Wining, whining and winning

According to Business Insider reports, Nigerians spent over $1billion on beer and other beverages in the first 9 months of 2025. Nigerian Breweries recorded over N1trillion Naira in revenue, a 47% jump from 2024. By the second quarter, it netted a profit of N88billion, marking a 204% turnaround from a loss of N84.32 billion posted during the 2nd quarter of 2024. International Breweries bounced back to profitability after many years of serial losses. And I had to ask myself, “With all the negative pictures that several people paint about how terrible the Nigerian economy has become, who drank all of that?” I saw some receipts from Detty December consumptions and my head was literally spinning! In a recent post, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, posted statistics from IMF listing Nigeria among the top ten countries globally that recorded more than 1.5% growth in GDP in the last one year. In terms of figures, Nigeria ranked 26 among the top 40 countries, ahead of Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Africa!

Last year, the financial services sector grew astronomically, with First HoldCo Plc, parent company of First Bank, growing its earnings to N3.4 trillion with investor deposits surpassing 18 trillion Naira! Profit was about N1 trillion and in one fell swoop, the bank wrote off bad debts totaling almost eight hundred billion Naira and still delivered 90 kobo/share as dividend to shareholders! According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.98 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the third quarter of 2025. This performance, slightly higher than the 3.86 percent recorded in the same period of 2024, was largely driven by the non-oil economy that contributed over 96 percent of the national output.

Agriculture remained the backbone of the economy, accounting for more than 30% of real GDP. Crop production led the charge, contributing 23.06 percent, with its growth rate rising to 3.79 percent from 2.55 percent in Q3 2024. Livestock added another 6.18 percent, underscoring the sector’s central role in sustaining national output and food security.

The services sector continued to dominate, representing 53.02 percent of GDP. Trade activity contributed 16.42 percent, reflecting sustained household consumption and retail spending across the country. Real estate also proved resilient, accounting for 13.36 percent of output.

Telecommunications and Information Services contributed 7.67 percent to GDP while recording a strong real growth of 5.78 percent. Professional, scientific, and technical services and public administration added 2.37 percent and 2.56 percent respectively.

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Formerly the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, the oil sector accounted for only 3.80 percent of GDP. Crude petroleum and natural gas production rose to an average of 1.64 million barrels per day, up from 1.47 million the previous year.

Food, beverage & tobacco manufacturing adding 3.44 percent while construction contributed 3.03 percent amid ongoing infrastructure projects and private development.

The data highlights a gradual structural shift away from over-reliance on crude oil, with agriculture and services emerging as the main engines of growth.

Why have I gone into all these details? Instead of acknowledging the steady progress being made as evidenced by verifiable data, many Nigerians stuck in perpetual critic mode will still tell you that nothing is happening in the economy.

In all my years as a pastor and certified Leadership Development Trainer as well as having served on several committees and boards, one thing stands out clearly. The most vocal critics make the WORST leaders.

And it should not be surprising. The best soccer analysts have never stepped into the field of play. The best movie critics are the ones who never saw a script, talk less of stepping on a stage or even being cast as “waka pass” on a movie set. In the words of a Yoruba proverb, anybody can cook vegetable soup with his mouth, and anyone can wave his hand to demonstrate how to clear a forest. The average beer parlor or bar is the warehouse of all the “solutions” to national problems and the best strategies for running a government or an organization. The only problem is that when the drinks and the pepper soup have saturated the body, it all ends there – until the next day when the cycle is repeated! Whenever I have someone on my team who is very critical of everything we do and comes from a negative, rather than a constructive problem-solving approach, I simply ask them to head reform in the area where they have identified lapses and regularly whine about. Nine out of ten times, they do not deliver. Deja vu!

The world may pay attention to the unrelenting rabid critic because of the penchant for negativity as a reinforcement of personal dysfunction, but it never celebrates negativity and criticism as legacy. The high decibel of many people’s cynicism is a face-saving device that parries responsibility for anything away from them, as long as they can find a system or government to blame!

Perpetual criticism sucks you into a vortex of negative energy that spreads like a virus to anyone around you who does not deliberately protect himself from its epidemic effect. No wonder the Bible tells us to guard our hearts with all diligence because from there proceed the issues that shape our very life. As the heart goes, so the outcomes. Don’t stay long around negative people. It is injurious to your creative genius.

It is ok to identify and even analyze problems. The data produced from that exercise are valuable raw materials to achievers who have eyes and ears to identify the inherent opportunities in what the critic identifies. The sad reality is that the perpetual critic himself never sees those opportunities. If you doubt it, consider the man called Hanani in the Bible (I bet you don’t even know him or remember where he is mentioned). He was the one that provided the analytic identification of a national crisis that was to later place Nehemiah (I bet you know that one) on the center-page of Israeli history.

In the world of journalism, we say that good news is no news. Negativity is very attractive. Consequently, bad news sells. Newspaper columnists who always criticize without proffering solutions attract the highest number of readers. On social media, all you need to grow your pages and fasttrack the monetization agenda is to be a purveyor of negativity. People will rather follow the rabid critic online than read a good book or follow a Personal Development page.

Are you still wondering why there are more critics than leaders? Many will say I am insensitive to the reality of Nigeria and the suffering of the common man. The picture I painted above with statistics is also the reality of Nigeria! Choose your reality. I chose mine.

The leader who makes the difference also KNOWS the problem, sometimes more than the virulent critic.

So, what is the difference? One talks. The other DOES.

The critic shares the story. The achiever finds the business in the story. The creative spirit only thrives when presented with adversity.

Business lives in problems. If you doubt it, check the story of any genuinely successful person you know.

So, which problem are you angry about in Nigeria or anywhere you are living in right now?

What will you DO about it?

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!