By Karounwi Adini
What the Iran-US war has affirmed for me is the validity of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s consistent message.
A nation’s true wealth is the brains of its people.
Not mineral resources.
Their quality of thought and skill determines how quickly they advance.
97% of Iran’s drugs are manufactured locally. For a country that used to import over 70% of its pharmaceutical needs before, it’s a remarkable achievement.
It also started manufacturing Key Starting Materials (KSM) that it was initially importing from Netherlands, South Korea and United States, after US Sanctions, because it has a good petrochemical industry.
Iran produces over 98000 MW of electricity and manufactures its power turbines itself.
Iran is food independent, and is so big was supplying Qatar with food in 2017, during the Saudi-UAE blockade against Qatar. Even during the advent of this war, the CNN crew led by Frederick Pleitgen observed that shops, supermarkets and bazaars are open and stocked with food, with no panic observable.
Iran is the largest manufacturer of vehicles in the Middle-East, over 1.2million vehicles in 2025, and 16th-largest producer globally.
Iran produces about 32 million tonnes of steel a year. Germany the 3rd largest exporter of goods in world, and biggest economy in Europe, produces 34 million tonnes of steel yearly.
Iran is the 10th biggest producer of steel globally.
Yet, this is a country under crippling US sanctions.
It is food independent, energy independent, manufacturing independent, and healthcare independent.
It still provides fuel subsidy to its people and fuel even during war, is equivalent of around 140naira per litre.
All these is impossible without a robust educational system that ties town-and-gown together.
It has a 99% literacy rate, for under-15’s, and a strong STEM sector dominated by women.
I hope we put this in perspective, when we give excuses for the sorry cases of our Nigerian leaders, who are so shameless not to consider and actively work for the benefits of their citizens.
