nigeria burning

unless you've been blinded by the new hampshire primaries in the states, and mitt romney's mitt, you probably have heard some sort of news about nigeria this week. while boko haram is burning up the north with threats and gunfire, protests are burning up the rest of the country. i want to spend some time considering the protests. since monday, the labour unions and other organisations including #OccupyNigeria have taken to the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Ife (even London, Atlanta...), etc to protest the governments decision to remove fuel subsidies that have been hampering economic growth, depleting the national budget,  and further enabling corruption. at the same time, these subsidies have allowed nigerians, ordinary nigerians, to benefit in one aspect from the god-given natural deposits of oil. that priviliedge (or is it a right) was taken away by the jonathan administration on january 1, 2012. happy new year!

admittedly the minute i heard about the fuel subsidy removal, i was elated. from an economics point of view, the subsidy never made any sense. it was eating into at least 25% of the budget and the rest of the budget was used for recurring costs. if any developmental projects are meant to happen, the subsidies needed to go. i looked at the subsidies, as well, as a hamper on downstream economic growth in the oil industry. its a national shame that nigeria produces and exports some of the largest amounts of crude oil in the world, yet still has to import oil for its population because it has no (zero, zilch) facilities to in which to refine oil. the subsidies do not help bring in that beneficiation investment however. think about it: what incentive does a company have to set up a refining plant in nigeria and hire nigerians, if it can set up a plant in another country (perhaps a neighboring country...), buy its oil in nigeria for the subsidised amount, ship (or smuggle...) the oil outside the country to where the refinement plant is, refine the oil and then turn around and sell it back to the nigerian government at the much higher market prices? no incentive whatsoever. hence i was for the removal of the fuel subsidy.

as i debated with my friends and with the majority of the online community about the subsidy, i started to understand the arguments that i was missing. [big side note here: i still and will continue to vehemently disagree with those that demonise the current administration (i.e. the presidency and the cabinet) and prefer to overlook the good things that sanusi, okonjo iweala and others have done in nigeria and to side with the cracked-up, crooked-up, more-blatantly-corrupt-than-400-bernie-madoffs-put-together congress (house of reps and senators). how that makes sense in people's heads is beyond me. i typically have a rule of thumb: whatever side nigerian representatives and senators are on any issue, run (dash, flee) to the other side, and fast!]

what i do understand more clearly than ever is how this affects the ordinary nigerian. they have been discarded and lied to for most of their lives (if not all). promises turning into lies. lifestyles destroyed. hopes dashed. people are poorer now in nigeria than they were 30 years ago. there is no reason to trust the government. i get that! now government has made it harder to live, to go to work/school, to go shopping, to buy food, etc. i really do empathise. empathising for the people does not however mean that i am against the fuel subsidy removal. however, i think it could have been implemented in a different way (i'll get to that later).

this was not the first time time that fuel prices have been hiked. our buddy president, obasanjo, during his eight years hiked fuel prices about 9 times, including 2 days before leaving office, a move that would later be reversed by his successor, Yar'Adua. In all, the price of fuel was 275% more expensive when OBJ left office in 2007 (N75) than when he came in in 1999 (N20). Thats, Two hundred and seventy five percent!! the current price hikes are a little over 100% of the previous price. we all praised okonjo-iweala when she came to nigeria (then went around the world) saying that they were going to make the nigerian budget and spending very lean, given the tough economic times and nigeria's history of wastage and corruption. what did we think she meant? removing subsidies is simply part 1 of that plan, no?

so with the president claiming there is no going back on the subsidies and the organised protests threatening to halt the economy, what gives? who do we expect to blink first. i believe there will be a compromise between the president and labour, if the president can play his cards right. throughout all of OBJ's price hikes, labour threatened to halt the economy and did organise several strikes. one was  effective in getting the president the reverse the hike, but most were effective in getting the two sides to compromise on a less daunting price hike. so i believe there is room for compromise. in fact, the govt should have looked to phase out the subsidy removal, instead of removing it all in one go.

