Viewpoint
We tend to think innovators should fit a certain profile, one that looks suspiciously close to the innovators we most admire, write about, and study. We’ve seen Jeff Bezos with his clean-shaven head and shades or Steve Job’s signature black turtleneck and jeans. Richard Branson upset corporate suit culture with his relaxed, casual attire. It may seem that a world class innovator is supposed to challenge the status quo, care little about what others think of them, and act like a larger-than-life character.
But the truth is actually far different. If you are not the kind of person who likes to break things, wear hoodies or black turtlenecks, or who likes to jump out of planes, worry not. The habits and profiles of true innovators are likely to look a lot more like you.
I studied every academic paper I could find that showed a statistically significant correlation between an individual’s character traits and their success at innovating. These studies focused particularly on intrapreneurship because, research shows, intrapreneurs are the source of 70% of society’s most impactful innovations.
Six traits emerge. They paint a picture of an innovator who is surprisingly different than the person you might expect. In fact, they may look a lot like what you see in the mirror.
How employee innovators differ from entrepreneurs
Intrapreneurs aren’t just entrepreneurs who get their paychecks from a larger organization. The specific challenges you face while trying to launch innovative new ideas at work differ in a few significant ways:
You likely have two (or more) jobs, not one. You’ll need to continue your ongoing responsibilities while setting aside time and focus to pursue new opportunities.
You have one investor (your company), not forty. Entrepreneurs can shop their idea around to different investors to seek funding. You have only one funder to impress, and you’ll need to understand the types of ideas your company will support, choose the best option, and pitch it to them perfectly.
You may not be involved in the start to finish process of your business idea. Entrepreneurs lead the effort from conception to realization. You’ll probably run one leg of a relay race and pass the baton.
You can scale more quickly. Entrepreneurs might move nimbly to launch ideas, but they often struggle to scale. It may take the intrapreneur longer to get their idea approved, but then they have the resources to grow it much faster.
What it takes to successfully launch ideas
What is it about the best employee innovators that make them successful? Research supports that, first and foremost, they are people who seize opportunities. They do so by doing four things well:
Discover new opportunities
Evaluate and choose which opportunities to pursue
Act autonomously to move on those opportunities
Find the capital and talents needed and rally those resources
What kind of person does it take to do those things well? What makes a successful innovator, and can their qualities be learned and emulated? A few of today’s leaders in innovation offer some crucial advice:
Research shows that traditional entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs share three critical attributes:
1. Innovativeness: They explore new approaches and solutions rather than following the accepted way of doing things. According to David Schonthal, clinical professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Northwestern University and coauthor of the upcoming book, The Human Element, this is the most important quality. “One’s ability to spot opportunities and new paths, especially in the face of constraint, will always be a durable competitive advantage,” he says.
2. Market and competitive awareness: They keep the pulse on their competitors, customers, and industry and have a drive to help their company win. World-renowned business advisor, author, and speaker, Ram Charan, explains “There are three questions [business leaders] are asked continuously: What is the future opportunity? What is it [customers] need? And what is it they do not have? After re-evaluating and discussing, they decide where to devote their energy and where to take risks.”
3. Proactivity: They take action on their own before anyone asks or tells them to. These individuals view challenging events as opportunities rather than obstacles. Successful intrapreneur, Jean Feiwel of MacMillan Publishing, told me, “It’s not that I don’t see the problems that could happen, it’s that I see more of the opportunity.”
So in these three ways, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are similar. But the same body of research shows successful intrapreneurs exhibit three other characteristics that differentiate them from entrepreneurs and make them uniquely qualified to take on the challenge of innovating within an organization.
4. Strategic approach to risk: It’s no surprise that entrepreneurs are risk seekers. Just like Elon Musk sold PayPal and invested nearly all of his wealth to launch SpaceX, they’re willing to risk their capital and reputation on the innovations they believe in. But internal innovators think differently—they are actually very deliberate about the risks they take. They excel at analyzing their surroundings and then taking calculated risks.
