Nigeria’s fate will not be secured by oil or minerals but by a radical shift in national mindset, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has declared in a powerful call to action for the country’s leaders.
Speaking at the National Leadership Conference 2025 in Abuja, UNDP Resident Representative, Ms. Elsie Attafuah, warned that unless Nigeria breaks free from “business as usual,” it risks squandering its vast human potential.
“If the mind is trapped, the nation is trapped. If the mind is free, the nation soars,” she said, urging political, business and civic leaders to ignite a new culture of trust, innovation and resilience.
Attafuah painted a stark picture of a world being reshaped by climate shocks, resource battles and rapid advances in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. With Nigeria’s population expected to top 400 million by 2050, she cautioned, the country faces a decisive choice: transform its mindset and reap a demographic dividend — or slide into a social time bomb.
She cited Singapore, South Korea, Rwanda and Botswana as proof that prosperity comes not from resources but from transformed values and visionary leadership.
Nigeria’s own fintech pioneers, like Flutterwave and Paystack, she added, already show what young people can achieve when freed from limiting structures.
Unveiling a five-point agenda, Attafuah called for reimagined governance anchored on strong institutions, youth empowerment through education and entrepreneurship, an energy transition driven by renewables, digital leadership that makes Nigeria a producer of technology, and smarter financing that leverages diaspora capital and AfCFTA opportunities.
Recalling her crisis leadership during Ebola and COVID-19 in Uganda, she said Nigeria’s turning point would come only when leaders find “fire in the belly” to deliver results even in turbulent times.
She closed with a rallying vision: “Imagine Aba, Lagos, Kano, Onitsha and Ogun as ultramodern industrial clusters. Imagine universities as innovation engines. Imagine a creative economy that rivals the world’s biggest. That Nigeria is possible. But it begins with us — all of us — here and now.”
