Invite China to colonise us  – Mahdi Shehu tells Nigerian leaders

Public affairs commentator Mahdi Shehu has urged Nigerian leaders to draw lessons from China’s development model, saying there is nothing wrong with adopting strategies that have helped other countries achieve rapid growth, stability, and security.

In a post shared on his verified X account on Sunday night, Shehu argued that countries that have attained high levels of development did not do so by chance but through purposeful leadership and long-term planning.

“Countries that reached enviable development, stability and security levels did not achieve that by coincidence,” he wrote.

“It was possible because they had and evolved a purposeful leadership pattern within space and time.”

According to him, China is a clear example of how determined leadership can transform challenges into opportunities.

“Despite all the visible and seeming disadvantages, China was able to surmount all those that appear disadvantageous and turned them into fortunes,” he said.

He added that China’s remarkable progress has made it a country where almost anything is achievable.

“Today there is nothing impossible in China. With China, anything within human capacity is possible,” Shehu stated.

He also criticised Nigerian government officials and security agencies for repeatedly visiting China on study tours without translating the experience into meaningful changes at home.

“Our various security agencies, senior government officials had and are still visiting China for study tour and experience sharing with nothing to show for it,” he said.

Shehu expressed frustration that despite years of such official visits, Nigeria has made little visible progress in applying the lessons learnt from China’s development and governance model.

“Perhaps we outsource Nigeria and invite China to come over and colonise us for 50 years so that we may learn the ropes,” he wrote.