Financial analyst Kalu Aja has stirred debate after stating that Nigeria’s economy performed better in the 1950s under British colonial rule than it has in the decades following independence in 1960. Aja made the remarks in a statement posted on his X account on Saturday.
He lamented the decline of Nigeria’s agricultural fortunes in the post-independence era, noting that commodities such as groundnuts, palm oil and cocoa once positioned the country as a global agricultural powerhouse. According to him, Nigeria ranked among the world’s top producers of several cash crops in the 1950s, generating significant foreign exchange, but those gains have since eroded. Aja argued that the sector thrived largely due to the administrative structure of the colonial government, adding that productivity declined after independence when colonial administrators left.
His comments come amid mounting economic challenges in Nigeria, where citizens continue to struggle with rising living costs. Despite a slowdown in inflation, which stood at 15.15 percent in December 2025 according to the National Bureau of Statistics, economic hardship remains widespread, fueling renewed scrutiny of past and present leadership and policy choices.