I have written here that Africa must not allow Europe to write our energy policy. When Europe says that you should discard coal, watch very carefully, it is very convenient for Europe to do away with coal. Simply, its policy framework which it exports to the whole world is based on the thesis of its comparative advantages. When those advantages fade, you will see a big irony:

‘Brussels and NGOs have expressed concerns about several European Union countries, including Germany, reverting to using coal for power generation as the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine hits energy supplies.

“We have to make sure that we use this crisis to move forward and not to have a backsliding on the dirty fossil fuels,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told several European media outlets in an interview on Tuesday.’

They convinced us to close factories by shutting down coal plants to save the planet. Today, Europe is restarting coal plants because they need energy as energy prices rise due to war in Ukraine.

African leaders, lead with confidence and boldness; the world must not use us for experiments. I support the saving of the climate but things have to be nuanced and pragmatic.

We have not solved global warming but Europe has started firing coal plants again. Yes, you can blame Russia but that does not change the equation: some policies are based on convenience and not orthodoxy of unalloyed principles.

This is the deal: Africa must define its future based on its positioning and improve itself so that these countries and regions do not toss it around. Across Africa, many factories which were powered by coals were encouraged to shut down to save the world from burning. But here instead of Europe following through, they ignored their books and are making coals friends again.

That is a big lesson for African policymakers.

Liz Truss refuses to call out Saudi Arabia as an authoritarian state.

Chris Bryant – Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's murder.. No, yes?

Liz Truss – I'd say Saudi Arabia is an important partner of the UK. #Embarrassing pic.twitter.com/3V1LclzdU1

— Haggis_UK ?? ?? (@Haggis_UK) June 28, 2022

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment 1: I find it very dogmatic when as see some Africans defend the claim of “renewable energy while the West keep lecturing Africa to move away from fossil fuels and yet their own economies runs on the same fossil fuel.

The same countries that became economic powers on the back of coal, gas, etc are telling the rest of the world to discard these sources of energy – hypocrites.

Comment 2: In my opinion we should be pragmatic and make sure we do not undercut the need to be forward thinking, innovative and discover local assets. Send this to the leaders verbatim and all they’ll do is open up coal factories and ask for loans and donation to operate them. That is still follow-follow.

Africa has the resources to excel where Europe is failing. The future of energy lies on the continent – the continent has to evolve and find its own way. All the resources required for virtually any type of energy production exists in Africa.

(Quick add)
And, others may jettison environment protection but Africa can innovate around how to sensibly reclaim it!

Comment 3: Great and timely interventions my Prof. Except for Mandela and few others, it is true that African leaders are generally shy at the global stage, politicswise and policywise. To check this Eurocentricism, African leaders must lead with boldness and confidence. That is the only way they will stop us from being used as a laboratory for testing western ideas and ideals.

Comment 4: Confident leadership it has to be. Perhaps African leaders could instead look to India who on one hand has demonstrated clear commitments to reducing their carbon emissions but have refused to be drawn into making net zero emission commitments by any set date. They have insisted that the commitment to reducing climate change must be balanced by it’s responsibility to meet its own domestic developmental goals, and so should African countries.

We’re excited to announce that we’ve opened registration for the next edition of Tekedia Mini-MBA. The price remains N90,000 or $170 depending on your currency; we have many payment options which include bank transfer, Paypal, Stripe, Bitcoin, Flutterwave, etc. The program will run from Sept 12 to Dec 2, 2022.

Our Faculty members come from Microsoft, Google, Shell, Flutterwave, Nigerian Breweries, Jobberman, Coca Cola, and other great organizations. Besides the pre-recorded courses, thrice weekly, I coordinate live Zoom sessions (Tue, Thur and Sat at 7pm WAT) on the mechanics of business systems with our Faculty and Guests, covering many industries and business domains.

Tekedia Institute is the temple for the mastery of Africa’s entrepreneurial capitalism. We’re great in what we do and we attract the best faculty. Register, beat the early bird for many extra benefits, and let us co-learn. Begin here .

He is a Scrum Master and a Senior Project Manager certified on leading project management frameworks in the world. He will be in Tekedia Mini-MBA on Thursday to take us to an excursion on project management and how to launch new products.

