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News_Naija

Nigeria Should Emulate Indias Blueprint For Development

For decades, Nigeria, like many developing African economies, has looked to the West for economic models, financial assistance, and governance frameworks. Yet, despite its abundant natural resources, a youthful population of over 200 million, and its status as one of Africa’s largest economies, Nigeria’s development challenges persist. In a rapidly transforming global landscape, it has become imperative for nations to maximise development using pathways that match their own context. Nigeria must look beyond Western models and explore alternative success stories. India’s Jugaad – a philosophy of frugal innovation and creative problem-solving – offers a compelling blueprint for Nigerian development. Jugaad underscores notions of grassroots resilience, collaboration, sustainability, local empowerment, inclusivity, and resourcefulness. Building on these, Jugaad provides a framework for addressing Nigeria’s unique challenges while leveraging its strengths. A Nigerian application of Jugaad would prioritise local innovation and grassroots development by maximising the informal sector to propel growth. This approach of exploring “simple” solutions to everyday problems will go a long way in transforming the Nigerian socio-economic landscape. Jugaad is a concept synonymous with frugal innovation. It emphasises doing more with less. It is a mindset of negotiating adversity through creative improvisation and leveraging limited resources to achieve maximum impact. Jugaad’s principles provide a framework for Nigeria, where limited resources are confronted with competing developmental needs. India, once a struggling post-colonial state like Nigeria, has transformed itself into a global powerhouse in technology, manufacturing, and human capital development. The country has significantly reduced extreme poverty and is projected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030. India’s rise demonstrates that development models from the Global South can be effective and potentially more relevant for other emerging economies like Nigeria. Unlike Western economies built on colonial-era wealth, India’s success is rooted in homegrown innovation, digital transformation, and strategic workforce development. Nigeria and India share striking similarities: both are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-cultural nations with colonial legacies that gained independence from Britain in the mid-20th century. Both nations are regional powerhouses. India is the world’s largest democracy and Nigeria is Africa’s largest. Yet, while India has diversified its economy and built a robust industrial base, Nigeria remains heavily reliant on oil exports, leaving it vulnerable to global price fluctuations. Valuable lessons can be learnt from India’s prioritisation of industrialisation, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship support. India’s economic reforms since the 1990s include liberalising trade, attracting foreign investment and boosting local industries. In the ease of doing business index, India jumped from 142nd position in 2014 to 63rd in 2019. Nigeria meanwhile has witnessed minimal improvements from 140th position in 2014 to 131st position in 2019. Nigeria can replicate India’s success by embracing similar reforms, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, and fostering a business-friendly environment. India’s economic shift from agriculture to manufacturing and services has been transformative. Initiatives like Make in India have created industrial corridors and clusters that have boosted sectors such as automobiles, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. India has earned the title of “pharmacy of the world”. This was achieved by prioritising generic drug manufacturing over Western patent models. Exports from this sector are projected to reach £272bn by 2047. The development of the pharmaceutical industry can be attributed to the prioritisation of localised production, heavy investments in research and development, the adoption of AI technology, and diversified supply chain sources. Nigeria, with its vast resources and youthful population, must prioritise industrialisation to reduce its dependency on oil and create sustainable economic growth. India has managed to maintain a strong agricultural sector through mechanisation, improved irrigation, and modern farming techniques. Nigeria is blessed with vast arable land that can be leveraged to boost food security and reduce import dependency. This can be achieved by adopting similar policies that support smallholder farmers and increase productivity. Digital transformation and inclusion are evident in India’s transformational pathway. The Digital India initiative has revolutionised access to technology and financial services. India alone accounts for over 40 per cent of global digital transactions. Nigeria accounts for less than one per cent of the global digital payments market value, at an estimated £53.35bn of a global total of £15.86tn. Nigeria can leverage its vibrant tech hubs in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and other parts of the country to accelerate digital innovation to address challenges like financial inclusion and public service inefficiencies. India has managed to leverage its informal sector to spur significant digital inclusion and growth. For instance, its Aadhaar Enabled Payment System allows access to financial services, especially for individuals without access to traditional banking. While systems like Nigeria’s OPay are driving financial inclusion, the rapid process of India’s AePS can be adapted to maximise Nigeria’s over £1.1tn valued informal sector, focusing on underserved rural communities. India’s development model tells a story of empowerment through education and the development of local enterprises. The country’s emphasis on STEM education and vocational training has built a skilled workforce. Its support for small and medium-scale enterprises through initiatives like Startup India has spurred entrepreneurship and job creation with India boasting the third largest startup ecosystem globally. Nigeria can replicate this by investing in its human capital, provide easier access to credit, and reduce regulatory hurdles. Beyond adopting the Indian success story, Nigeria and India can build on their existing diplomacy for strategic collaboration. Both countries already share significant economic ties, with bilateral trade valued at approximately £10bn between 2021 and 2022. Indian companies have invested heavily in Nigeria’s pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and technology sectors. By deepening this relationship through knowledge transfer, industrial collaboration, and educational exchanges, Nigeria can accelerate its development while maintaining sovereignty. Institutional partnerships between Nigerian and Indian universities can foster technical cooperation in AI, agriculture, and manufacturing. With thousands of Nigerian students already studying in India, joint research and development initiatives can further strengthen ties and drive innovation. India’s development model demonstrates that sustained economic growth is possible without solely depending on Western frameworks. Jugaad–rooted in resourcefulness, adaptability, and self-reliance–offers a viable blueprint for Nigeria’s transformation and an opportunity to redefine its development strategy. By learning from India’s experience, Nigeria can unlock its potential and build a prosperous, resilient, and globally competitive economy while building on the principles of equality and sustainability.

