MR. Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, has predicted that if Nigeria, which currently has about 20 per cent of the entire African population, could get “everything right,” its economy alone may be bigger than any of Canada, Italy or South Korea by 2050. And if this happens, Nigeria and 11 other countries in Africa including South Africa have the potential to become a Bric-like economy within this period. Brazil, Russia, India and China belong to the Bric Group with the largest high-growth emerging economies of the world.
Zuma stated this last week in China during an official visit to promote close ties with the country which just last year rose to become his country’s largest trading partner. Although, Nigeria is currently pursuing a vision of becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020, Zuma said he and his colleagues in these countries have dubbed the group of populous emerging countries in Africa after the Brics with Nigeria and Egypt as having the most promising outlooks.
For Nigeria to achieve its 2050 potentials, South African president said it has to raise its current average scores significantly. “Stable macroeconomic policies focused on low inflation and avoiding excessive government and external debt are perhaps the easiest targets,” he said. “Among the micro components, we identify the stability of government, improving the rule of law, improving the most basic levels of education, spreading the use of mobile telephone and internet – there have already been impressive developments here – and perhaps most importantly eradicating the chronic corruption seen throughout many African nations.”  
 Zuma said nearly half of the continent’s GDP would originate from Egypt and Nigeria.