so then what happens when there is a compromise. this is where i see the value of the strike action and movements such as #OccupyNigeria (thanks to BTC-Africa for pointing out). To further compromise with the protestors, the government ought to have a clear plan of action that will ensure removal of the subsidy (which we all agree is needed) as well as removal of corrupt elements in government (which we all agree is needed) and improvements in education, employment and industry development (which we all agree is needed). There ought to be benchmarks and checkpoints that are required before we can move on to the next phase of the fuel subsidy removal. If, for instance, the government says, we will remove 25% of the subsidy now and couple that with developing refineries, privatising the electricity sector, and prosecuting corrupt politicians. If then targets are set to prosecute 1 high ranking politician, or bring in 1 private investor to begin operations in the electricity sector by the end of the year, then they can remove another 25% of the subsidy. Targets and milestones should be no stranger to the finance-heavy reform team in the cabinet! This shows not only a give and take attitude, but a government that is serious about making a social contract with the people and getting back the trust that has been severely eroded over the last 50years.

the government is asking nigerians to trust them to do the right thing without much basis for this trust. its time to wake up, president jonathan! nigerians have woken up in all corners and your credibility and livelihood is fearfully at stake. i have been on board with this administration and continue to be because i believe they've got the right ideas and the right people and the right processes. obviously they could use more people and process, and a bit of common sense. nigerian people are demanding accountability by the government. show us you're serious about development, about jobs, about schools, about roads, then we can trust you more when it comes to raising prices of everything. and to the nigerian people, lets try to be constructive and stop with the demonisation of the presidency and the name calling; its un-becoming of this nation. lets be better than chavez, than south africa, than the US. lets come together in building a better nigeria and not a worse, more fragmented one. that's the spirit of revolution.

are you inspired?

i'm inspired.


back in my younger years (eons ago), i used to go to church camps every summer. the camp that i went most was called neotez (some native american word that means youth, i think). i loved neotez and anxiously looked forward to this 1 (or so) week every year. anyway, this neotez camp, somewhere in the middle heartland of america, was set on a beautiful piece of land, (almost) untouched by man. the massive trees, fields of grass, hills, valleys, rivers, lakes in the horizon just made this spot a perfect spot for a getaway (and also, of course, ready-ground for trouble making by teenage boys!). on this piece of camp land, there was a spot which was probably the favorite spot for most people. it was called inspiration point. i'm not sure how much inspiration went on at that spot, but only a 15-minute walk from the major camp grounds, lay this amazing spot of nature. if you liked a girl and wanted to impress her during a short recess, you would sneak her off to this spot and gaze at the amazing wonder (not that i did any of that, of course!). it was essentially a cliff (and not that high either), overlooking a river and some grass and trees. on a clear night the stars were most beautiful at inspiration point. on a stormy evening, the lightning was most pronounced there. daytime or sunset, dawn or sunrise, inspiration point was the place to be.

i went to this spot almost every summer from middle school until even after college, and tho i'm not sure how much inspiration i got, it definitely helped to put things in perspective and provided an opportunity to marvel at how awesome nature really was. hence i typically associate inspiration with nature.

a couple blog posts ago, i blogged about a blogger's crisis, not knowing what to make of this blog and not having the necessary inspiration to continue to write about myself. well...i am proud to say that i have not yet found an answer to what identity this space should take. i am equally proud to note that at least for this post (and maybe a couple to follow), I will continue to write about what interests me and things going on in my life. what's a blog if not self-indulging, no??! so in this search of inspiration, i of course went to the woods, watched the stars, took a walk around nature and arrived back at the same spot i was before. refreshed of course, but back to the city grind, having found no answers. what fun is life if answers are easy to find, right?

failing to find my inspiration in nature, i had almost given up, when i attended a work seminar and was treated to a guest speaker, professor nick binedell, dean of the gibs school of business in joburg. he was told to speak about his inspirational life and his journey as a white south african, very much involved in the struggle against apartheid. he spent about 4 seconds on that and decided he wanted to talk about other things that he's more passionate about than his life. he then spent the next hour encouraging us to find what brings us joy and doing it. in a room full of ambitious business/corporate types ("future leaders of SA!"), he challenged us to do what brings us joy and only then can you do "great work". and great work, he added, is often voluntary. some balls this guy had to tell a bunch of us looking for the next quickest way to make money, and tell us to go find something voluntary to do that'll make us great and potentially radically change the landscape of south africa. i loved it!

