I read this book in July last year and it’s unforgettable. I even wrote a review here: https://medium.com/@Thowsyne/book-review-unlikely-partners-by-julian-gewirtz-767de81dfe04

The part I highlighted stunned me the most. The impression I had prior to the book was a China developed through wholly home-grown solutions. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Do you remember how Deng met with the World Bank in 1980 and uttered the words, “We are very poor. We are very poor. We have lost touch with the world. We need the World Bank to catch up.” The World Bank ended up becoming China’s largest single source of foreign capital and the Bank’s largest borrower. It was also these efforts which eventually helped in the facilitation of the popular Bashan Conference, a framework still in use by the Chinese top officials.

Nigeria needs leaders who like Deng, and most importantly Xhao, desire to “seek truth from facts” and are interested in declaring a momentous break from the inefficient traditional economy which has not served us well. I really liked how Deng sought to find a form of socialism that did not “boil down to shared poverty”.

It was an amazing read. One of my takeaways is that any leader looking to put Nigeria on the way of progress must hate poverty with every fibre of his being. No two ways about it.

The same thing is being echoed in a book about India I’m currently reading by James’ Crabtree, The Billionaire Raj. You want to learn more about India? I recommend this book.