He graduated with First Class Honours (Chemical Engineering) from Covenant University and holds a Distinction (Oil & Gas Engineering) from Robert Gordon University. Meet ADEBAYO AJAYI, PMP®, CSSBB™, PSM® in class on Thursday.

Tekedia Mini-MBA >> learn from the best.

I received a note from Amazon to spend money so that more people can buy my books: “Build awareness and connect readers to your books with ads that appear in Amazon shopping results. You can now advertise eligible books available in your Author Central account with sponsored ads on Amazon stores in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. Sponsored ads are self-serve ads that can help you reach readers looking for books like yours.” Yes, you can advertise right in Amazon; I have written about that business model many times in the past, under the double play strategy.

Amazon has the finest digital advertising business in the world for merchants: “Amazon said its advertising business is growing 32%, and booked $31 billion last year.” That growth is possible because merchants like it. Merchants soup up their products on Amazon so that potential consumers can see them. It makes sense since you are likely spending that money on people who are in the “spirit” to shop. Indeed, who visits Amazon website without being in the buy-sphere?

Contrast that with Google or Facebook which can show you adverts for products when there is no interest from you. Yes, you are in that free blog, working on your college homework, and someone is telling you about a cruise to the Bahamas. Of course, Google is the king of advert.

In 2021, Google’s ad revenue amounted to 209.49 billion U.S. dollars. The company generates advertising revenue through its Google Ads platform, which enables advertisers to display ads, product listings and service offerings across Google’s extensive ad network (properties, partner sites, and apps) to web users.

This is a slam dunk – there is no reason to put adverts on Google for anything that can be sold on Amazon. Facebook will be a waste of efforts if Amazon carries that item especially if you have a merchant store within Amazon. Both Google and Facebook will give you clicks from adverts; Amazon will deliver sales to the bank accounts. That makes Amazon ad business a superior business. If ads are to take users to commercial sites, Amazon wins because it is the grand-dominion of all digital commerce sites.

The Amazon ad was engineered to serve the Amazon oasis, the ecommerce. Like the One Oasis Strategy, that business has grown after making the ecommerce better through better discovery for premium merchants. Yes, the ad unit has evolved to become a business itself. The Amazon ad business will redesign the industry, affecting Google and Facebook. But do not weep for the latter duo – they will be fine. Yes, they will continue to run the show for a long time but Amazon ad will take most of the merchant advertising within a decade.

“This is the war that we are mobilising to prevent by preparing to win… And in doing so, it’s my hope that we never have to fight it.” – General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, British military. General Sanders began that role earlier this month.

That “win” is a global paralysis right now. Russia is determined to also “win” in Ukraine. So, NATO and Russia all want wins in Ukraine. If you have not been concerned over this Russia-Ukraine war, I ask you to pay attention. Besides the risk of the use of tactical nukes (not the strategic nuke), this war can cause “food wars” across many countries, and trigger massive protests at scale we have not witnessed for years.

If you live in Europe, and specifically in a country that depends heavily on Russian gas, watch your job and have contingency plans. If this war continues, by October, Russia can disconnect 100% of its gas supplies to Germany/EU, and when that happens, the economies will struggle.  The ripple effect will be consequential that some factories will shut down.

The first World Food War needs to be stopped..

Britain must be prepared to act rapidly to prevent the spread of war in Europe, the new head of the Army says.

Likening the current conflict in Ukraine to the run-up to World War Two, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, says Britain faces its “1937 moment”.

Delivering a speech to the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Sanders has been laying out how he plans to mobilise the army, regulars, reservists and civilians in order to deter Russian aggression.

“Let me be clear: the British Army is not mobilising to provoke war, it is mobilising to prevent war.

“We’re living through a period of history as profound as the one our forebears did 80 years ago. And now, as then, our choices will have a disproportionate effect on the future. This is our 1937 moment.”

In his first public engagement since taking up his new post earlier this month, Sanders says: “If we fail to deter, there are no good choices given the cost of a potential counterattack and the associated nuclear threat. We must therefore meet strength with strength from the outset and be unequivocally prepared to fight for Nato territory.”

“This is the war that we are mobilising to prevent by preparing to win… And in doing so, it’s my hope that we never have to fight it.”