His ancestors had dedicated a Temple around 10th century BC to Yahweh. But Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed it around 587 BC during the siege of Jerusalem. He grew up, and rose to become one of the most important men in Persia (in modern Iran): a cup-bearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and later, the king made him a governor of Persian Judea. 

To rebuild the Jerusalem wall, the king gave his permission to use timber from his forest. In the imperial Persia, which had conquered Babylon, commanding the territories with military and economic powers, the king’s timber went with the king’s builders and security.  The wall was rebuilt within 52 days.

Yes, Nehemiah rebuilt the city wall circa 408 BC – the very one that stood in Jerusalem during the time of Christ. Later, Roman Generals Titus and Vespasian destroyed it. I am yet to read of any man that understands foreign policy, diplomacy and large project management better than Nehemiah. 

If Nehemiah had used any timber that was different from timber from the king’s forest, he would have failed. Understanding the situation in the region, and asking for the king’s timber was the reason he succeeded. You must have the capabilities to decipher the most important component to have a successful project. And you must make sure you have that component.

Simply, any project that received timber supplies from the king’s forest was as good as done. And only the most important projects qualified. As the aides shipped the timber, the guards would follow, making sure that none was wasted. Another set of guards would monitor compliance.

It is the big picture thinking in project management: understand what matters. In Nigeria, what is the “timber from the king’s forest” for us to advance as a people? Yes, what is the most catalytic thing for success? If Nehemiah had asked for money, he could have gotten tons and still failed. But he asked for one thing that no human would ever waste: timber from the king’s forest.  Today, in Nigeria, what is our timber?

Do we assume that Buhari has lost Nigeria or that Nigeria has moved ahead of him. I have never seen anything like this. I mean, the Attorney General of the FEDERATION, the other day, addressed press men in Hausa language. But that briefing was not a casual snake swallowing naira, or one man holding 50 debit cards, but this was the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu.  In other words, he knew the briefing would be massively distributed. But he decided to speak in a tribal language which is not a lingua franca.

As everyone remains flummoxed how Nigeria was able to arrest Kanu when we have not challenged bandits, killer herdsmen, unknown gunmen, etc with the same alacrity, the rally today in Lagos adds a new dimension. Then, I ask: what is going on with Nigeria?

Who can redirect Nigeria? I had expected Prof Osinbajo to be the voice of reason but he seems totally disintermediated. Fractures are building that EVERYONE is claiming to be a victim. Whenever that happens, bad things usually follow. Why is Nigeria offending everyone at the same time?

As they say, if you sin against God, you have a chance. But if you sin against Satan, you are gone.  Mr. Buhari, you need to rise up and do your job. You must Sir with all due respect.

Hausa Language is now the official language in Nigeria. What is the sense of using Hausa Language to announce the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu. Why didn’t Yoruba and Igbo speakers also enjoy the opportunity of hearing the arrest in their languages. Malami is just a compound fool! pic.twitter.com/d7gYBUlx6e

— Jackson Ude (@jacksonpbn) July 1, 2021

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As Nigeria’s secret police and politicians celebrated attacking Sunday Igboho’s home and arresting Nnamdi Kanu, Toyota was commissioning an assembly plant to sell more cars in Nigeria. Left and right, you can see a massive disintermediation playbook from Ghana as companies position themselves there to serve Nigeria.

Like I noted the other day, if Twitter suspension in Nigeria becomes permanent, Twitter will suspend its voyage of opening an office in Ghana because that office which listed some jobs requiring local Nigerian languages was designed for the Nigerian market.

As Ghana rises, which is good, I call on the Nigerian government to pay more attention to AfCFTA. My position during the debate of joining AfCFTA remains: ‘Nigeria should SIGN but must make sure the “rule of origin” clause is strong. We cannot afford goods produced outside Africa to be repackaged in a treaty member state and then shipped to Nigeria at a low tariff that is exclusive to member states.’ Yes, once AfCFTA takes off, expect revenue from Customs to drop which could be a double whammy for Nigeria: you used to make money from the duties, but today, you get nothing.

We need to do to Toyota Ghana what America did to Toyota Canada – expressly remove any North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) benefits on the cars. That is why a Toyota car costs more than $6,000 in United States to what you get it in Canada where most are made for the US market.

Nigeria needs visionaries because in this age, we are being faced with asymmetric challenges, and to overcome, we need our leaders to be proactive with the fierce urgency of now.

Our President Should Sign AfCFTA Free Trade after Strengthening “Rule of Origin” Clause