The underlying cautious optimism expressed in the title of this piece is
an indication of the subtle changes that experts on the ground and soldiers
in the grind have started to see in Nigeria today. As superficial as the
changes might seem to those in the relative comfort and security of the
Diaspora, they are indicative of seismic shifts that are occurring in the "geoconomic"
composition of Nigerian reality. Positive as the changes are, they are still
fraught with the same irregularities that have come to characterize Nigerian
society as a whole, and the "wayo" theatrics that are an embodiment of our
national pastime. Some might argue that this analysis is premature at this
point in time. However, I am emboldened by what I see and hear from those on
the ground, and I hope to confirm or refute my allegations eventually. I
will definitely publish a retraction with as much gusto as I opine this
argument right now if the need ever arises. But from what I can see right
now, there are signs, you just have to know what to look for. In the final
analysis, one can only hope that we prevail ultimately and that my
bubble-economic theories are validated in due time.
Charting a balanced course on the treacherous path to development and
parity on an international level in terms of economic and political activity
in any society is the ultimate responsibility of its citizens. The social
implications of a people collectively shirking their responsibility to their
reality, apart from resulting in eventual sociocide, serve as a case study
in societal madness, and should be studied from all angles and analyzed by
different means. This provides some insight into a people's propensity for a
permanent fixation on the anti-life as the natural state of their existence,
and the attendant anomalies that this penchant presents. It is convenient to
place the blame for this miserable state of affairs on the derelict Status
Quo within said society. However, it is indicative of wider putrefaction in
the moral fiber of the society at large. In Nigeria today, we have arrived
at a salient juncture; we must decide to tread water in stagnant comfort or
die swimming in an effort to uproot our mentality and reality from the
gutters of world public opinion and inhumanity. As legitimate stakeholders
in the future of our society, we can no longer surrender our right to be
governed to a bunch of moronic imbeciles (sic) moonlighting as political
leaders. We invest our rights in our elected leaders and as such, they owe
us returns on our investment in them; however, the ultimate responsibility
for demanding these returns rests with us, the governed. That was the deal
we signed, that is our social contract. Instead they have proceeded to
utilize the sophisticated tactics of ethnic dismemberment to misdirect our
attentions and divide our efforts. Except for a few good men and women who
have generally been rendered irrelevant by the relevance of mediocrity in
our society, we have been cursed (a few co-opted goons say blessed) by the
phenomenon of midnight marauders, plundering rapists and pirates,
floundering brigands and rascals, continuously leading us on trips to
nowhere. We are by and large victims of the biggest 419 scam ever devised by
human intellect and scientific ingenuity. But nothing I have said in the
preceding lines is new or a radical departure from the reality of our
prevailing circumstances; what we must now do, is employ special techniques
germane to our anomalous condition and in so doing salvage some reprieve
from the opprobrium and revolting psychological hemophilia of our way of
life.
In various media, I have read (with increasing optimism) of Nigerian
professionals and entrepreneurs making inroads into our burgeoning IT
sector, and using it as a tool for rapid development and radical evolution.
I have read repeatedly of confident revolutionaries proposing and
establishing SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) as alternative engines for
growth within the Nigerian economy. In contrast to our ridiculous
over-reliance on government largesse as the final arbiter and determinant of
business success in Nigeria, daring patriots have stepped forward and staked
their comfort on their belief in the opportunities that abound even within a
sordid contraption like Nigeria. They have decided to seize their destiny
from the clutches of myopic "leaders" by charting an economic kismet that is
aligned with the wishes of the general population. Even though they still
need help from government to provide the enabling environment for them to
perform their "magic", Nigeria has long been a country of BYI (Bring Your
Infrastructure). These ingenious pioneers are forging the determinant of
their success in the fire of their patriotic zeal to do right by their
fatherland, but at the same time, reap tremendous business profits from said
endeavor. They are circumventing the pedantic S.O.P that western
imperialists encouraged their fore-fathers to adopt, and that the
neo-colonial errand boys in political power have chosen to champion;
choosing instead to defy western economic indices and standards by refining
their own brand of entrepreneurship, rooted in a balance between capitalist
conservatism and societal responsibility.
