The Issue I Have With Our Economy

Yesterday, I read somewhere that records show that Nigerians studying in the US get better grades than even the Americans. And I think it's true. If you read the newspapers often you'll be sure to come across news of one Nigerian getting a result no one else in that foreign university has gotten before. 

It is not that we are intellectually challenged. In fact, when we set our minds on it, we do better than the Americans at intellectually demanding tasks. 

So what then is our problem? Why is our economy not reflecting any of those intellectual firepower. 
We don't have a software industry.
We don't have a high-tech manufacturing industry.
We don't have a proper mechanized farming industry.
We are four fifths a services powered economy.

Almost everyone is selling something someone else has created: Network Marketing, IT services, Importation business, Auto Dealerships, Petroleum products, Online Stores and all the new craze. Only very few people are doing any creating. And of those few people, a large chunk are still stuck with the 19th century methods. Our farmers still use outdated farming equipment. Our products are so poorly made that they can't compete in the international free market. Only our Garri is doing great, and this is because it's got no direct competition.

We often blame the system and government but I think we have as much blame to bear too. We do too much group thinking and following the crowd. We simply try to do better at what everyone else is doing. And that is why one part of the economy is crowded and another part is like a desert. Every business idea is about selling something -- clothes, electronics, groceries, network marketing products -- and not about manufacturing or doing any high-tech business. And that is the issue I have with our economy.