Under the  “3T2030 Plan for Greater Nigeria”, a plan to turn Nigeria’s sub-$500b GDP into $3 trillion by 2030, we will institutionalize excellence, uniting all citizens to a shared vision that is open, dynamic, prosperous and hopeful. From the lagoons of Lagos to the mangrove of Calabar, from the savanna of Yola through the plateau of Jos, to the beautiful forests of Owerri, men, women, boys and girls, will experience an unbounded optimistic future because we will serve.

We will usher in a new dawn of nationalism to enable us to achieve great success through societal energy. It will be based on substance, and fueled by visible economic roadmaps for all. Nationalism will bring our diasporas to return with money, investment ideas, global standards, networks and passion to build our nation.

At primary and secondary, education has to be FREE. But at the university level, we will provide ways to help citizens who cannot afford it. But it cannot be a “pure loan”. If you borrowed N1,000 in 1995 to attend UNN and you have to pay for it now, I am not sure you are fair to the lender. The N1,000 of 2022 is not the same as N1,000 of 1995. 

Education lending will be reformed, to track inflation plus prime set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, at least from the 4th year of the loan. Diamond Bank paid for my doctoral degree in banking & finance, and my specialty was currency. We will bring that experience into play here.

By the time we reform the student loan industry, lenders will see opportunities. Today, lending N50,000 to be paid over years makes no business sense due to inflation and currency deterioration.

Good People, you will see actionable leadership from those who understand markets. And the National Assembly will bless the plans through legislation where necessary. #believe

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment 1: Excellent strategy – primary and secondary school should be free of charge to attend. Post secondary should be subsidized by the state so fees for students will be lower and more manageable. Loans should be at prime (plus maybe 0.5%) with no interest accrual or repayments required while still being a student. Additionally, interest should only commence immediately upon graduation or withdrawal from school and repayments should only be required to commence after 12 months post graduation or withdrawal from school. The entire loan should be amortized over 10 years to allow for low monthly repayments but with no maximum repayment amount so the loan could be repaid as quickly as the borrower wishes…..this is the Canadian way.

My Response: I will not necessarily posit for the Canadian plan since I have to consider the cost of capital. In my plan, I assume that the bulk of the funding will not come from the federal (Nigeria does not have the funds unlike Canada). So, looking at the base cost of capital, we will create a new model.

A key component of my plan is that profits from education lending including dividends will be taxed at 25% of base. That means, government absorbs 75% tax hit to give incentives for private companies to inject funds into. There are many operational things there to make it appealing for lenders even as we ensure borrowers are protected but it has to be unique from what most countries do because Nigeria is unique.

Comment: This is interesting! However, repayment of the loans will be contingent on securing a part-time job while studying to service interest payments, and a job after graduation to repay both outstanding principal and interest. How will this repayment risk be mitigated?

Lenders may be willing to consider this risk if the current unemployment rate is first reduced to acceptable level through quantum job creation otherwise they will be creating potential toxic assets.

My Response: In America today, the biggest problem is that most companies cannot find people to hire. Nigeria produces about 600k graduates (universities, colleges of education and polytechnics) yearly, US turns out more than 4 million. If we get the Nigerian economy going, we may not even have enough graduates to hire. If you see my model, we need at least 2 million graduates in my New Rural Economy Plan within 2 years.

As Your Federal Minister, I Will Fix Nigeria’s Educational System

Africa has 6 unicorn startups today: Interswitch, Andela,  Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, OPay, and Wave. This plot presents some upcoming startups with valuations above $100m. Many are not there including Cellulant, Vetifly, Alerzo, Omnibiz, Piggyvest, and Paytm.

(Many of the numbers are not correct. Kuda was worth $500m many months ago but they still have it for less than $500m. Also, Moove should be close to $500m, not $200m as presented, after raising more than $133m. Yet, it is a starting document from the creators).

My assessment is that Africa will have at least 15 unicorns by 2023.

Tekedia Capital syndicate closes on Wednesday (April 20) and we expect to have many representatives in that unicorn club. Join us and own a piece of Africa’s future unicorns here .

Starting a business is hard work, even more so when you are doing it for the first time. Serial founders have the benefit of their experience from previous businesses to fall back on, but for the first-time founders, the experience of building the startup will seem like a fish trying to walk on land. There are certain leadership qualities that a first-time founder needs to have to ease his journey.

There are certain leadership qualities that a first-time founder needs to have to ease his journey. A true leader should also stay up to date with the latest leadership trends.

Decisiveness

Running a business is really about making decisions about what to do, when to do it, for whom, when, where, and how it should be done. If as an individual, you are indecisive, you will have more challenges as a first-time founder. You must be able to think on your feet and make decisions on the spot after all considerations. If you are a person who likes to think, rethink, and overthink before making a decision, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities.

This does not mean you should jump in on every new wave. It means you should be able to decide within a short time, whether you want to do something or not, rather than putting off the actual decision for fear that you could be wrong.

Decision-making can be difficult when you begin to consider who ends up with the short end of the stick, but they should be done anyway. Delay can be very dangerous when it comes to making decisions in business.

Management

Empathy

Empathy is about bringing your human side into conversations and interactions. People should know that they are interacting with a fellow human being and not just some robot, or some tyrant leader who wants his business to be successful irrespective of who gets to pay for it.

Take time to have regular one-on-one conversations with your team members, and encourage them to share their personal wins and losses with the team. Try to not be judgemental. The purpose of communication between you and others does not have to be about agreeing or disagreeing, but about understanding and empathizing.

People generally respond better to you if they know that you will empathize with them and not judge. No one wants to feel misunderstood or disregarded, and personal support or help you can give to your team members will engender loyalty.

The mistake one often sees here is a leader who thinks he needs empathy to deal with his customers, but not employees.

Honest communication

There is a lot of competition and uncertainty in business. You should be 100% honest and open with your people. Don’t leave them to guess what is going on, or they may think the worst. A key part of honest communication is feedback. Regularly give and ask for honest feedback from your employees and customers. Once honest communication becomes a standard in the company, the rest will fall in place.

Accountability

You don’t want to be that leader who tries to shift blame to every other person and give excuses for everything under the sun. If you do, you will unconsciously breed the same trait in your employees and team members. Good leaders don’t complain. They don’t find excuses. They certainly don’t try and blame things on other people.