one of the growing number of African destinations where the rule of law safeguards investments.
“I hope a larger GDP will increase pressure on government to do things right, to be more transparent,” said Fagbule. “More likely, we’ll see a lot of chest beating, bragging about how we are the giant of Africa, even though we do things terribly.”
Graft, diplomacy
Though governance is worsening in South Africa, it has a long way to go before it crosses places with Nigeria on the Transparency International corruption perceptions index.
South Africa has sunk 29 places in the gauge of perceived corruption since 2001, from 38th in the world to 64th last year.
