“The ant-hills are not built by the elephants but by the collective efforts of the little ants” – if you lived in a typical Igbo community, you might have watched elders make this statement. Most times, they will add: this community can only thrive if everyone can sweep from his compound all the way to the village square. They are simply saying – no matter the size of the iroko tree, it cannot make a forest, because you need many trees to have a forest.

Indeed, sustained greatness has never been achieved because of the bravery of just ONE man or woman. But greatness has always come because a people or a nation has a leader with Believers. When people are united, with a great leader, they can accomplish whatever they plan to accomplish!

In our business, I challenge our founders to communicate with a higher purpose – and elevate the minds of their teams. Why? Those teams are the structures to build any successful business. Every great company has two components: great products and superior operational execution; humans do those executions.

As Nigeria’s 2023 election comes, I challenge young people not to be fixated on the lack or presence of old political structures. Rather, see how you can become the living structure of Nigeria you want. You can be the structure and upon that structure, your leader will rise to give you a better future.

Technology will create disintermediation that old-style political structures may not matter that much since information asymmetry will be reduced as a result of the ubiquitous smartphones and mobile internet connectivity in Nigeria. Nigeria’s electoral market is becoming more perfect with reduction of information asymmetry (everyone gets the same info about candidates and can make decisions unlike in the past when people relied on emirs, obas, obis, village heads, etc to guide them).

As digital systems penetrate, the influence of political brokers, bundlers, etc will fade, since those citizens now have access to the right info about candidates and make decisions.

Yes, you can have party chairmen in all local government areas. But if you do not have the message for the citizens, the chairman  will not stop them from learning about those with the right messages. In the pre-mobile internet age, those chairmen were the pipelines to reach the voters. They used their positions to influence how those voters vote. Not always now.

We are the “ants” that will build Nigeria. And there are many things to learn from the ants. If we “become” like them (ants can teach us many things as I noted in this Harvard Business Review piece – The Leadership Lessons of Ants), out of the global capitals, the world will see a hopeful, prosperous, and honourable nation on the horizon. Like ants, we can build the ant-hills of Nigeria!

I challenge you – Nigerian youth – and I drop these words: Uwa bu ahia [the world is a market],  and I will introduce a new meaning (not literal and axiomatic within ancestral Igbo usage of words) to write that if you win the markets, you will win your world. It is the economy, period! But you have to be the structures as you evaluate these candidates.

More Notes on “Uwa Bu Ahia”

Though I have extrapolated  “Uwa bu Ahia” [the world is a market] in the context that if you win your market, you win your world, the real meaning of that axiom is not related to market or trading. Rather, it is looking at the ephemeral nature of everything in life. Largely, the world is a stage; you come and go which means that nothing is permanent. People go to markets and later go home and the market becomes empty.

Yet, as a good student of Igbo (“A” WAEC student in secondary school), I can deepen that understanding in new ways. Igbo language has been growing right from the 1978 FC Ogbalu led Igbo Convention.

“Uwa bu Ahia” {if you win your market, you win your world} – is my preferred campaign motto for a future governorship election in Abia State (lol). If you win in economy, you win the world.

Uwa bu Ahia – let’s win the world by winning on economy in Nigeria.

As the world watches the paralysis in the failed Sri Lanka, check your personal economy. Ghana is now a big concern. Egypt is there. El Salvador is there. Nigeria is in a gestation period with huge implications ahead of 2023 elections. The hopeful effervescence  of South Africa is challenged by youth unemployment and they are ramping up violence daily (19 died this weekend). From all indicators, I expect massive sovereign defaults and severe deterioration of many currencies. 

The Ghanaian cedi has lost 30.56% against the US dollar in 6months. The drop in the Cedi comes despite Ghana’s central bank’s hawkish stance to stamp out inflation.

As the dollar index (DXY) maintains its bullish momentum, the Cedi seems to be heading in the opposite direction. At the time of writing this article, the USD/GHS up 30.56% (YTD) to trade a 7.89 Cedi.

At a time when Ghana is facing economic disruptions caused by the Russian-Ukraine war, a stronger US dollar supported by hikes in US interest rates would only accelerate  the depreciation.

The biggest news now is that President Biden has to meet a man he initially ignored to speak with on phone. Yes, Saudi Crown Prince. Reading his piece in the Washington Post, you can see that even the United States feels the urgency to strike partnerships to avert a major economic upheaval.