Life is all about percentages, and though the obviously positive picture
that I paint in regards to this brand of Nigerians might appear fantastic to
most people, it is quite the contrary. The reason that we have not
acknowledged this sluggish change in mentality (and its resulting impact on
the conduct of business in general), is because a higher percentage of
Nigerians eschew the harsh freedom and sacrifices of entrepreneurial
ingenuity, and still rely on government largesse as the ultimate determinant
of sound business principles. Some of those who are locked out of this
avenue to wealth are driven to the extremes of criminal ingenuity, while
some are emboldened to build their own enterprises by depending on the
resourcefulness of their abilities and the vacillations of chance. The
pattern of quietly dogged innovation and creativity goes unheralded because
the pillars of the Nigerian private sector (variously called OPS - Organized
Private Sector), rest on the shaky foundation and ethnically jingoistic
sentiments of government patronage. The fact that references to the private
sector in Nigeria contains the qualifier "organized" is indicative of a
latent acquiescence to this concept of government as the final arbiter of
entrepreneurial success, hence their need to lobby government for patronage
and largesse. As mere extensions of the whims and caprices of the existing
power structure (not as representatives of the people), governments in
Nigeria measure their economic and political success by the number of their
cronies and sundry sycophantic philanderers that they are able to "blow-up"
or "rehabilitate". They do not measure or care to examine the impact of
their policies on the socio-economic landscape of Nigeria by quantifiable
macro and micro-economic feedback from the middle-class and other strata of
society. Instead, the Status Quo is concerned with the exact definition of
its nomenclature, perpetuating the rule of the glutinous and myopic few,
over the aspirations and concerns of the besieged many. However, the time
has come when we have to seize the initiative from government and move
forward irrespective of the cost to life and limb. Like I said, life is all
about percentages, all Nigerians cannot begin to think this way, but we need
enough of them to do so. The greatest indicator that will signal the
enthronement of a vibrant and successful IT sector will not be a
preponderance of blue chip behemoths a la Nigerian versions or subsidiaries
of Microsoft/HP/Dell etc., but rather a flourishing cornucopia of
Small-to-Medium sized IT organizations. We need mom and pop IT shops to
spring up around technology hubs and institutions, because most of the
innovations that drive technological advancements, leading to
entrepreneurial ventures and consequently to economic growth, originate in
the vigorous environment of intellectual inquiry and the resourcefulness of
commercial genius in any society. However, the finances that will fund these
enterprises to their fruition cannot come solely from government. They must
come from the varied coffers of individual and institutional investors such
as banks, investment funds, sundry members of the OPS, and (though some will
disagree vehemently) the deep pockets of "ex-thises" and "ex-thats" in
Nigerian society. By this I mean that the selfish (some will say evil)
beneficiaries of government largesse in the form of contracts and other
forms of ill-gotten wealth in Nigeria, must reinvest those funds in the
economy for our society to stand a chance. And investment cannot simply mean
lodging said funds in the sorry excuses for banks that we have in Nigeria,
who in turn invest the money as loans (at exorbitant interest rates of about
20%) to a new crop of government contractors and opportunists. Government
funds should only be disbursed as a facilitator of entrepreneurial activity
and not as largesse to a few connected individuals, but even if it has been
spent like that in the past, these few beneficiaries must in turn reinvest
said funds in the local economy as opposed to siphoning off these sums of
money to foreign banks and investment outfits, thereby pressurizing the
already overburdened local economy.
Nigeria has become a nation of consumers, we do not produce anything of
value to the world at large except oil; and with the impending reentry of
Iraq to the world petroleum market, our foreign reserves and earnings will
be further pressurized, leading to a continued spiral of our currency and
economy, further exacerbating an already dire situation. The IT sector must
strive to reverse this trend of non-production of goods and services to both
the local and international economy by harnessing the expertise and limited
resources available to us. The start-up capital needed to establish an
information-based enterprise is much less than what used to be the case in
the industrial age. We have to encourage all individuals and groups with the
resources to do so, to pursue investment opportunities locally. We must
engender a mentality of proactive-participation instead of siddon-look
criticism; job-men (and job-women for that matter) will also have to invest
their ill-gotten gains into legitimate businesses. Some will argue that this
development will only serve as a laundering process for their tainted money,
but I choose the pragmatic approach to the issue, I would rather Nigerian
job-men and job-women launder their ill-gotten wealth in software,
communications, networking, and other sundry companies in Nigeria than in
Swiss banks abroad. Perhaps the opportunities and growth that they will fund
will reduce the Nigerian youth's over-reliance on "job" as a means of
survival. If viable and legitimate alternatives were available, I make bold
to say that we would see a reduction in the preponderance of able-bodied and
gifted youth involved in defrauding "mgbadas" the world over. The same goes
for professional contractors and government sycophants and other
manifestations of political "thugery". The trends that I discuss here do not
relate solely to the IT sector, however, since this is my field, it is
natural to my sensibilities and I will use it as a case study to propose my
thesis.
With the growing realization within the Nigerian IT community that the
government (as it has shown with all other sectors of the Nigerian economy),
really has neither a clue on charting a progressive course/initiative for
the sector, nor the wherewithal or will to create an enabling environment,
comes a determined strategy to seize the reigns of leadership from the
deadened hands of government maladministration. Hitherto, the sector was
complacent enough to let government stumble around in the utter confusion
and delusions of its ignorance, waiting for a decisive policy that will
articulate their (the IT sector's) aspirations. But there are strong
indicators that such pacifism is no longer the case. At the recently
concluded African IT Exhibition and Conference, AITEC 2003, in Lagos, the
promise of rejuvenation within the ICT sector was reinforced. Just as one of
the participants rightly observed at the opening ceremony of AITEC Nigeria
2003, "Nigeria is not there yet but on course". (See
http://www.bday.org/article_2283.shtml). The plans for an African
Computing & Telecommunications, ACT 2003, Summit to be hosted by Nigeria in
August, this year, indicates a growing fortitude to consecrate an era of
Nigerian IT dominance, not only as a facilitator of development, or an
alternative foreign exchange earner for the country, but also for
engendering a flourishing renaissance of our society.
