He makes amazing videos for our community project, Tekedia Mini-MBA. A few weeks ago, I asked him to expand his course on Process Improvement and Operations Management with Project Planning. Our data has shown that members need to understand how to plan their projects. Our Faculty, Rasheed Adebayo, is the Operations Manager at Schlumberger’s BP North Sea Projects. People, that is excellence because only the very best can work in such projects. When I speak with Rasheed, I remind him that I need to learn from him – the oil industry has supreme technical excellence.
A few years ago, I was flown from the US to deliver a keynote in an SPE conference in Lagos. The Managing Directors of Shell, Chevron Texaco, Agip/Total/Elf, ExxonMobil and GMD of NNPC were there, and everyone was waiting for this village guy from Abia state to come and talk business. As I began, I told them “I have come to learn from the best but I also want to make it clear that now is the time for the technical excellence in this industry to diffuse into other areas in Nigeria”. It was a great talk as they invited me again, and again, until Covid-19 stopped that nice party.
This is my point: if you want to learn how to manage critical projects, talk to the professionals in the oil sector. Tekedia Mini-MBA begins on Monday (Feb 8) and you can still register to join us.
As the second wave of Covid-19 continues in some states in Nigeria, available information indicates that Nigerian researchers in varied institutions contributed 1,634 publications out of 305,479 global publications released by publishers between December 2019 and February 7, 2021.
This was gleaned from the real time monitoring of academic publications, clinical trials and funding of the disease across the world by the Dimensions, a global organisation that focuses on data mining and dissemination to the public.
Dimensions uses a variety of sources including Crossref, PubMed, Europe PubMed Central, arXiv and direct contacts with more than 130 publishers to create a baseline metadata model for publications data.
The 305,479 publications were produced by 21,328 organisations in 196 countries. According to the data, with 4,209 organisations, the United States of America led all the countries. China followed with 1,845 organisations while the United Kingdom and India had 1,342 and 1,298 organisations respectively. Analysis further indicates that Germany [969], France [920], Japan [769], Italy [631], Spain [585], Brazil [463], Russia [432], Canada [446] and Australia [389] had a significant number of organisations.
In Africa, Nigeria led other countries with 158 organisations. South Africa followed with 113 organisations. Analysis also reveals that Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Algeria had a significant number of establishments, where researchers have produced publications. Examination of the data using fields of research reveals that medical and health sciences, studies in human society, biological sciences and psychology and cognitive sciences dominated during the period of publications [December, 2019 to February, 2021]. In all these fields, researchers from the Harvard University, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University and University College London led.
Out of 1,634 publications produced by the Nigerian organisations [in our context, we referred them as institutions], researchers from the University of Ibadan produced 198 publications, excluding those produced by researchers at the University College Hospital (UCH). The 1,634 publications were produced by 158 institutions. More than 25% of these institutions had one publication. Seventy-eight institutions, representing 49.4% were public institutions while 33 [20.9% of 158] were private institutions.
University of Lagos, University of Nigeria, University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Bayero University, University College Hospital, Lago University Teaching Hospital and Nnamdi Azikiwe University followed University of Ibadan in terms of publications. Once again Covenant University leads other private universities with a total 32 publications. The Landmark University and the Redeemer’s University had 14 and 13 publications respectively.
Our analyst notes that four of the South African universities edged out the University of Ibadan, from claiming the top spot in Africa. The University of Cape Town had 459 publications. Stellenbosch University [301], University of KwaZulu-Natal [240] and University of Pretoria [279] followed accordingly. University of Ibadan only leads the University of Johannesburg, which had 168 publications. University of Ibadan also had more publications than Ain Shams University Cairo. Beyond the Africa, analysis also indicates that the University of Ibadan is ahead of the University of Reading, University of Oklahoma and Carleton University Canada.
Exhibit 2: Number of Publications and Institutions
In the previous analysis, our analyst had noted that stakeholders need to explore academic sources more for better understanding of the containment and mitigation messages. This is imperative on the basis that scholars in medicine and health related fields have been saddled with the responsibilities of conducing evidence-based research on various diseases and health conditions for quality living of all.
Now that a number of publications have emerged from Nigeria, the results of the publications must be pushed further by the concerned stakeholders. Findings need to be translated into concrete solutions. In this regard, our analyst notes that the management of the University of Ibadan needs to consider creation of a strategic team or committee that would explore the findings and create a strategic plan for the management of the disease in the University Community and Nigeria in general. Nigerian government equally needs to provide an enabling environment for academic and independent researchers for more studies on the disease.
Congratulations Madam WTO, ahead. The real world (yes, America) has now endorsed. Yes, we can begin the atilogwu, owambe, etc dances in Nigeria. A child of destiny. When that happens, those who said an MIT PhD was not qualified to manage world trade, when a real estate flipper and a fashion diva were qualified to negotiate bilateral deals, can now understand that the world has moved on! Biden wins with Nigeria.
The U.S. said in its statement as follows:
The United States takes note of today’s decision by the Republic of Korea’s Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee to withdraw her candidacy for Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Biden-Harris Administration is pleased to express its strong support for the candidacy of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General of the WTO. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala brings a wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy from her 25 years with the World Bank and two terms as Nigerian Finance Minister. She is widely respected for her effective leadership and has proven experience managing a large international organization with a diverse membership.
The Biden-Harris Administration also congratulates Minister Yoo Myung-hee on her strong campaign for this position. She is a trailblazer as the Republic of Korea’s first female trade minister and the first candidate from Korea to advance this far in the Director General selection process. The United States respects her decision to withdraw her candidacy from the Director General race to help facilitate a consensus decision at the WTO.
It is particularly important to underscore that two highly qualified women made it to the final round of consideration for the position of WTO Director General — the first time that any woman has made it to this stage in the history of the institution.
The United States stands ready to engage in the next phase of the WTO process for reaching a consensus decision on the WTO Director General. The Biden-Harris Administration looks forward to working with a new WTO Director General to find paths forward to achieve necessary substantive and procedural reform of the WTO.
If you want to join us, beginning Monday (Feb 8), in Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 8 – May 3, 2021) with all the benefits early bird registration brings, you need to register today. Our program is online, self-paced and costs $140 or N50,000 naira. We will continue to welcome registrations past today but those will come with no early bird benefits.
Good People, there used to be a more reasonable and nuanced Central Bank of Nigeria with the playbook to allow new things to happen, even when making sure commercial ordinances are protected. Cryptocurrency which I do not do, but which I believe that no country can stop at this point, promises a vista of something new. Banning it in Nigeria is not a smart strategy. Read this 2017 circular to see how we have evolved in our regulatory rascality. Yet, we do not know what moved the apex bank to make this call. Nonetheless, it would have been good if they said why!
