Data, not oil, will drive Nigeria’s next era of prosperity – Chidoka warns

Former Minister of Aviation and Chancellor of the Athena Centre, Chief Osita Chidoka, OFR, has declared that Nigeria’s next phase of national prosperity will be powered by data and scientific knowledge rather than crude oil.

Chidoka made the assertion on Tuesday, November 11, while delivering the keynote address at the 3rd International Hybrid Conference and Annual Lecture of the Faculty of Physical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka. The lecture was themed “From Resources to Prosperity: The Role of the Physical Sciences in Managing Nigeria’s Future.”

Disclosing this in a statement, Special Assistant (Media) to Chidoka, Ikechukwu Okafor noted that Chidoka argued that data has overtaken crude oil as the world’s most valuable asset, stressing that nations that invest in scientific thinking now define global innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth.

Reflecting on his reforms at the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Chidoka noted that nations fail not due to lack of resources but because they “do not measure, monitor, and manage those resources scientifically.” He warned that resource abundance without data produces only disorder, not development.

According to him, the world has fully entered the Age of Artificial Intelligence—an era he described as one where “algorithms, not pipelines, will determine prosperity.” He cautioned that countries that ignore the lessons of history—from the Enlightenment through the Industrial Revolution to the digital age—risk being left behind once again.

Chidoka identified universities as the institutions that will determine Africa’s competitiveness in this new era. He commended UNIZIK’s Faculty of Physical Sciences for its commitment to advancing scientific learning and applauded its Science Village initiative, which he described as a strategic platform for converting academic research into industrial solutions.

Calling for a nationwide shift from resource dependence to scientific discipline, he urged policymakers to adopt the M²I model—measure, monitor, improve—as a governance philosophy capable of unlocking Nigeria’s latent capabilities.

“The world no longer rewards nations for what lies beneath their soil, but for what lies between their ears,” Chidoka said, declaring that “our future will not be imported; it will be invented.”

The post Data, not oil, will drive Nigeria’s next era of prosperity – Chidoka warns appeared first on Vanguard News.