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Worldnews

Manoj Punjabi Produced Indonesias Top Film. Now He Wants To Shake Up TV

CEO of MD Entertainment wants to elevate the quality of free-to-air services after purchase of loss-making NET.TV. Jakarta, Indonesia – Manoj Punjabi, Indonesia’s most commercially successful film producer, has won numerous awards over the course of a career spanning more than two decades. But the billionaire founder and CEO of MD Entertainment does not hesitate when asked to choose his most treasured accolade. “It is the one I won for Best Box Office Film at the Indonesian Box Office Movie Awards in 2016 because it was chosen by the viewers,” Punjabi told Al Jazeera in an interview at MD Entertainment’s headquarters in Jakarta. “Even if I won an Oscar, it wouldn’t be the same because that is chosen by a jury and not by audiences.” As the producer behind the highest-grossing Indonesian film of all time, KKN di Desa Penari, Punjabi is keenly aware that results count above all else in the entertainment business. At the same time, the 52-year-old producer has developed a reputation for not shying away from taking risks. Last year, Punjabi, the scion of a prominent Indian-Indonesian family with a long history of involvement in television and film, made what could be seen as the surprising decision to acquire an 80 percent stake in Indonesia’s NET.TV for some $100m. By Punjabi’s own admission, the free-to-air television channel, which has a market share of less than 1.5 percent, had been “bleeding money” for years, racking up losses of about $250m over the previous decade. Still, he saw an opportunity in TV in a world where entertainment options are increasingly dominated by paid-for streaming services such as Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime. “First of all, Indonesians like watching for free. Paid TV does not work as well as other platforms, and it is very segmented,” Punjabi said. “With free-to-air, everyone has access.” Punjabi said economic and logistical factors in Indonesia, an archipelago of some 17,000 islands, have helped free-to-air TV to remain popular in the Southeast Asian country despite the rise of streaming services. “In other countries, like India, you have a flats system with many people living in one building, so paid TV becomes very cheap. Over here, it is very scattered. With the infrastructure we have, free TV is very practical and easy. You just need an antenna, so it is more affordable and easily accessible,” he said. “I thought free-to-air was a sunset market and platform, but in 2020, during COVID, I realised that free-to-air still exists and people are watching it. It is not a dying business, but a sunset business that has been stuck.” James Guild, an assistant professor at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia, or Indonesian International Islamic University (UIII), agreed that there is considerable potential for free-to-air TV to expand. “There are a lot of places in Indonesia where people lack access to good wi-fi or cannot afford the monthly subscription for a streaming service like Vidio, or can only afford limited data plans and are unable to stream a lot of content,” Guild told Al Jazeera. “Old-fashioned television is also still good business, [and] there is certainly still money to be made selling advertising on free-to-air television stations in Indonesia,” Guild said. In 2022, Punjabi made history when he produced KKN di Desa Penari, which eclipsed Titanic to become the highest-grossing film ever shown in Indonesian cinemas. To date, he has also produced seven of Indonesia’s 20 highest-grossing movies and has been widely credited with reviving interest in the genre of Indonesian horror. Punjabi’s family started their entertainment business in Indonesia in the 1980s. He recalls rushing home from school every day so he could watch the raw, unedited footage of the films his family were producing. Punjabi’s grandfather emigrated to Indonesia following the partition of British India in 1947. Like his father, he was born and raised in Indonesia. “I’m Hindu, but I’m a proud Indonesian with an Indian background,” he said. But in the late 1980s, when Punjabi was 17, everything came crashing down. There was “a family crisis”,  Punjabi said, which resulted in his parents selling their home and “adjusting their lifestyle”. “I think my ambition came from that. I never wanted to be like that again. Because you have a certain standard, and then you go down. It hurts and you feel it,” he said. After brief stints working at a pulp and paper factory and a garment factory, Punjabi founded MD Entertainment in 2002. In 2024, he was ranked 34th on Forbes’ list of Indonesia’s 50 richest people, with an estimated net worth of more than $1.5bn. “When you are on that list, you feel a kind of pressure, but in a good way,” Punjabi said. “To be at that stage, you are thankful, but you have to be more tough, and that is tiring. So that list makes me feel pressured in that way, it makes me motivated to do better, and I hope it doesn’t stop here.” Asked about his legacy, Punjabi said he hopes that MD Entertainment will still be around in a century and will branch out beyond Indonesia. “How I am going to do it is still in the pipeline, but there is something iconic that I want to offer audiences, not just in Indonesia or Southeast Asia,” he said. When it comes to sources of inspiration, Punjabi listed Titanic, Slumdog Millionaire, My Beautiful Life, The Dark Knight, and Casino Royale among his favourite films. “I’m obsessed with James Bond and Die Hard. I am an action freak, and those are the movies that I kept watching. I’ve watched the James Bond movies 50 to 70 times, particularly You Only Live Twice and Octopussy from the 1960s. Casino Royale blew my mind,” he said. As for NET.TV., now called MD TV, Punjabi has ambitious plans to raise the quality of free-to-air TV, which has historically not had the best reputation. “I want to change the game in terms of how we tell stories, be it movies, soap operas or series,” he said. Punjabi said free-to-air television in Indonesia has often suffered from poor lighting, sets and locations, cliched narratives, and heavy-handed product placement. “I want to change the look and the storytelling. People think the quality is going down, but with my concept, I hope it will bring in audiences,” he said. “That is my challenge, and I choose to accept it.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Worldnews