he spoke about only needing 2  things in life - a mirror and a map. the map tells you how you got into the room; and the mirror reminds you who you are and what brings you joy. he left us with a couple inspirational quotes:

1. in your lifetime, you can make africa work or crumble.
2. the world is your oyster, but you gotta go fetch it.
3. the most important thing is curiousity.

now none of this was earth shattering or groundbreaking. i'm sure at one point or another i have heard these saying before. but for some reason at this place and this time, it resounded to me. perhaps it was the search for something inspiration in my life that gave his speech meaning. perhaps it was my year-long itch to get back to doing meaningful work (both voluntary and otherwise). or maybe the discussions that i had with 2 south africans who gave a rather daunting evaluation of south africa's current standing. these 2, whom i deeply respect, told me in complete honesty and absolute sincerity that they would be leaving south africa soon because they honestly felt that the country was on a familiar collision course for disaster. maybe it was all of the above. whatever it was, i left that room wanting more. i went to speak to the prof in the hallway after his speech for another 30 minutes and i still wanted more. i was inspired!

so what now. i'm still inspired. but i still want more. more than just inspiration. how do i find what brings me joy? south africa is not my country, but i feel compelled to work to ensure that the dire and negative evaluation of some people about the prospects of south africa never come true. im not american but i want to do the same in america. im not african (cuz there's no such single thing...), but i desire to do the same across countries in africa. i'm inspired to do something. but what that thing is, i haven't a clue yet. i leave it up to fellow readers and bloggers to hold me to that inspiration. and to those who may have recently found their inspiration as well, lets get to work! lets find that map and mirror.

lessons from momsie and popsie

so the parents just left and what a week and some. before i say much else, i just want to say how much i really admire those guys, their marriage, their faith, their love for people, and their resilience. popsie always says that their dream and hope is for their children to surpass them in all areas. to be honest, at this point, if i manage to be even with them (esp marriage-wise), i'll be happy!

they're so cute!

speaking of parents, they came from the US after a brief stop in Nigeria. Which leads me, sort of, to what i want to discuss. lately, i've been on a self-proclaimed 'journey of hope' - to find things about nigeria that make me hopeful and which spell signs of development and improvement. before then, i had been all too often chastised for being a pessimist after being the eternal (and naive) idealist in my university days.

because the last time i was in nigeria was about 6 years ago and, since then, i've read and heard some postive things, i was looking forward to hearing my parents perspective and their experience in naija. well, i must say it took all the optimism in me to keep the faith after listening to my parents lament the sorry state of the country. these are die-hard nigerians (my parents, i.e.) who have been investing and building for decades, dreaming of their early retirement back to nigeria. the feeling they had was not simply sorrow, but even anger, at the waste, corruption, and under-development of nigeria. seeing the roads in south africa, even the small potholes, they couldn't stop complaining and marveling at why the nigerian government cannot do something as simple as fix the roads that are in such disrepair that if left alone will render nigeria un-travel-able. when i took them through the shacks and impoverished areas of cape town and johannesburg, they were surprised that this sort of poverty still existed in south africa; however, the next thought that came to them was how even the poor, mostly, still have access to good (and relatively clean!) roads, water, electricity (sometimes). This meant that the poorest of south africans were still likely several levels richer than the poor nigerian.

sure, south africa cannot begin to compare itself against nigeria and thus celebrate being far and away more developed. but, on the flip side, nigeria certainly has to consider its journey in comparison with south africa's and be much ashamed. what have we done with so many riches - within the soils, the waters and brains of nigeria? and what about all those positive reports of nigeria improving? the improved banking environment? the cleaner lagos? the housing boom? perhaps my parents didn't go to those parts? or perhaps changes in the macro- and micro-level factors have yet to reach the average nigerian?

