Challenges The paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty 7.4 The greatest challenge facing Nigeria is how to channel wealth from the oil and gas industry so as to achieve socioeconomic development. Nigeria hosts the third-largest concentration of poor people in the world, and is among the top 20 countries in the world with the widest gap between the rich and the poor. Corruption and money laundering 7.5 Corruption – both political and economic – is the main reason for poverty in Nigeria. Corruption has retarded economic growth and development, and has frustrated incentives to align budgetary allocations with development priorities. Dependency on oil and conflicts over resources 7.6 Overreliance on oil and, by extension, dependency on the central government – accompanied by struggles for resources such as those in the Niger Delta – pose challenges to the federation. Ineffective implementation of policies and laws 7.7 Ineffective implementation of policies and laws, and policy reversals, poses serious challenges to governance. Value reorientation, attitudinal issues and impunity 7.8 Nigeria faces the challenge of reversing the values and attitudes that are a legacy of its military history. Future prospects for Nigeria 7.9 24 By virtue of its population size, ethnic diversity, resource endowment, the ‘can-do’ spirit of its people, its relatively substantial intellectual capital and the proven positive role that it has played, and still plays, in critical PanAfrican initiatives such as conflict resolution and peacebuilding, Nigeria has the potential to occupy a leading position on the continent and even in the world. However, to achieve this and its own declared objective to become one of the 20 emerging economies by 2020, Nigeria needs visionary and transformative leadership at all levels of society. It needs leaders who are committed and willing to sacrifice personal aggrandisement for the collective good.