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Between Innovator’s Ignorance and Persistence of Great Founders

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Dreams lose their lustre over time. What remains is tenacity, if you like persistence. In the beginning, creating a dent in the universe  becomes so simplified in your mind that you begin to feel it will happen tomorrow. Just do it and the whole world will give you that standing ovation! And the laurels will start begging for permission to enter your sitting room Simple, right?  And then you start that great business or social enterprise. And then tomorrow comes and nothing happens! You say to yourself another tomorrow is the true tomorrow.  

A cluster of tomorrows soon becomes one year, then another, then another. Then you get your greatest shock: nobody really believes in that ‘rubbish’ you fancifully call ‘big idea.’ The mockery that ensues this realization makes you doubt whether you are a badassness. So many things may go wrong at this trying moment. The worst of them all is giving up. Sometimes, you can’t help it: you need some rest. So many things may make you doubt, make you depressed, but please don’t kill yourself. 

Friends, it  is at this juncture the outliers become separated from the ordinary guys.  This is where the Bill Gates and Edisons of this world became separated from their peers who had similar enthusiasm and probably better intellect in the beginning. It is not always about the idea. It is more about the process, about the building, about the presentation.  Friends, this is where persistence comes in to take over from wish, from dream, from genius and all those fancy words that kept you moving over the years. 

Great founders – Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Bill Gates (Microsoft)

Teachers, parents, and in some cases journalists hyped you, but they didn’t tell you it was going to be this bad. Nobody really taught you how to deal with all the rejections, mockery and negativity. So, while our dreams of changing the world and innovating for tomorrow, the reality of the matter may force us to reshape our priorities. That fire, that raw passion mixed with exuberance and blissful ignorance is a great way to start. We could never have given up that job or withheld the resumes, if we knew the whole story! However, just as  it is true that the truth will set you free, persistence is what will make you fly after you are free.

Build IT That TRANSFORMS

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To a Board of any insurance company, I presented this slide. I explained to the leaders that the IT they have today is merely RUNning the company. But for them to experience leverageable growth, IT has to TRANSFORM the company. In our presentation last page, we concluded: To deepen your scalable advantage and find category-king positioning in South Africa, we believe this company must evolve. Today, this firm is an insurance company that uses IT. It must become a TECHNOLOGY Company that offers insurance services if it hopes to thrive in this age.

Look at your company, and answer the questions. Understand that IT is not just having servers and computers but using data analytics, software tools to stimulate demand and drive sales, etc.

At Fasmicro Advisory, we help companies invent INNOVATION.

Fasmicro Advisory Services

The Blames When Lecturers Demand Money and Sex from Students

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Lecturers acting like a demigod is no longer a new thing in the country.

Yes, I tell you that some lecturers are worse than death. The ongoing saga at the University of Lagos, Akoka shows the type of lecturers that we have in Nigerian institutions.

The pay-for-grades and sex-for-grades have always been happening in the institution even before the Unilag saga. You bet this won’t even stop this ugly incident at any moment from now until there is a capital punishment put in place.

The University of Lagos, Akoka, has suspended Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu of the Department of European Languages and Integrated Studies, Faculty of Arts after he was filmed making sexual advances to an ‘admission seeker’ that went viral on social media.

The shameful part of the story, Igbeneghu, is a pastor at the Foursquare Gospel Church. However, news reports said he has been suspended by the church over the footage, which went viral on social media on Monday. This looks like a great judgement but will he change?

We still have many lecturers out there that take advantage of innocent undergraduates and admission seekers.

My good friend, Akinbamiro Akinniyi shared a message with me about her sister at the same University of Lagos, Akoka. In the message, a lecturer was demanding 650,000 naira from her sister who is currently a postgraduate student. The money would be for the completion of her master’s degree project. After many pleas, the lecturer lowered the fee to 500,000 naira. Isn’t that exploitation of the highest order? A daylight robbery indeed.

Isn’t it a shame when all these lecturers that are meant to shape the future are the ones destroying the future. A student finds it tough to get admission, struggles to graduate, and even finds it tougher to stay relevant after graduation. Shame on our lecturers!

According to the footage, Igbeneghu, a former sub-dean in the faculty, told the 17-year-old girl about a cold room where lecturers sleep with girls to give them undeserving marks. This statement is enough to screen the whole lecturers in that institution.

We all know the whole story so I won’t waste more time talking about it. I will rather go straight to the point. We all can learn something from this ugly scenario that has eaten deep into our educational sector.

Blame some parents for this trash happening.

Yes, blame parents for everything. There are many parents out there who will always seek shortcuts, and would not mind paying lecturers to give their children admission.

During my secondary school days, I know some parents who bought WAEC results for their children, I know some who paid for special centers and bribed some WAEC invigilators. The list is endless.

Adeleke Lekan also shared this with me in one of my previous articles. He talked about an ugly scenario that involved an invigilator and a school during a WAEC exam. The invigilator left immediately the exam started and the students were allowed to copy from the chalkboard. The invigilator was rewarded with a brown paper bag which definitely contains money. This type of students can never do well in higher institutions. They will always succumb to the demands of the lecturers. Since their foundations have  been faulty, they can only build erroneous structures on it.

