It is certainly the top job for any man. A job description that requires 24/7 commitment: to raise little angels to become men and women who serve communities with honor, decency and values. Yes, a big call to mission. I want to wish all children, fathers and mothers (you cannot miss them, I will call in sick on this job without Ifeoma) a Happy Father’s Day. More great days ahead in wisdom, wealth and good health.
Portfolio Company Beeptool Completes Test of Integrated Satellite & TV Whitespace Wi-Fi Hotspot
In FUT Owerri, I ran a personal campus newsmagazine – FUTO Bubbles. I served as the editor-in-chief and publisher, and enjoyed the privilege of interviewing my dean and HOD. I also ran for office and became a Director of Research. That one yielded a campus radio station that served the university and the whole of neighbouring communities. Our iconic Director of Socials Osita Njokubi put on a show, managing the station: lovebirds’ ”happy birthday” filled the air, students running shifts, up to date campus news, etc; it was a moment.
Then,one afternoon, I got a summon. It was the Vice Chancellor: Ekekwe, General Sani Abacha had requested that the radio station be taken down. His fear? We could take over the government from Owerri! Of course, we remain grateful that Abacha gave us an option; many were not as lucky.
Ladies and gentlemen, building things is a way of life. We can build up Nigeria. Portfolio company Beeptool under the leadership of John Enoh has completed the test of Integrated Satellite & TV Whitespace Wi-Fi Hotspot. Yes, we can deliver broadband services by taking advantage of “space” between TV signals. Simply, provided there is a TV signal in that place, you get the internet. It was a lot of engineering leadership.
Good People, your village can have good internet. Your city can have a better internet. What can we do together – schools, governments, churches, offices, mosques, homes, hubs, etc? This is email to contact.
Nearer but still distant: Exploring Oladotun Olagbaju’s 2-year stay in the Gambia
Oladotun Opeoluwa Olagbaju is a Nigerian who is in the tertiary teaching industry. His career movement is a bit unique. Unlike many Nigerians in Diaspora who choose to seek their own greener pasture in the West, he decides to pitch his career tent with a university in a neighbouring African country in the West African region. Of course, if it is tempting to say if that is not Ghana, it would be Togo, Côte d’Ivoire or Senegal. However, this Nigerian PhD holder decides to work in the country popularly referred to as the Smiling Coast- The Gambia. Olagbaju holds a PhD in Language Education from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has worked in different universities in the country before he decided to head for the Gambia where he is the Provost of the College of Education and Social Sciences of Legacy University and an adjunct lecturer with the University of the Gambia. I had a chat with him on his 2 year sojourn in the West African country. Here is how our chat plays out.
So, one is bound to ask him what took him to the Gambia? He answers in an unassuming tone – “ I moved to the Gambia because I secured an employment. This is my second year in the country.” Having spent two years working for a university located in the capital city of the country-Banjul- one wants to know how it feels operating with fellow West Africans. Oladotun says “Gambians are very hospitable and accommodating but they feast on visitors as they have an economy that is tourist-driven.” This answer makes me more curious. And then I hit the internet to know more about this West African nation. I saw a lot about the Gambia. From River Gambia National Park, Bijilo Forest Park, Katchikally Crocodile Pool to Kotu Beach, the country is a destination for tourists from far and near. These and many more that dotted the country are sources of foreign exchange.
In a country with different languages such as Mandika, Wolof, Pulaar, Serer, Diola and Arabic spoken, I seek to know how the Nigerian researcher copes with language and other cultural issues. Oladotun says he has encountered little or no problem as the official language is English and with many of his kith and kin in the country, he has no problem. He posits “ There are a lot of Nigerians and Nigerian communities in the Gambia. Besides, the official language is English and the culture is African. So there has been no problem relating with the people. Food is not a big problem because rice and bread are staple foods. It is only the stew that they use to differentiate the rice. Also, they eat crumbled rice but there are markets that sell the Nigerian brand of rice.”
Curious to know how he sees the management of the Coronavirus by the two countries, Oladotun is of the opinion that “the management of Coronavirus is better coordinated here but corruption of the immigration officers from Gambia has been the problem because people keep coming in from Senegal You can go online to read a research paper I co-authored with some colleagues on covid-19. For example, the palliatives are actually distributed to people and not based on party affiliations.”
As small as the country is, I want to find out if there is anything in the country of Dauda Jawarah that he would like to see in Nigeria. To this, he responds ” Transparency in governance. Also, security and calmness. There are trees here and the ecosystem is a lot better than Nigeria. The Europeans come here to watch birds. We have no regard for our environment in Nigeria.” This is an indication that he is impressed by the management of the environment in the Gambia. He also alludes to general contentment among the Gambians. He says “Gambia is not as developed as Nigeria but they have contentment. A Gambian graduate cannot be without a job. There are grants and scholarships for indigent students that are brilliant on merit. There are no industries and they rely heavily on fairly used goods from Europe.” He concludes his view about his host country.
Despite the accolades he has poured on the non island nation, I query him further if he misses anything about Nigeria. To this question, he replies “I miss my contacts, relationships and the varieties of food available at home. However, Gambia is very peaceful. Electricity and water supply is very constant. Crime rates and accidents are low. And there are no commercial motorcycles in operation.”
Why Nigeria Must Not Be Celebrating Having Millions of Business Owners
One of Nigeria’s core problems is that we have many “companies”. Of course, the smarter people in the developmental organizations flip everything as signs of vitality and economic progress, and governments push them as evidence of great policies generating the dividends of democracy. Unfortunately, for this village guy from Ovim (Abia State) whose finest leadership moment remains being elected President of his village age grade, it is an illusion: our weakest link is that we have many companies in Nigeria.
Extrapolating from government data, we may have close to 30 million formations of micro, small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. We must not celebrate that despite effervescence of TraderMoni, World Bank praises and more.
“MSMEs are critical to Nigerian’s economic development. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, SMEs in Nigeria have contributed about 48% – on average – to the national GDP in the last five years. Totalling about 17.4 million enterprises, they account for about 50% of industrial jobs and nearly 90% of activities in the manufacturing sector, in terms of number of enterprises.” If you lump the “micro” to that 17.4 million SMEs, you may have 30 million enterprises.
No matter how you look at it, it is not a healthy ecosystem. Simply, these companies are not growing or expanding. Until we can reduce the paralysis for most to move from micro, small, and medium to large, we will continue to struggle with paucity of good jobs, development paralysis and stasis on the advancement of human welfare.
Yes, it is like farming where we produce mass hunger with 65% of our working population when the U.S. uses less than 2% to feed itself, and enough to export to the world.
Nigeria needs to find a way to avoid celebrating what should not be celebrated. We need to get annoyed with them. Yes, unless we see them as problems, we will think those things are actually “progress”. No way, Nigeria does not need everyone to be a business owner!
Tekedia Mini-MBA Congratulates Our Faculty Who Wins “Most Innovative CFO” Award
On behalf of our Tekedia community, I want to congratulate one of our Finance Faculty members, Japheth Jev, who has been recognized as the Most Innovative Oil & Gas CFO in the Nigerian Oil & Gas Sector by the Global CFO Excellence Awards. Well done Japheth – our members will be waiting for you in class from Monday.
I have been conferred the Global CFO Excellence Award 2020 as the most innovative CFO for oil and gas industry in Nigeria. This is the right inspiration for this global crisis even as CFOs have become fire fighters to ensure that their companies are not destroyed by the current crisis.