In his new book, David Schonthal offers advice on persuading organizations to accept risk. “One way to overcome the ‘anxiety of the new’ (risk) is to shrink the size of the problem you are addressing,” he says. He shares the story of Public Digital, a UK-based consulting firm that helps large, legacy organizations transition to the digital era. “How does a firm like Public Digital get legacy organizations to modernize? Their secret is to start small. Rather than asking organizations about their goals for ‘digital transformation,’ which implies sweeping change, Public Digital consultants ask them only about the next important thing they would like to accomplish. Then they use that small project as an opportunity to demonstrate the value of taking a new, digital-first approach.”
5. Political acumen: A study of 100 “serial innovators” found that the key trait that separated successful internal innovators from frustrated ones was that they view the political challenge as an exciting part of the problem-solving process. I interviewed author and corporate innovation expert, Tendayi Viki, who warns against taking a disruptor or rebel approach. “A lot of corporate innovators adopt those behaviors from the entrepreneurship culture and bring them into the corporate space, but it doesn’t really work. It creates unnecessary hurdles.” He suggests keeping it simple: “Create something customers like and sell the idea. You don’t need to add extra hurdles of people that are actively rooting for you to fail because you carry yourself around like Elon Musk… It’s more important to be collaborative; build bridges and that increases the likelihood of success.”
6. Motivation: Even the greatest internal innovators will face significant barriers along the path of innovation. Sometimes these barriers are so discouraging that people simply give up. Others keep going, finding a way around each obstacle. Successful innovators draw upon their passion, purpose, and drive to pursue their ideas. Performance expert, Lindsay McGregor, breaks down an employee’s ‘total motivation’ into three direct motives: “The play that you feel in your work, the purpose you find in it, and the potential you see for outcomes like career advancement.” Improve your motivation score by focusing on these three areas.
These six qualities may not be obvious at first glance, but they make all the difference in whether an employee has the potential to generate and execute their best creative ideas. To bolster your chances of success, carefully consider the extent to which you embrace each of these characteristics and determine which areas you might improve.
Fast Company
Driving through the popular Igbehin Road in the heart of Abeokuta, one would catch a glimpse of the architectural masterpiece of St. John's Church, Igbehin, built from stone and marble in 1847, before the creation of Nigeria.
The 173-year-old structure located about half a kilometre from the Government House, Oke-Igbehin, is one of the few historical monuments, which leads credence to the early existence of the ancient Igbehin Township of Egbaland, in Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Another historical structure is the Prestigious Abeokuta Grammar School which became operative at a site in the present-day Ijemo Agbadu, Abeokuta on 16th July 1908, but in December 1908, was moved by the Christ Missionary Society to the Igbehin site.
Till date, the Igbehin area where the school started is popularly referred to as "Grammar School".
That the Ogun State, Government House was located in Igbehin was not a mistake, but a reflection of the prowess and importance of Igbehin to the socio-economic and political development of Egbaland, Ogun State and Nigeria in general.
Historically, a popular Egba warrior, Sodeke was pivotal to the discovery and settlement of the Egbas in Abeokuta, on the 5th of August, in 1830, with four strong pillars (sections) which include Egba Alake section (under the Oba Alake), Oke-Ona Egba Section (under Oba Osile), Gbagura Section (under the Oba Agura), and Owu Section (under Oba Olowu).
Igbehin was one of the important towns that followed Sodeke then, with Ake, Oke (Oke-Ona), Iporo, Kemta, Kesi, Ikereku, Idomapa, Ido Orun, Igbore, Itoku and others.
There is no way, the story of Abeokuta, the abode of the Egbas, will be relayed without mentioning Igbehin which started their liberation from the sovereignty and over Lord-ship of the Alafin of Oyo Empire, to which the Egbas hitherto belonged.
The Liberation took place between 1775 and 1780, under the leadership of Lisabi, a resident of Igbehin, but who was born in Itoku. Lisabi, an Egba warrior, is venerated for his heroic exploits during those turbulent days of inter-tribal wars and he is thus identified by all Egba people as the strength of their togetherness.
According to history, when the other Egba leaders had resigned to fate under the unbearable servitude they were consigned to by the Oloyo, Lisabi was preoccupied with the thought of how his land of birth would be freed from the shackles of slavery. Towards uniting the people for an onslaught against Oloyo's formidable force which was an amalgam of many towns and villages similarly consigned to servitude, Lisabi reportedly formed a cooperative society with able-bodied men who were farmers as members.
