Most of us know of South Korea, officially called the Republic of Korea. Many images may come to mind when Korea is mentioned: a beautiful country with a strong economy and well-protected environment. South Korea is a small country with grit. The shrimp sized peninsula is a national success story that transformed itself from impoverished conditions to industrial riches in a remarkable 68-year postwar period. It was only a few years ago that South Korea, wracked by poverty, political chaos and popular discontent, was widely regarded as a sinkhole of American aid. Now this small, ruggedly anti-communist country enjoys relative political stability and is making impressive economic progress.
The Korean War began in 1950 when forces from the North invaded the South. By the end of the conflict three years later, one and half million people had been killed and about a quarter of Korean capital stock destroyed. After the war, the South Korean people worked as one hand, moral and loyalty high, in a nation-wide effort to rebuild the country. Policymakers set to work stimulating economic growth by promoting indigenous industrial firms. The government selected firms in targeted industries and gave them privileges to buy foreign currencies and to borrow funds from banks at preferential rates. The government also erected tariff barriers and imposed a prohibition on manufacturing imports, hoping that the protection would help domestic firms improve productivity through learning-by-doing and importing advanced technologies. Few among indigenous companies includes Samsung, LG and Hyundai automobile, the biggest plant in the world in Ulsan with an annual capacity of 1.5 million units, made up of five independent manufacturing facilities on a 5,050,000 m2 site where over 34,000 employees produce an average of 6,000 vehicles per day. In addition, it has a dedicated pier where three 50,000 ton ships can dock at once. This small country has invaded the world with her products, which can be found everywhere we go. Some people cannot fathom how a small country like South Korea managed to achieve this.
South Korea is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, and is a member of the United Nations, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), WTO, a founding member of APEC and the East Asia Summit and also a member of the G-20 major economies. South Korea has a market economy that ranks 15th in the world by nominal GDP and 12th by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is a developed country, with a developed market and a high-income economy. South Korea is the only developed country included in the group of Next Eleven countries. South Korea had one of the world’s fastest growing economies from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, and remains one of the fastest growing developed countries in the 2000s.The economy is export-driven, with production focusing on ships, machinery, automobiles, electronics, petrochemicals and robotics.. It should also be mentioned that Korea’s national development is also aided by its strict gun control laws. Korea ranks among the leading countries in lowest quantity of firearms per capital. Fifty years ago, both South Korea and Finland had terrible education systems. Finland was at risk of becoming the economic stepchild of Europe. South Korea was ravaged by civil war. Yet over the past half century, both South Korea and Finland have turned their schools around — and now both countries are hailed internationally for their extremely high educational outcomes. What Is South Korea Doing Right? From the educational perspective,
South Koreans are much invested in education. They have a lot riding on it. Everything from their social status to their marriage prospects to their job is determined by where they went to college. And parents are judged based on what universities their kids get into too. So it goes without saying that parents and students are highly motivated when it comes to school.
South Korea is very savvy when it comes to leveraging technology to improve their schools. They topped PISA’s digital literacy test in 2009, proving that when it comes to computers, their kids are on the ball. Every school in South Korea has high-speed internet. They also have digital textbooks to make learning materials more accessible, especially to lower income students. By the end of this year, they plan to go 100% digital and have all textbooks in all of their schools accessible from a computer, tablet or phone..
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with more than 160 million people living there. What this means is that one in every 7 Africans is a Nigerian. Geographically, Nigerian terrain changes from the high savanna-covered plateaus in the north to the oil-rich Niger Delta in the southern part down to the rain forest belt region towards the coast. Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of crude oil in the world (averaging 2,525,000 barrels per day) and the 8th largest exporter. It also possesses the largest natural gas reserves in the continent. The capital-intensive oil sector provides 20 per cent of gross domestic product, 95 per cent of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65 per cent of budgetary. Nigeria has the 10th largest proven reserves of petroleum worldwide. Petroleum plays an important role in the country’s economy and contributes to more than 85% of the total government’s revenue. However poverty in Nigeria remains significant despite high economic growth it first started sometime during the British empire. Nigeria has one of the world’s highest economic growth rates (averaging 7.4% over the last decade), a well-developed economy, and plenty of natural resources such as oil. Just last year, Nigeria’s economy was reported to have surpassed South Africa’s as the largest on the continent after the West African nation overhauled its gross domestic product data for the first time in two decades. On paper, the size of the economy expanded by more than three-quarters to an estimated 80 trillion naira ($488 billion) for 2013. That compares with the World Bank’s 2012 GDP figures of $262.6 billion for Nigeria and $384.3 billion for South Africa. However, it retains a high level of poverty, with 63% living on below $1 daily, implying a decline in equity. Our health and education systems are in dire need of total overhauling. Most of our tertiary institutions are battling the problem of inadequate and out-of-date materials. Implementing a people, process and equipment model in the health sector will reintroduce efficiency and the welfare of our health care professionals must also be paramount. Functional and qualitative education is a tool for positive social transformation, personal empowerment and national development. Increasing funding to meet the UNESCO recommendation of 26% budgetary allocation to the educational sector must be emphasized. Our tourism sector must be a force to reckon with as most developed countries also generate huge amount of revenue from the sector.
I have written here on South Korea’s economic success to give an impression of their developmental stages and the power of believing that nothing is impossible with the power of human persistence. Despite numerous obstacles, Korea became one of the world’s most developed countries. Nigerians is presently facing its own share of obstacles, annual shutdown of Universities and incessant industrial actions across all boards, insecurity, corruption, and despite all these ugly scenarios, I am convinced based on your track records Mr President-elect, that your government coupled with the “change” slogan of the masses from Efon Alaaye in Ekiti State to Onitsha in Anambra to Daura in Katsina together with relentless efforts of our policymakers can also create a success story from Nigeria. We can become a developed country, a beautiful country rich with resources both human and natural. We much work together, the government and the nation, on the single goal of building a new Nigeria devoid of ethnicity and conflict but rather saddled with commitment to public service and in turn even with our enormous minerals and resources we can then be wealthy and developed. In conclusion, I remind everyone generations yet unborn will one day ask us what we did for them. I hope that my message is heard loud and clear: A NEW NIGERIA IS POSSIBLE.
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Igbalajobi Olumuyiwa Ayokunle, Jr
Postgraduate Student
Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology
Daejeon University
South Korea
olumuyiwaayokunle@yahoo.com
