On Monday 14 by 9.a.m during Sunrise Daily programme on Channels TV, the spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organization, Mr Festus Keyamu, said that Forbes rated Nigeria as having the best economy in Africa. The statement which was reported on TheCable was actually said on national TV, Channels TV to be specific.
Forbes is an American family-controlled business magazine. It features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics.
Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, politics, and law. The magazine is well known for its lists and rankings, including of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400 ), of the world’s top companies (the Forbes Global 2000 ), and the world’s billionaires. The motto of Forbes magazine is “The Capitalist Tool”!
To verify the claim, DUBAWA first attempted to contact Mr. Keyamo but was unable to (this report will be updated if this changes). Nevertheless, the video which has been uploaded on YouTube shows the interview where he stated this.
Since Forbes has a website, it was easy to find out if the acclaimed report exists, and it was discovered that Forbes has not released its 2018 ranking of the best economy in the world. The recent release available on Forbes website, however, is “Best Countries for Business”!
Forbes Releases Annual Reports on the Best Economy
Yes, Forbes does release annual reports on the best economy in the world. This is done sometimes by rating counties or by providing the GDP of countries surveyed by them. In May 2016, Forbes published that Nigeria was top with Egypt and South Africa behind. Last year December, it stated in the report on countries economy that Nigeria’s GDP was $405bn. The report for 2018 has not been released.
Nigeria isn’t even among the top countries for doing business!
Although the best economy ranking has not been released, Forbes actually released on Friday, September 7, 2018, the top countries for doing business and Nigeria was not even rated top in Africa. Nigeria was ranked 3rd best in Africa in terms of “investor protection”. Rwanda and South Africa were rated above Nigeria on the African continent, and Nigeria was ranked as 115th best country to do business in the world in a total of 153 countries that were surveyed.
The rankings were based on 15 different factors including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape and investor protection.
Cumulatively, South Africa was ranked 48th while Rwanda scored 79th on the index for best country to do business.
Conclusion: Based on the available data, Forbes has not released such information and even if it did, we doubt Nigeria would be ranked top in Africa or the world. Festus Keyamo’s claim, is therefore, FALSE!