He organized a movement under the name of Egbe “Aaro” Tradition mutual Aid society, which he later used to free the Egbas by organizing the simultaneous killing of the Ajeles or the Ilaris in all Egba towns, in 1780, starting from Igbehin. Ilaris or Ajeles were the representatives of the Alafin of Oyo and collectors of the tribute paid to the coffers of Alafin from all territories under the Oyo Empire.
In all, more than 600 llaris or Ajeles were wiped out in one day.
The Ajeles or Ilaris in general, behaved like an Army of Occupation in the places they administered. Their Tyrannical rules mark them out as instrument of oppression and suppression of the people. It was this Authoritarian rule of the Alafin and reckless life’s style of this Ilaris in Egbaland that threw up Lisabi and his Peers in Igbehin Land, who resolved to bring an end to the evil rule at all cost.
With supreme war tactics, Lisabi's army, whose numerical strength was far less than that of the Oloyo, won the battle, consequently obtaining freedom for the Egbas, thus turning most of the farmers to warriors who fought many wars.
Because of Lisabi's prowess in warfare, and the capacity by the farmers turned warlords, till date, igbehin people have the exclusive right to the war title of Balogun of Egbaland.
It is then succinct ,to say that the Igbehin People are well known for their bravery and gallantry as warriors who fought and won many wars.
Leragun is a prominent traditional warlord title in Igbehin Land and it can only come from a renowned family of warriors. The title can only be conferred on a courageous, gallant, intelligent, fearless and brave personality who can easily replicate traits of the energetic leadership that Lisabi Agbongbo Akala and the Igbehin people were all known for.
In search of a new Leragun, it was then not a surprise when Igbehin Land, beamed its searchlight on the Lashoju Family, the root of the great Iya Agan Ilu Igbehin, the only powerful woman who can enter the groove with Igbehin Masquerade, .
The Lashoju Family could not but unanimously support the emergence of Chief Oluwatoyin Anthony Amuzu, the son of Mrs Kehinde Bolajoko Amuzu (Nee Odebunmi) whose father, Pa Odebunmi is from the Lashoju lineage.
The Late Pa Odebunmi in his lifetime was industrious and was a successful farmer among other life endeavours.
For the people of Igbehin Land, it was a dream come true, when the head of the Township in Abeokuta axis of Igbehin led by its traditional head, Oluwo conferred the chieftaincy of Leragun Igbehin Land on one of their own, in the person of Chief Toyin Amuzu, at the Ile Ogboni, Igbehin in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Sunday, 18th of October, 2020.
The Oluwo among other traditional chiefs said "the Igbehin township has deemed it fit, to install Chief Amuzu with the Leragun Title seeing his support to the community", urging him to continue to ensure the development of his ancestral home and people.
An array of guests including, a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Chieftain, Chief Ladi Adebutu, Ogun State former speaker, Rt Hon. Titi Oseni, Consultant to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Media, Prince Ife Akinbode, an uncle to the new Chief, Mr Tokunbo Odebunmi who owns the UK Obalende Suya spot and Amuzu's mum twin sister among others were entertained at Ita-Agemo, Igbehin.
The new Leragun of Igbehin Land, Chief Toyin Amuzu popularly called TA is a successful Estate Developer, who is breaking new grounds in building construction and engineering.
He is also the Okanlomo of Ijeunland in the homestead of his grandmother who married Pa Odebunmi from Igbehin.
Chief Toyin Amuzu's love for a better Society and to assist the people brought about the creation of a not-for- profit, non Governmental Organisation, NGO, named Toyin Amuzu Foundation which facilitated a water project in his ancestry home of Igbehin Land with various other charity support.
Greeting the Igbehin people in their local parlance, saying "Aaro", one can only pray that the installation of the New Leragun of Igbehin land in the person of Chief Toyin Amuzu would usher in more growth and development.
Sodiq Bakene is a graduate of Mass Communication from the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, a writer and a sound engineer with special interests in the history of the Egbas.
A former Commissioner for information in Ogun State, Sina Kawonise has reacted to Dele Ogun's defense on behalf of his sister , a former Nigeria's Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, describing the attempt as baseless and puerile saying, the former Minister has no good reputation to protect.
