SoftBank, the Japanese rainmaker and investor, is having one of the greatest moments in its history. Just recently, the world mocked the company for its aggressive investment model. But today, the sun has risen in Softbank’s headquarters in Japan.

Yes, the IPOs within SoftBank’s assets are some of the world’s most anticipated: China’s ByteDance and Didi Chuxing, Singapore’s Grab, Indonesia’s Tokopedia, and India’s Paytm and PolicyBazaar. People, is there really any risk in these technology companies when they hit the inflection market cap of $2 billion which typically triggers SoftBank to pump capital?

Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group has reaped $45.8 billion net income for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, the highest of any Japanese company—ever. Its fourth quarter alone saw $17.7 billion in profit. The annual sum, fueled by a global tech rally, represents a spectacular rebound from its record $8.8 billion loss in the previous year that was compounded by investment hits from the pandemic and holdings in the troubled WeWork.

As that happens, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority is letting the nation know that it recorded “a total of N160.06 billion in comprehensive income in 2020, representing a 343% growth compared to N36.15 billion recorded in 2019”. That is a commendable number; Nigeria can bring alpha.

The growth was attributed to strong performance from its investments in international capital markets, improved contribution from subsidiaries and affiliates and exchange rate gain from foreign currency positions despite challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

This disclosure was made by the Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji, at a virtual media conference on the presentation of the NSIA’s 2020 Audited Financial Statements and Performance Review on Tuesday in Abuja.

Orji said that the authority achieved 33% growth in Net Assets amounting to N772.75 billion as against N579.54 billion in the previous year.

More so, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Apapa Area Command was not left out as it reported a revenue of N65.4 billion for the month of April—an increase of N25.6 billion  compared to the same period last year. You may wonder:  money everywhere but none for the common man! Why is that so?

Good People, I just accepted the invitation of Finance and Business 2030 (FinBiz2030) to keynote this year’s event. Launched in London, FinBiz2030 is a joint initiative of One Young World and Chartered Accountants Worldwide. Nigeria’s high priest on keeping good balance sheets and  P&Ls,  The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), is the host. Join us on Saturday, 12 June 2021 for a conversation on business sustainability, resilience and innovation. Nations rise when pioneering innovators emerge!

After this speech, the US policy changed. The UK policy changed. EU sang! Everyone wanted Mr. Buhari because with him, the world will not “worry about Nigeria”. In that season, I left circuits and systems to hear Prof Osinbajo (in Washington DC) who also promised that independent power stations will light Nigeria. At 11.0am today, according to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), “there was a total system collapse of the grid”. What is happening to Nigeria?

The ant-hills are not built by the elephants but by the collective efforts of little ants. As the Nigerian Senate begins public hearing towards fixing the badly written military-era Nigerian Constitution, I call on everyone to pay attention. When they wrote the last one, no one added anything. In short, the minister of information who presented it to the nation was not allowed to see a copy of it! Yes, that was how bad it was  – they never allowed him to see a copy of it.

Most of Nigeria’s problems today could be traced to that Constitution. The bravado of the old where Kaduna ruled as the industrial capital of northern Nigeria has been reshaped. In the east, the inventive sagacity of Enyimba city is badly broken. The brilliance of Ibadan muted. From north to south, east to west, and beyond, everyone is a victim. So now, there is an opportunity; Nigerians need to make inputs.

The biggest problem with the 1999 Constitution is that it is dumb with no awareness. When the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Yobe state had a literacy rate of 7.3% with Imo state at 96.43%, you would have expected changes in the funding of basic education, boosting underperforming states etc from UBE and other sources. But nothing like that: no local innovation because all powers are concentrated at Abuja.

So, to fix these issues, let us participate in this Constitutional review. The schedules are below (sure, they omitted Ekiti but we have it in our hearts).

The Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution cordially invites you to its Zonal Public Hearings as detailed below. pic.twitter.com/gYy7YZjP2I

— The Nigerian Senate (@NGRSenate) May 11, 2021

Nigeria is not healthy. And the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is applying panadol even when it knows that panadol has no chance of providing any cure. A few weeks ago, we got the news that commercial banks would only allow a maximum of $10,000 monthly (cash) deposit within Nigeria. Today, the latest is that the apex bank has adjusted that to $5,000.

Left and right, the apex bank is trying to wean Nigerians of US dollars. There are many consequences already, as most of the fintech trading foreign apps have been wounded, since their customers cannot fund dorm accounts for the transactions. A peer to peer is never efficient when you want to do fairly big deals.