this reminds me a bit of 2009, when i spent the year working in botswana. no offense, and all love, to my batswana friends, but i gotta call y'all out! going to bots, i had read all the glowing reviews of the country. least corrupt african country, most developed, best cinderella story, going from very poor to high middle income country in ~40years, boomin economy, booming middle class, etc. well, this wasn't exactly the case. In fact, the capital city, Gaborone, was a little more than a glorified village. However, this is about where the comparisons b/w nigeria and botswana end. Personal bias aside, the policy level changes in botswana were actually being felt among the average batswana. I do not recall seeing one beggar in all of Gaborone. People were being put to work, mostly. The average guy in 2009 felt better off than the average guy in 1970. My parents lived in Nigeria in the 1970s and they and many others certainly felt richer, prouder, and more hopeful then than now. theres shame in that.

so the million naira question remains: what is wrong with nigeria and how do you fix it? my parents have many theories; one being that nigerians are simply not patriotic enough and do not own up to their country enough to want to fix things without waiting for the nebulous govt to act. im not so sold on that theory. but the idea of patriotism got me thinking about solidarity. what makes nigerians nigerian? its certainly not language, culture, or a shared sense of identity and belonging. rather, its a bit more modern than that. and perhaps gives some glimpses into what the problem is. if you ask any nigerian on the streets of lagos or elsewhere how they're doing, they will not answer "fine", like the rest of the world. No, the most common response to that question is simply: "i'm struggling". so perhaps, its a shared sense of struggle that makes nigerians nigerian? its this sense of struggle that makes nigerians get up in the morning and drive through none moving traffic, board well worn, torn, and overcrowded buses, navigate the crater-sized pot-holes on every street and highway. perhaps, also, its this sense of struggle that keeps the nigerian from taking ownership of things such as neighborhood crime, cleanliness, roads, water provision, and infrastructure development and maintenance. to me, these are easy wins for local governments. is it this sense of struggle that gives corrupt politicians (that's almost a pleonasm) a free pass - allowing them to endlessly steal taxpayer money with less than nothing to show for it?

my parents have never stopped dreaming about retiring back to nigeria, and in fact have been building and investing in anticipation for that. however, one could almost hear a doubt in their voices as they lamented over the increasing negative trajectory of development in the country, contrary to a lot of the news one reads about these days. even if were able to diagnose what the problem was - patriotism, corruption, sense of struggle or otherwise - how do we go about fixing it? what am i doing or can i do to address it? that, my friends, is the 2 million naira question.

3 weeks in and really??

those that i talked to prior to starting the mba programme told me that this one year programme would be hectic with a lot of work and little time for much else.

what they failed to mention was just how diverse and interesting the people would be. admittedly, i was a bit anxious starting the programme. i feared it would be something similar to my undergraduate business school, full of cocky people who apparently loved the sounds of their own voices and couldn't seem to wait to start that hotshot job on wall street. ok not all of them, some of them are very good friends of mine; but generally, this was the feeling i got.

so my biggest fear coming in was that most people here would be like that, only this time it would be the johannesburg stock exchange and not wall street. but ive been absolutely pleasantly surprised at the quality and diversity of people here. there's still a bit of colour missing in terms of diversity, but in terms of life, world, and career experience and future aspirations, guys/gals are as different as they come. there are former actors, marketers, bomb makers/engineers, psychologists, insurance people, trusty IT consultants etc. also people from london, nigeria (not named me), turkey, some country in south america that ive honestly never heard of, botswana, south africa (surprising enough), US (really really surprising), canada (wha??), cameroon, italy, argentina, angola, etc. and even better, ive met an amazing number of people with similar aspirations to work in african development. imagine that: mba-ers doing good work! i like the sound of that. plus, most of them are wayyy more optimistic than i am about making a difference. maybe i can get my mojo back!

on a more serious note tho...wonder what would happen if more mba-ers were interested in helping ordinary people do extra-ordinary things. imagine ambitious people with management skills running NGOs and government organisations and non-profits and community organisations and making policy. would that be a better world? not saying only mba-ers can do a good job, but it seems like a good time for mba-ers to remake ourselves from the cocky bastards that speculate on currencies and bet on bad loans to cocky bastards that attempt to help those who cannot help themselves and leave the world a better place that how we met it. i know of at least one school thats trying to build such leaders.