Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man; he was born on April 19, 1957 whereas Aliko Dangote, Nigeria’s richest man,wasborn April on 10, 1957.
Dangote (shown in photo) is Africa’s richest man and Ambani, currently second richest in Asia, has beentippedby FORBES magazineto become the richest man in the world by 2014.
TheIndian politician Vinay Katiyar and the Nigerian politician Tunde Bakarewere both born on November 11, 1954. Katiyar served as Vice Presidentof BJ Party for the State ofUttar Pradesh (population 188 million) whereas Tunde Bakareserved asvice presidential candidate of the CPC (Congressfor Progressive Change) in Nigeria, a country with a population of 167 million.
There are other strange developments between India and Nigeria especially as itconcerns Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Hindu nationalist, and Bola Ige (1930-2001), Yoruba nationalist.
Gandhi and Ige both studied Law at the University College London. Gandhi and Ige were both imprisoned for their struggles on the democratic front. Gandhi and Ige have both been described as having caustic tongues. Gandhi was a mystic and relatedly Bola Ige a Rosicrucian.
Gandhi and Ige were both assassinated in their 70s – Gandhi in New Delhi, the political capital of India, and Bola Ige in Ibadan, the political capital of the Yoruba nation.
Gandhi had as his right hand man, Pandit Nehru. Twenty years younger thanGandhi, Nehru studied Geology, Physics, Chemistry and Botany and eventually Law.
Comparably Ige had as his special assistant, Olu Agunloye; 18 years younger than Ige, he studied Geo Physics.
Bola Ige is particularly interesting for the passion he showed for India, Gandhi and Nehru. In his autobiography, Kaduna Boy, he revealed that the first country he visited outside Nigeria was India. He also disclosed that he had readvirtually everything Gandhi and Nehru ever wrote.
Ige equally informed that when Nehru became Prime Minister in 1947, he was ashappy as if he were an Indian and when Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 he had “three days of excruciating mental agony and moodiness.”
India is the world’s largest democracy and Nigeria the largest democracy in Africa. India and Nigeria both have histories of slavery, colonialism by the British, ethno-religious conflicts, nepotism in politics and crippling corruption.
For instance, India’s top sports administrator, Suresh Kamaldi and chairman ofthe Commonwealth Games, was charged with corruption whereas ex-Chairman of the All-Africa Games, the Nigerian Amos Adamu, Nigeria’s top sports administrator, wascharged with corruption in relation to the hosting of the Under-17 World Cup.
Indians are known in Nigeria for fake drugs and Nigerians are known in India forhard drugs. 70% of Nigerians live in poverty and 30 % percent of Indians live in poverty. Inboth countries there is extreme riches and extreme poverty.
Gandhi, father of Indian independence, was born October 2, 1869 and the Nigerian dateof independence is October 1, 1960.
There is the Ghandian Movementthere is as well the Bola Ige Movement.
India has the disputed territory Kasmir, Nigeria had the disputed territory Bakassi.
The economist, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who served as India’s Minister of Finance and is now PrimeMinister, attended Oxford, oldest university in Britain and was Governor of the Reserve Bank of India whereas the economist, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’sMinister of Finance,tipped as a potential Nigerian President, served as Managing Director of theWorld Bank, attended Harvard university, the oldest university in the United States.
In colonial Nigeria it is said the students had a protest song that read in part: “After India comes Nigeria.”
In view of his, the question arises: Can Nigeria recreate the miracles of India in such areas asIT, Medicine, Pharmaceuticals and small-scale industries? Time shall tell.