The Worth of English Premier League.

While watching Manchester United vs Leicester City match some couple of months ago with over 75,000 spectators in the stadium and millions of people across over 185 countries, including yours truly glued to their TV set to get a firsthand glimpse of the action, my mind drifted for some moments on the huge contribution of Premier League to the UK GDP. I quickly checked my facts on the phone (thank God for Technology). I made some interesting discoveries and extrapolations.

The UK GDP as of 2016 was 2,618.89 billion dollars, and this is about 4.22% of the world economy. The Premier League had economic output worth 8 billion dollars in the 2013/2014 season and a 4.4 billion dollars contribution to UK GDP. Some may see this as a meagre contribution of just 0.17% to the GDP, but take a chill and watch as the perspective rolls out!!!! The 8 billion dollars is about the proposed amount for constructing the 4th mainland bridge by the Lagos state government.

For better context, the Premier League is the third money-spinning sporting events in the world, only trumped by the US Major League Baseball and US National Football League. It reached a staggering number of 750 million people through Television services in 2013/2014, this could explain the reason why the richest man in Africa, Dangote, is bent on buying Arsenal football club, and this is better simplified by the Yoruba saying, “olowo lo mo owo” (which means the rich know the best business)

Here is the kicker, Nigeria GDP was 406.1 billion dollars in December 2016 — of course, this is the highest in Africa, and the annotation- giant of Africa, may not be out of place. However, this is a thing of shameful pride considering the potentials within. Before the rebasing of the GDP, crude oil contributed as much as 40% in 2011 and later dropped to 7% in Q4 2016. The non-oil sector, such as the Nollywood industry and telecommunication, greatly influenced the drop in crude oil contribution to the GDP.

Nigeria is fixated on revolutionizing its economy with mineral deposits, neglecting the vast untapped potentials in its population. There are arguments against and for the discovery of crude in Oloibiri — is the discovery of crude oil a curse or a blessing? I do not think crude oil discovery is the problem but the invisible hands manipulating the revenues from crude oil sales.

For instance, the US's crude oil reserves are more than that in Nigeria, but the US still thrives in other sectors. The crude oil revenues should be the icing on the cake and not the cake itself. The life span of oil reserve in Nigeria is pegged at 100years; the question begging for an answer is — what happens afterwards? Over 60 years after crude was first discovered in Nigeria, there has not been any significant improvement in the lives of the average Nigerians.

The world is fast moving from total dependent on natural resources under the ground to “Natural resources” above the ground (Human resources). While natural resources like crude oil are not sustainable, human resource is the only comparative advantage for Africa and indeed Nigeria to prove her worth. The best exports of the likes of Cuban, India and China remain their technocrats. In fact, WHO pointed out that Cuba is known for training world-class doctors, which serves as one of her best exports and has increased medical tourism to Cuba by Europeans, Canadians and Americans alike.

The “The Money Fight” boxing match between Mayweather vs McGregor and the out of the world transfer fee for Neymar buttressed the importance of human capital development. Human capital is grossly underdeveloped in Nigeria, putting it at 151 on the United Nations Development Index in 2004. The recent wave of influence of Nigerian music stars is a good step in the right direction, and children only become what you expose them to. We can replicate what is happening in Nollywood and the music industry in other spheres of life.

Mineral resources are limited and finite. Sustainable development and the best return on investment that any Nation can have is its human capital. Nigeria has an active young population relentlessly looking for opportunities within and outside the country.

First published in 2017 on my Linkedin page