Child Among At Least 10 Killed In Israeli Attack On School Shelter In Gaza

A child burns to death following the attack on school-turned-shelter in Gaza City. At least 10 people have been killed in an Israeli attack that sparked a fire at a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, including one child who was burned to death in the blaze. The Palestinian Civil Defence said its emergency workers recovered 10 bodies early on Wednesday morning after the attack on the school, where forcibly displaced people had taken shelter. A large number of people were also injured, it said in a post on the Telegram messaging platform. “Children are being burned while they sleep in the tents of the displaced,” Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif wrote on social media after the attack. “There are no safe areas, and no survivors of this genocide. Gaza City and its northern areas have been subjected to heavy Israeli shelling and artillery fire for hours,” he said. Video footage shared on social media after the attack on the school-turned-shelter showed flames engulfing tent structures and canvas covering melting onto the remains of burning chairs and what appeared to be a bed frame. Several civilians burned to death after Israeli forces targeted displacement tents inside Yafa School, east of Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/ABNRWdFjSf — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 23, 2025 The civil defence also issued an urgent appeal for assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross to help rescue people trapped under the rubble following Israel’s bombing of two homes in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood. “Trapped people are calling for help to rescue them from under the rubble of homes,” the civil defence said in a statement, adding that emergency workers were unable to reach the area because it was too dangerous, as the area is designated a “no-go” zone by Israeli forces. Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic and local Palestinian media also reported that a child was among two people killed on Wednesday morning in an Israeli attack on tent shelters in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. One person was also reported killed and several injured in an Israeli drone attack on tent shelters in the so-called al-Mawasi “safe zone”, south of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Intense Israeli artillery fire and air attacks were reported across the Strip in the early hours of the morning. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Worldnews