Sina Kawonise stated this in a press release sent to the Nigerian Newstrack, explaining that "Kemi Adeosun as Finance Minister started Nigeria on the path of its bottomless pit of current debt".
The excerpts of the full statement is shown below, in what could be seen as setting the records straight.
Dele Ogun, your sister, Kemi Adeosun, has no good reputation to protect for the following reasons:
Since the High Court judgment on Kemi Adeosun NYSC certificate scandal, you, Dele, have been putting up spirited defense of your sister, abusing everyone who disagrees with your viewpoint, running down Premium Times who broke the story and those who dared to raise issues with your opinions on the matter as ‘idiots’.
In one of your posts, you alleged that some imaginary people “simply wanted to get her out of the office to make way for the one who is mortgaging the country to the hilt, and the best way was to lie through Premium Times”. This is a repeat of your assertion that Kemi was “forced out of office” as Minister of Finance to allow the Buhari government to plunge the country into the debt overhang that has become the hallmark of the federal government Kemi worked for as Finance Minister.
The fact of the matter is that it was Kemi, as Finance Minister, who started Nigeria on the path of its current debt bottomless pit.
According to reports from Debt Management Office (DMO), as of June 30, 2015, Nigeria’s debt was N12.12tn. By December 2017, 30 months after Buhari took over as President and 25 months after Kemi became minister of finance, Nigeria’s debt had ballooned to
N21.73tn, an increase of N9.61tn, or 79.25 per cent over what was inherited. By the time Kemi was forced to resign on September 14, 2018, the country’s debt had further increased to N24.35 trillion. This represents an increase of N12.23 trillion or 100.9 percent of the debt figure inherited.
As “of December 31, 2020, the country’s debt portfolio had risen to N32.92tn. This shows that within a period of 66 months (five and half years), the country’s debt had risen by N20.8tn.” (See Punch, May 27, 2021). Thus, out of the N20.8 trillion debt incurred by the Buhari government as at December 2020, N12.23 trillion (58.8 percent) was contracted during Kemi’s tenure as Finance Minister.
So, Dele, your allegation that Kemi was forced out of office to pave way for unbridled borrowing by the Buhari government has no foundation in fact. When the history of the Buhari government is written in the fullness of time, Kemi Adeosun’s name will feature prominently as a principal figure in the destruction of Nigeria’s economy.
In specific terms, it was Kemi who persuaded the Buhari government to indulge more in external borrowings because, according to her, interests on external debts were lower than local ones. While former President Olusegun Obasanjo achieved the monumental feat of getting Nigeria out of the huge external liabilities - the profile former President Goodluck Jonathan strenuously maintained by keeping external borrowings very low - Kemi Adeosun pushed Nigeria back the precipice of unbearable external debt burden.
Dele, this is not a good reputation for anyone to flaunt!
THE OGUN STATE PILLAGE
Kemi Adeosun became Ogun state Commissioner for Finance in 2011 after I had left office as Commissioner for Information and Orientation. The first thing I realised about Kemi was how easily she lied with figures. A few weeks after she assumed office, she put out a figure of N138 billion as debt left behind by ex-governor Ibikunle Amosun’s predecessor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Later on, in August 2011, when she accompanied her principal to Olabisi Onabanjo University to see the devastation left behind by a terrible armed robbery attack on the campus, she told journalists there that the government she served inherited N103 billion debt. This figure got down to N78 billion about six months after. After Ernst & Young accounting firms contracted by the Amosun government to do forensic audit of the state’s accounts finished its work, it was discovered that OGD left a paltry debt of N4 billion after bank reconciliations that yielded to Amosun more than N10 billion refund in excess bank charges and refunds for federal road constructed by the OGD administration.
More serious than the habitual lying by Kemi was her participation and justification of what became known in Ogun state as the regime with unjustifiably high and mind boggling costs of project delivery.
What I wrote in May 2018 captures the pillage by the Amosun government, for which Kemi Adeosun was the treasury keeper for 4 years:
“Besides the normal recurrent expenditure, which has been consistently high under the Amosun Administration, about 90 percent of what remained for capital expenditure has been spent on expansion of very few existing urban roads in a few locations in the State. Out of a total of 2,545 kilometers of state (Trunk B) road across the State, Governor Amosun has spent almost N300 billion to expand a total of 347 kilometers. This represents a paltry 13.6 percent of state roads crying for attention. Virtually all internal (Trunk C) roads in every city, town and village in the State have become impassable. This is the case because all federal allocations to Local Governments (LGs), as well as their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) are seized by Amosun using the instrumentality of a law he enacted immediately he got into office for what he described as State/LG Projects Joint Account.
