Senator: I like reading your articles on LinkedIn. And I have a simple question for you: “what can be done to transform Nigeria from your view?”
My Response: (We later had a conversation and I am going to summarize what I told the Senator.) I do believe that nations rise when they implement these critical pillars for transformation and development. From my studies of economies and looking over 2,000 years of gross world product, these pillars are vital:
Merit-based system – no nation has advanced better than its ability to inspire, motivate and reward via merit. Without a nationally transparent merit-based system, Nigeria cannot progress.
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Pragmatic Innovation – focus on what works, over the purity of scoring political goals. The implication is that we have to seek and execute the best ideas irrespective of where they may be coming. I gave an example of how the same team of Central Bank leaders who kept our exchange rate stable for years, within 2012 to 2015, blew it up later. Yes, we must allow data to work and follow the best ideas.
Honest Leadership – the citizens are smarter and can only take cues from their leaders. People willingly pay taxes when taxes work in their lives, they say. If we preach one thing and do another thing, you lose the citizens.
Integrate Rural and Urban Nigeria – we need to have a functioning postal service, to bridge the huge gap between rural and urban Nigeria. I explained how years ago, secondary school kids used to have American and European pen pals, relying 100% on NIPOST. A reliable postal service will unlock massive latent opportunities across Nigeria, from agro to arts to entertainment, in this globalizing world.
Put Rural Wealth in Nigeria’s Balance Sheet /Property Rights – those lands (subject to the land use act), houses, etc should be digitized and recorded so that even those in rural Nigeria can enter the formal economy. It is unfortunate that a man with 100 hectares is considered poor because he has no papers to share with banks, to access credits to train his kids and support his family. Simply, Nigeria must advance its property rights governance, not just in land and physical properties but also intellectual properties.
Senator: I like reading your articles on LinkedIn. And I have a simple question for you: “what can be done to transform Nigeria from your view?”
My Response: (We later had a conversation and I am going to summarize what I told the Senator.) From my studies of economies and… pic.twitter.com/yhkIi3coUX
— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) November 24, 2023
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When you see a head with enough oil still inside, it will show, as against the ones with sand or just hot air.
With this kind of response, the Senator would just scratch his head, swallow saliva, shake his head, and move. Why? Because to do what you just stated here in Nigeria, though simple but it’s harder than extracting water from a dry rock, and that is why we are where we are.
Those who think investing in power, agriculture, roads and rails will transform Nigeria are obviously misguided, because the humans who can purposefully and effectively run these things are nonexistent yet, so that tells where to start from: humans.
Like I stated elsewhere, when you are starting off, you need your brightest and most competent people to take care of things, carrying everyone along is never productive at the beginning; but with Federal Character baked in from start, you have effectively demobilised development. The diversity and inclusion conversations are only beautiful and reasonable when you have already created a productive system, with working institutions, else you do not stand any chance.
We are going nowhere, because those who can fix Nigeria are neither in power nor close to it. Let the delusion and false hopes continue.