How Pope Francis Redefined The Churchs Ties With Africa

Africa, with its huge Catholic population, featured prominently on Pope Francis’s agenda. Thousands of miles from the Vatican, the death of Pope Francis is being mourned by millions of Catholics on the African continent. Francis, who was renowned for his liberal embrace of all groups of people and his vocal support for poor and marginalised communities, was a key figure on a continent sometimes referred to as the “future of the Catholic Church”, owing to the vast population of African Catholics: One in five Catholics is African. Throughout his papal leadership, Pope Francis solidified recently established Vatican conventions by visiting 10 African countries, reinforcing engagements made by his predecessors. Before the 1960s, popes hardly left the Vatican. Leaders across Africa, too, are mourning his death. Kenya’s President William Ruto referred to the late pope as someone who “exemplified servant leadership through his humility, his unwavering commitment to inclusivity and justice, and his deep compassion for the poor and the vulnerable”. Here’s how the late Pope Francis prioritised Africa during his tenure: Pope Francis made five trips to Africa throughout his papacy, during which he visited 10 countries. He opted to visit nations that were in strife and were facing war or low-level conflict. He also focused on those struggling with economic and climatic challenges. The pontiff did not shy away from holding mass in ghettos or kissing the feet of warring leaders in hopes of bringing peace. Those visits modelled those of Pope John Paul II (1980-2005), who visited more than 25 African countries in his 25 years of service, transforming the way the Vatican engaged with the continent. Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013) visited three African countries over two visits. These are the countries Pope Francis visited and when: The pontiff’s six-day visit to three African countries in November 2015 was replete with colourful welcomes and huge mass events. Then, in the CAR, the pope did the unprecedented: He ventured into a Muslim neighbourhood amid religious tensions in the country that had lasted for months. The PK5 neighbourhood in the capital, Bangui, had been off-limits to Christians before then, but as the pope made his way to a mosque there, crowds of Christians followed him in. People who had lost touch cried as they embraced each other. Pope Francis urged both sides to lay down their arms and called Africa “the continent of hope” in his speeches. The visit would eventually lead to a peace agreement between the warring factions, although true peace would take another five years. The same year, in September, Pope Francis turned his attention to Southern Africa, particularly countries in the Indian Ocean. Amid ongoing conflict and a humanitarian crisis brought on by armed factions looking to control the country, the pope’s visit to the DRC symbolically called for peace and reconciliation in the troubled central African nation. The DRC, which has the largest number of Catholics in Africa – an estimated 35 million people – was an important one for the pope, who’d had to postpone the trip because of ill health. Congolese showed up in the thousands to welcome him. In South Sudan, the pope called for continued peace between rivals President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Vice President Riek Machar. The country, Africa’s youngest, has been rocky since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. Immediately after, and until 2013, a civil war broke out between factions loyal to the two leaders, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions of South Sudanese. Five years before he set foot in South Sudan, the pope had expressed an unusual level of humility: He’d lowered himself with great difficulty to kiss the two leaders’ feet while they were on a spiritual retreat to the Vatican. He called on them to stick to signed peace agreements for the sake of the people. Since January, the country has once more been on the brink of conflict. In a letter in late March, at a time when the pope was already encountering more serious health problems, he wrote again to the two leaders, calling for peace and dialogue. Yes, Pope Francis enjoyed cordial relations with different African bishops and their associations. However, he also encountered criticism from some for his stance on same-sex unions. In December 2023, the pope authorised the blessing of same-sex couples, an unprecedented move in the Church. He ordained that such blessings may be carried out as long as they don’t form part of the Church’s regular rituals, and if they are not carried out at the same time as other civil unions. African bishop associations pushed back hard at this. Several countries on the continent are strongly against same-sex or other non-conforming gender categories due to religious and cultural beliefs. One such association was the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), which, in a statement, rejected the rule and described the union of same-sex or non-heterosexual people as “unacceptable”. The group, under the lead of Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of the DRC, said “these acts…must not be approved under any circumstances.” Bishops in Asia also made similar calls for the Vatican to U-turn on the new ruling. Responding to the criticism, Pope Francis told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that his emphasis was on the blessing of the people involved, not necessarily the union. He said: “We are all sinners: Why then draw up a list of sinners who can enter the Church?” In the case of criticism from Africa, Pope Francis acknowledged the concerns. “For them, homosexuality is something ‘bad’ from a cultural point of view; they don’t tolerate it,” he said. Follow Al Jazeera English:...