He stated this as a guest at an interactive session hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a think-tank.

In his opening statement on the topic “Nigeria’s Economic Prospects”, the vice president hinged his discussion on four areas including population, and environment with respect to climate change.

He identified the other two areas as production especially agriculture, manufacturing and technology as well as security, and the challenges of terrorism, violent Islamic extremism, social exclusion and resource conflicts.

Osinbajo noted that what happened in the four areas in the continent in the coming years would impact positively or negatively on the fortunes of the world.

He said, “The doomsday scenario is as follows: Africa’s population grows exponentially, food production is not able to match population growth, a rise in transhuman conflicts due to shrinking vegetation and water.

“Lack of jobs and opportunity for a large  poorly educated youth population, leading to aggressive illegal migration, vulnerability to extremism and, the creation of a convenient breeding ground for extremist groups and a terrorist  launch pad to the rest of the world.

“A horrifying situation indeed, and possible if in the next three decades Africa drops the ball on these four indicators.

“Neither Africa nor the rest of the world can afford to have these scenarios playing out.”

Osinbajo stated that being the most populous nation in the continent, Nigeria had a critical role to play in those four areas.

According to him, it is not an exaggeration to say that as “Nigeria goes, so goes Africa”.

The vice president said although the challenges were huge, they were excellent opportunities for “ground-breaking” investments and innovation by both local and foreign players.