The war in Ukraine has provided a validation that some statistics the world has relied on is faulty. No one would have believed that Russia and Ukraine have these impacts on global food security. But with both cut out due to sanctions and war, the world is now rattled with even the “major” suppliers of food confused.

Nigeria has lost physical security. President Buhari needs to do all to ensure we do not lose Food Security. Where he fails to do that, via all means necessary, it would be devastating.  This becomes necessary as our leaders continue to make statements which make no sense: “The Kuje custodial centre that was attacked by terrorists on Tuesday was Nigeria’s most fortified prison, interior minister Rauf Aregbesola has said. Mr Aregbesola said this in a statement on Friday after visiting the prison.

“Now my position is so clear, I have declared since April 2021 that all our facilities are red zones and that whoever attempts an attack may not live to tell the story. I still maintain this.

“Kuje is the most fortified in the country. It is medium by size but maximum by the security being put there. We have a platoon of security officers deployed here.”

The minister said that although the prison is officially a ‘medium’ security prison, it was the most fortified in the country.” Yes, it is the most fortified, but it was attacked for hours, and no help came even though it is within the nation’s capital! That denial is part of our problems just as we have been talking about crude oil theft with no action.

Mr. Kennedy [Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria/Mid Africa Business Unit, Richard Kennedy] emphasized the need not to confuse the agitations of host communities of oil-producing areas with the spate of crude oil theft being carried out in the area.

“From my experience, the issue with crude oil theft should not be confused with host community issues. It is much much much bigger than that. It is completely different from host community issues. Quite frankly it is organized crime.” 

He also revealed that the level of theft is costing Nigeria millions of dollars daily in lost revenue which could have helped solve our fiscal challenges.

“The volume of crude that is being stolen is well beyond comprehension. You can see some of the figures in the press, maybe it’s about 100,000 barrels per day at $100 per barrel and that’s $10 million per day that is being stolen. And NNPC owns 60% while taxes of 85% are paid so it’s a huge loss for the country.” 

Globally, provided the Western powers continue to focus only on Ukraine, we may see what happened in Sri Lanka take place in other places: ‘Thousands of protesters in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo have taken over the president’s residence, BBC reports. And the president is resigning: “Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced he will step down after protesters stormed his official residence and set the prime minister’s house on fire.”’ So, do not count on leaders to lead. You just have to have your plan.

Thousands of protesters in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo have taken over the president’s residence, BBC reports. And the president is resigning: “Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced he will step down after protesters stormed his official residence and set the prime minister’s house on fire.”

They have been protesting for days now over severe economic paralysis in the Asia country. In Sri Lanka, even if you have money to buy fuel (assume you can find it) for your car, you are not permitted as the nation does not have enough fuel to power essential services.

As that mild fire was burning, some guys decided to check out the presidential swimming pool. We may not connect this directly to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but I can tell you that a global order is being distorted with many moving parts now.

The world is sick now  – and I make that point because the government of Sri Lanka has begged everyone to even supply it with fuel so that it could power hospitals, public transportation, etc, and none listened. Possibly, global leaders want a change in leadership before they move. But who knows? It is a big challenge with all the attention on Ukraine – many countries will fall by the flanks.

Hundreds of thousands descended on the capital Colombo, calling for Mr Rajapaksa to resign after months of protests over economic mismanagement.

Mr Rajapaksa will step down on 13 July. PM Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign.

Parliamentary speaker Mahinda Abeywardana said the president decided to step down “to ensure a peaceful handover of power”.

From the amazing Morehouse College Atlanta, USA (an all-male, historically black school), young men drop those ageless words in the Igbo Nation: if you believe, your personal (chi) will believe. That is the spirit that drives the republican mindset of entrepreneurial capitalism, personal liberty and responsibility.

Onye kwe, chi ya ekwe [if you believe, your personal god will follow along]. It looks ecclesiastical when young men make heaven pay attention. If you understand what they are saying in that short stanza, you will understand how their chis are connecting to the main Chi (Chineke, the Chukwu Abiama). Udo diri unu [peace unto you all]

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

My Response to a comment: Chi kwe first then madu kwe. But madu kwe first then chi kwe. The capital Chi is Chineke, the Supreme God while the small cap chi is the personal god. In Igbo mythology, chi submits to madu (the person) while madu submits to Chi (Osebuluwa, the Supreme God).