Apart from all other sectors neglected due to this mono-focus on urban road expansion which, in real terms, adds little or nothing to the GDP of Ogun State, the real tragedy is the huge debt Amosun will be leaving for all of us and our children to settle in at least the next 30 years.
The incompetence and irresponsibility of the current government are vividly captured in the 2016 Financial Statement of the State published in some national newspapers on December 28, 2017. In that Statement, Ogun State had a total revenue of N114.8 billion. From this figure, FAAC allocation from Abuja was N32.6 billion, IGR N71.5 billion, and others (not specified - most probably short-term loans from banks) N10.7 billion.
From this revenue of N114.8 billion, N70 billion (or 61 percent) went on recurrent expenditure in 2016. While salaries and emoluments took N39.5 billion, overhead costs consumed a whooping N13.8 billion, with debt servicing taking away N16.7 billion (this amounts to N1.39 billion monthly).
From the figures above, it would be seen that only N44.8 billion was available for capital expenditure. To appreciate the level of incompetence and corruption of the Amosun government, I’ll cite two roads that are typical of the road expansion projects executed by it.
1. OGTV-Brewery junction road with a distance of 8.7 km at a total cost of N17.2 billion and per/km cost of N1.98 billion.
2. Sagamu-Benin Express junction/Oba Erinwole junction road at a total cost of N11.87 billion and per/km cost of N1.7 billion.
If the total amount available for capital expenditure in a typical year (as it was the case in 2016) was N44.8 billion, how does anyone justify spending N1.98 billion to expand one kilometer of an existing road with no strategic importance or the potential to boost the local economy? At that rate, it means the whole N44.8 billion could expand a total of only 22.6 kilometers in a budget year out of the 2,545 km Trunk B roads and tens of thousands Trunk C roads needing attention.
Now, the reported costs of the road projects are another matter entirely.
The Lagos-Ibadan express road being executed by the Federal Government is 124 km at a cost of N167 billion, which translates to N1.35 billion/per kilometer. While the Sagamu-Lagos end is 8 lanes, the Sagamu-Ibadan portion is 6 lanes. Apart from the width of the FG’s road, the construction is a total overhaul of existing road with massive excavation and very thick concrete and asphalt overlay that are several times the volume and dimension of any of Amosun’s roads. Yet, the FG’s road is far cheaper than what is delivered to us in Ogun state.
The foregoing is the very reason there are no passable roads in the towns and villages of Ogun State outside of the 300+ km in the few urban locations. It is the reason the education and health sectors have deteriorated so badly. It is the reason unemployment is at its worst in the history of the state. It is the reason the 7,334 CDAs and 55,000 cooperative societies in the State receive no attention whatsoever from the government. It is the reason only one out of the 22 so-called Model Schools started 6 years ago is operational. It is the reason the government is owing civil servants 18 months salary deductions and 4 years of backlog in gratuities and pension. It is the reason so many manufacturing concerns in Sango Otta, Agbara, Igbesa, Akute, Ogijo, Mowe and Ibafo axis have shut down and retrenched thousands of workers because there are no motorable roads to their factories. It is the reason agriculture receives no tangible government support and it is the basis of the lie and fraud called MITROS rice. It is the reason all the taps hitherto serviced by public pipe-borne water are dry. It is the reason the whole economic environment of Ogun State is so dreary and mournful.
THE DEBT OVERHANG
In the 2016 Financial Statement referred to earlier, the government reported a total debt stock of N113.2 billion, being internal and external loans. This is partial reporting and concealment of facts. Non-flow debts of liabilities to workers and pensioners, outstanding payments to contractors and suppliers are not included. Informal estimates have it that total non-flow debts are about N150 billion. With the interest-based debt of N113.2 billion, the $300 million (= N109 billion) World Bank loan recently and dubiously approved for Amosun by the National Assembly, the current government will be leaving a whooping N372 billion debt overhang for Ogun residents to sort out for the next two generations. For, if the debt repayment rate remains at the N1.39 billion per month level of 2016, it’ll take a minimum of 30 years to settle the debt at a conservative single-digit interest rate of 9 percent.”
