Photo/Jack Orton Renee Booker and John White Jr., of the North Avenue Community Development Corp., talk about the development plans for North Ave.

Implausibly, Nigeria, a nation rich in mineral assets such as oil and diamonds, is looking to Milwaukee's central city as a model for economic development.

That's right. Milwaukee, with the eighth-highest rate of poverty among large cities in America, has captured the interest of Nigeria, a nation in western Africa where devastating poverty affects nearly 60% of the population, despite vast wealth in fossil fuels.

I found this a little hard to comprehend, but that's the problem with Milwaukee - it often takes an outsider to see opportunities that people here miss.

And Nigerian officials see a goldmine in a part of the city that many businesses abandoned years ago and still shun today. They are impressed with the revitalization along North Ave., a neighborhood that is making a comeback.

The consul general of Nigeria, Ibrahim Auwalu, came to Milwaukee on Aug. 17 to meet with city leaders. The purpose was to discuss economic opportunities between Nigeria and central city businesses and ways Nigeria could duplicate the business reinvestment and housing development that have occurred along the North Ave. corridor.

During his Milwaukee visit, one of several this year, Auwalu toured new retail and office space and housing developments. The neighborhood is bounded by I-43 to 48th St. on the west, Burleigh St. on the north and Juneau Ave. on the south.

"Here you have a community that was being abandoned, but through the sheer determination of the people to bring it back to life, it's now being revived," Auwalu said in a phone interview last week. "It is that determination that we're interested in."

Development model

Auwalu, who represents the president of Nigeria, learned about redevelopment efforts in Milwaukee's central city from Ali Garba, a local Nigerian who is a vice president and investment officer for Wachovia Securities.

Garba met Auwalu at a conference of Nigerian professionals last year in Minneapolis and invited him to visit Milwaukee to get a firsthand view of the development taking place in the central city, pointing to North Ave. as a model.

The Nigerian government is interested in partnering with the North Avenue Community Development Corp., a non-profit organization that is buying and developing commercial and residential real estate properties along North Ave. The goal would be to share ideas and resources for economic development both here and in Nigeria, Auwalu said.

This delights Renee Booker, president and chief executive officer of the North Ave. development group.

"This is a unique opportunity where Milwaukee can really make a national name. This is the kind of thing you don't hear about," Booker said. "If we can make this work here, then why couldn't that happen in Nigeria?"

Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines Jr., whose 15th aldermanic district includes North Ave., is excited about a potential relationship with Nigeria and hopes it will help erase some of the stigma associated with the central city.

"Unfortunately, there's limited appreciation for the outstanding success and achievements that have occurred in the central city. There are a number of neighborhoods where residents are taking back their communities, where residents are moving back in and you're seeing business growth," Hines said. "It took someone from Nigeria to really appreciate the value of what's happening in the district."

Parallels to capital city

The consul general sees parallels between the central city and parts of northern Nigeria, where riot-damaged cities are being rebuilt. Auwalu compares Milwaukee to Kano, the economic center of northern Nigeria and one of the oldest and largest cities in the region.

Like parts of the central city, Kano, the capital of the State of Kano, is an old industrial city that has had stagnant economic growth.

"Some parts are so old, we want to see if we can tear those down and build a new city within an old city," Auwalu said. "We want to open a discussion between Kano state government and North Avenue CDC to see how they can partner and share ideas."

This could mean potential opportunities for minority-owned firms in Milwaukee to help in the rebuilding of Kano and other Nigerian cities, and North Avenue CDC can help lead such efforts, Auwalu said. What's more, such a partnership might help Milwaukee build stronger relations with Nigerians here at home, where the Nigerian population is estimated to be about 5,000.

"This is an opportunity to create economic development in poor areas of Nigeria, using North Avenue as a model," Wachovia's Garba said. "If we can get things done in Nigeria, it's going to catch on like fire. What they're doing on North Avenue may not be exciting to people here, but to Nigerians, it's like heaven."

Imagine that. Somebody sees the central city of Milwaukee as heaven. It may be a stretch, but the thought is refreshing.