A recent article in Businessday.org (a leading Nigerian business daily)
about the reverse trend in migrations amongst some Nigerian professionals
has necessitated my decision to expound and proclaim the positives of such a
development, even in the midst of precarious opposition to my logic in the
form of the recent chaos of elections 2003. The proclamations of the winners
and the utterances of the losers of the election overheated the polity and
was a poignant presage of the delicate nature of our democratic experiment.
But I am now a die-hard proponent of the overriding will of our industrious
nature; we will build our nation from the ground up. We will provoke a
proliferation of productive SMEs not by merely criticizing, castigating and
chastising; but also by involving ourselves in the process of
industrialization and eventually democratization. The political arena is too
overcrowded and over-analyzed; perhaps we will do well to shift our emphasis
from that to the arena in our immediate control. It is not as easy as I make
it sound, but enough (not all) of us will need to shed the comforts of life
in the Diaspora and embark on a crusade to incite growth and development
within our society. This war (as a wise man once said) will be fought in
different trenches. Let us jump headfirst into the economic trench. I have
said it repeatedly; life is simply about percentages, there are no
absolutes, moral or otherwise, not economically and not politically; a high
enough percentage of us have to sacrifice our comfortable "armchairs" for
the scalding furnace of hands-on participation on Nigerian soil. As time
goes by, we can only hope that the reverse trickle of Nigerian professionals
grows into an avalanche of determined soldiers, children of the African
renaissance; and that the myopic government of the current dispensation will
eventually smarten up to its role as a facilitator of commercial endeavor,
not a Father Christmas handing out slices of the "national cake".
I ask once again, has the age of enlightenment come to Nigeria? Have the
children of the failed generations of the pre and immediate
post-independence era learned bitter lessons from their parents? As
evidence, perhaps the brain gain in Nigeria's favor is a subtle indication
of this education or enlightenment. The pessimistic idealists might accuse
me of misplaced optimism, the pessimistic realists might accuse me of
preaching utter nonsense, but the pragmatism our present circumstances must
move beyond misunderstandings of our reality, ultimately the determinants of
our success as a society, rest with we the people. And in order to form a
more perfect union albeit by force, we must seize the determinants of our
economic reality (which might be the difference between life and death) from
those that have already secured their life and that of their unborn children
for generations afterwards. Enlightenment comes in different shades and
forms; the enlightenment of which I speak refers to the enlightenment of
young Nigerian professionals to sacrifice for themselves and their children,
and consequently for their society. Nothing hard comes easy, and since we
have been ostracized from the mainstream of the Nigerian power structure by
the myopia of the Status Quo, we must pursue alternative avenues towards a
fulfillment of our rights as Nigerians. There is a treacherous abyss that
divides the beneficiaries of the Status Quo from the rest of us, not just
politically, but more importantly economically; and the only way that we can
bridge this chasm is by creating alternative avenues to wealth. Our economic
reality must be cultivated on the plains of Nigeria's corrupted polity and
consciousness, it is hard do pull this off even in the relatively leveled
arena of the Western Diaspora, it is to say the least near impossible in
Nigeria. But maybe, just maybe, we can recreate a new reality for ourselves,
beyond (perhaps in spite of) the obstacles that hinder our progress as a
society. I cannot make the case for all Nigerians to go home at once, that
will be reckless at best and atrocious at worst, but what I can do, what I
choose to do, is to challenge young professionals in the Diaspora to look
homeward and determine where best to channel their limited resources towards
effecting some change. Maybe my youthful exuberance clouds my judgment, but
from experience, careful meditation, and studious reflection, I have come to
the conclusion that we need a few good men and women, to inflame the
consciousness of our society. We need a high enough percentage of youthful
Nigerians to labor towards a democratization of the avenues to wealth in our
society and the economic independence to chart Nigeria's and indeed Africa's
future. Charlatans and miscreants have no place in the leadership of our
society, and have no rights whatsoever to stand in for us. The political
arena has to play catch-up to the economic sphere in our society; we cannot
afford to be held hostage to the tantrums and palpitations of a confused
polity as we embark on our revolution to transform our society. To
paraphrase the words of Maximus Decimus Meridius (fictional character that
he is); what we do in life, in our life as members of our society, will echo
in eternity; either as illustrations of rugged human determination or as
anthropological remains, alongside the Jurassic fauna of eons gone by. For a
report on reverse brain drain see (http://www.bday.org/article_2567.shtml).
