Nigeria: A Product Manager’s Take on a Failing Startup

As a Product Manager based in Nigeria and, let’s be real, actively living the struggle, I’ve often thought about this country as a product. If Nigeria were a startup, it would have crashed on launch day. In the spirit of iterative improvement and no-BS honesty, here’s my mini case study on why Nigeria, as a product, is failing spectacularly.

1. No Product-Market Fit

In product lingo, “product-market fit” means delivering a solution that actually meets the needs of your target users. In Nigeria’s case, we see policies that feel randomly imposed, a lack of citizen-focused solutions, and a general sense that leadership is out of touch with everyday people. Think of it like rolling out a new feature nobody asked for except here, it’s entire laws and regulations.

• Red Flag: Citizens are suffering, yet policies remain tone-deaf.
• Impact: People leave cue the “JAPA” movement, where talent and ambition migrate elsewhere.
• Translation: If your user base is fleeing, you’re losing market share fast.

2. Terrible Team & Zero Scalability

A big chunk of product success hinges on the team behind it. In Nigeria’s metaphorical “startup,” leadership changes often, but we rarely see any real strategic vision or synergy. No one is on the same page, and there’s no clear roadmap. It’s basically like every new CEO (government leader) resets everything to zero only to make it worse.

• No Roadmap: No unifying direction, no long-term plan, no real accountability.
• No Scalability: Infrastructure, policies, and public services struggle to keep up with even basic demands. Instead of growth, we see more problems piling up.

3. No Freedom of Speech = Ignoring User Feedback

In product management, user feedback is gold. You iterate, you pivot, you improve based on what your users actually need. But here? If you speak your mind, you risk getting shut down, censored, or worse. This is like a startup that permanently closes its user feedback form and bans critics from the app. How do you build a better product when you’re not listening to the people who use it every day?

• Missed Opportunities: Suppressing feedback leads to missed chances to fix real pain points.
• Broken Feedback Loop: Without free speech, there’s no authentic dialogue. That’s a one-way ticket to irrelevance.

4. Everything Is Expensive = Poor Pricing Strategy

Basic needs food, housing, transportation are priced like luxury goods. It’s as if the product managers of “Nigeria, Inc.” decided that user affordability and satisfaction don’t matter. People are forced to pay premium prices for subpar services.

• 24/7 Exploitation: Citizens are effectively locked into a system where they have no choice but to overpay.
• Unattractive to Investors: A product that’s overpriced and under-delivering scares off both local and foreign investment.

5. Light = System Downtime 24/7

Imagine an app that crashes every few minutes. That’s Nigeria’s power grid. No stable power means no stable foundation for growth. It’s tough to scale when your servers (in this case, the national grid) keep going down. If your “app” can’t stay online, you can’t realistically build or maintain user trust.

• Infrastructure Gaps: Constant power outages, bad roads, unreliable security, these are major blockers for any product’s success.
• Productivity Loss: Frequent downtime discourages innovation, disrupts daily life, and kills the spirit of entrepreneurship.

6. Surroundings = Bad UX/UI

Nigeria often looks great on the surface just like an app with a slick UI in the screenshots but once you dive in, you find major “bugs.” Broken roads, unreliable security, and public spaces in disrepair create an overall poor user experience.

• Inconsistent Design: The real-world environment doesn’t match the “vision” often sold to the public.
• User Churn: If the experience is consistently terrible, people will avoid using the “app” whenever they can or they’ll simply leave.

Would You Use This Product?

• If Nigeria were a startup, it would have failed.
• If Nigeria were an app, users would’ve uninstalled it by now.
• If Nigeria were a product, it would probably rank among the worst launches in history.

That’s the brutal truth. And yet, here we are, still hoping for a pivot some big rebrand or an overdue update that addresses fundamental flaws. We need leadership that iterates based on genuine user feedback, invests in real infrastructure, and commits to building a country that truly serves its people.

Call to Action: It’s easy to complain, but let’s also keep the conversation going on social media, in our workplaces, at the ballot box wherever real change can be pushed forward. If you were a PM for “Nigeria, Inc.,” how would you propose the next sprint? Because if we can’t fix the product, we might as well prepare for a mass user exodus and that’s not a future anyone wants.

Thank you for reading this product manager’s rant-slash-case study. If you found value in this perspective, feel free to share it. Maybe, just maybe, we can start iterating toward a Nigeria that doesn’t crash on launch.