When I was seeking admission to the University of Ibadan, I recalled a lecturer who placed a call to an admission seeker. He asked if she would accept a particular course of study since the one she wants has been occupied. From their conversation, she turned it down. I walked up to the man and told him that I wouldn’t mind if he considers me for that same course of study she rejected. He looked at me and said, ”I don’t know you. I’m sorry, I can’t help.”

I lost that admission not because I failed but because I had nobody to help me and I also have no money to pay. I tell you the truth, our parents have destroyed the educational sector and they are the ones running out there crying for help.

You can’t teach a lecturer how to take bribes and leave your children with them. They’ll keep demanding from them. You can’t direct your beautiful girls to a lecturer’s office all because she’s seeking admission. Trust me, the lecturer will definitely demand something else in return.

Protect your kids. Let them read to pass. Just like Felix Eshesimua would always say, ”Focus to pass.”

Nothing pays better than hard work. You can’t buy a future for your kids in a deceitful manner and expect everything to go well. Remember, a destructive means can never lead to a constructive end.

Four easy ways you can learn how to code during Africa Code Week

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Coding has become the universal language of the future and holds the key to unlocking a brighter future for millions of youth across Africa. In fact, it’s estimated that 80% of all jobs will relate to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) – and coding is expected to play a central role.

Every October since 2015, Africa Code Week has created opportunities for millions of youth to get introduced to the exciting world of computer coding through a series of interactive workshops held across the continent. This year, more than 130 partners and 120 ambassadors from 37 countries will combine forces for the fifth edition of Africa Code Week (ACW), which aims to introduce an additional 1.5 million youth to basic coding skills during the month of October.

Regardless of your level of skill or experience, everyone can be part of the excitement as we make this a Coder October. Whether you attend a workshop in your community or volunteer to share your skills and teach young Africans how to use coding in the service of transforming our continent, here are four ways to take part in this year’s Africa Code Week:

1. Attend a Live Workshop
Taking place at schools, universities, science centers or community centers during the month of October, ACW’s free coding workshops address specific age groups regardless of learner levels. Get yourself up to speed with fun learning tools and passionate teachers! Visit the ACW Map to locate a workshop near you.

2. Access a Free Online Course
Learn Coding from Scratch: If you are between 12 and 16 years old and would like to learn computer programming, openSAP is the place to start. This free online course will teach you how to create your own animations and games using the famous Scratch interface.

Teaching coding using Scratch: openSAP also offers this free course for teachers eager to learn the skills they need to teach coding to young people using Scratch.
Both courses are also available in French on openSAP for teachers and youth in Francophone Africa.

3. Host a Coding Workshop in Your Community
Why not support the planning and execution of workshops in your own community? You can visit the ACW website to download your full partner guide including a checklist of what you’ll need to host a successful coding workshop in your school or community.

4. Become a Coding Instructor
Use your teaching skills for the greater good and visit the ACW website to see where Train-the-Trainer workshops are taking place in your country. While ACW takes place over a one- or two-week period every year, it is the local capacity building within schools and communities that will accelerate the sustainable development of 21st century skills across the continent.

Africa Code Week will be held in 37 countries across Africa throughout the month of October. Join SAP and partners – UNESCO Youth Mobile, Google, Irish Aid, The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and a fast-growing network of over 130 private, public and nonprofit partners – on their Africa Code Week mission to bridge the digital skills and gender gap in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To find out where your nearest coding workshop is taking place – or how to become a volunteer – please visit www.africacodeweek.org

Physician, Heal Thyself – Sex for Grade and the Larger Problem of Sold Grades within Nigerian University System

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One of the alleged scenes in UNILAG

When BBC’s African Eye team aired the much talked about “Sex for Grades” programme, many Nigerians were shocked but only few could have genuinely been surprised. The fact that grades cannot not only be earned but also bought is not news to many who have passed through Nigeria’s government-run universities. And for those not opportune to have passed through the government-run universities, the prevalence of reports alleging grades are being bought in kind and cash, should give a clear indication of the scope of the problem.

While this is not the first time an investigate report into sex-for-grade is exposing the rot in Nigeria’s university system, it appears this one has caught the most attention. Perhaps, it is not just the message that matters, but also the messenger. From politicians to celebrities to technocrats, people from all walks of life have come out to strongly condemn this trend. However, for how long do we continue to diagnose the disease without administering comprehensive treatment? 

As with most modern societies, the university system remains the lead resident physician, prescribing top-level solutions to many of society’s social and scientific issues. However, when the physician appears unable to tend to his own wounds, it calls into question his ability to administer treatment to society. The Nigerian university system cannot continue to certify that its graduates are worthy in character and learning, when the character of its lecturers are constantly called into question.

Unlike many other problems the Nigerian university system is facing, I am of the opinion that the issue of grades being bought is something that university administrators can comprehensively address without having to wait for increased government funding. University administrators should as a matter of urgency set up quality assurance units led by external consultants with far reaching powers to protect whistleblowers and prosecute cases around grades being sold by lecturers.

For university administrators, addressing sex-for-grade and the larger issue of grades being bought is not just about protecting the honour of these universities, it is also about ensuring that the certificates they issue to their graduates are more than worth the paper they are printed on.