From the above, it could be seen that before Kemi was pivoted to the federal level by her principal, Ibikunle Amosun, she had become well practiced in the ignoble act of debt entanglement.
KEMI ADEOSUN HEADHUNTED?
Another claim by by Kemi’s elder brother, Dele Ogun, is that she was headhunted to serve Ogun state first and later the whole Nigeria. That term is reserved for outstanding individuals who have made notable marks during schooling, academic accomplishments, professional careers, known notable contributions to public policies, disruption in business, etc. What was Kemi’s position among her class in the UK polytechnic she attended? What academic papers/books did she have to name her name prior to her appointment as Ogun Commissioner? What was her rank in the bank she worked in before coming to Ogun state? Dele, kindly tell us what ground-breaking policy contributions made by your sister as Finance Minister? You claimed that your sister was a victim of Pull Her Down (Phd) syndrome. Of what importance was she to the Nigeria project that some people (beyond her fellow hustlers in the failed government she served) would be sworn to pull her down? From what height? Being Minister? While I understand how destiny-changing being Minister could have been to you in your family, her tenure made Nigeria and Nigerians worse off.
Now, it’s in defence of this your disreputable sister that you think you’re at liberty to abuse those who are superior to you intellectually, in professional attainments and other accomplishments. Dele, what accomplishments do you have as an historian and lawyer to impugn the attainments of Premium Times and the excellent professionals behind the locally and internationally acclaimed publication? The inanities you uttered about the newspaper and those who questioned your prosaic defense of your sister are absolutely beyond you.
There are far more to reveal about the idol of your clan, Kemi Adeosun. My prayer is that you make good your threat to sue Premium Times. In the open court, you’ll learn that, in matters of integrity, dignity and social attainments, your sister is lighter than chicken feather.
Thanks.
I’m ‘Sina Kawonise
I am glad that a young, brilliant and deeply courageous freelance journalist by the name of David Hundeyin thoroughly thrashed, disgraced and removed the pants of a shameless ignoramus, bumbling fool and decrepit imbecile called Kabir Bako on Channels Televisions' 'Politics Today' last night.
The latter had attempted to defend the indefensible by seeking to justify and rationalise the despicable and totally unacceptable submissions and actions of the embattled Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami.
I considered giving Pantami a soft landing a few days ago and opted to forgive him for his offensive, dangerous and repugnant vituperations only because he had publicly expressed his regrets but this is no longer the case because his expression of remorse was clearly not genuine or heart-felt.
If it was he would not have sent Kabir to Channels Television to defend those vituperations. The matter was made worse by the fact that the man spoke utter rubbish and sounded little better than a village idiot.
Now that his friends and supporters are attempting to justify and rationalise what he has said and done, I am free to speak my mind about Pantami and this short contribution serves only as the first shot. More will come later.
For him to publicly express the fact that he is "happy" when those he described as "unbelievers" are murdered reflects his homicidal, sociopathic and psychotic mind-set and is not only indefensible but also unforgivable.
And there is so much more that he has said and done, including his allgeged participation in a frightful event in Bauchi state a few years ago which allegedly resulted in the tragic death of a young Christian student and which I will write about at a later stage.
Simply put the Minister is a hater of Christians and non-Muslims. He is a religious bigot, an ethnic supremacist, an unrepentant jihadist, a lover of bloodshed, carnage and terror and a psychopathic and clearly insane induvidual who may well have been responsible for the slaughter of many innocent Christians over the years as a consequence of his inflammatory rhetoric and reckless actions.
His attempt to defend his evil ways and justify them by sending out idiots like Kabo to speak for him disgusts me. In any case if he had the courage of his convictions why can't he speak for himself?
Does he not owe himself that much? Is he a coward? Does he not have guts? Is he scared of a real fight?
It appears that behind all the bravado he is nothing but a chicken-hearted little quisling who is terrified of his own shadow and who cannot stand the heat of public discourse.
Whatever is behind his cowardly disposition and reluctance to stand up for himself like a man one thing is clear: not only should he resign or be dumped as a Minister but he also ought to be arrested and sent to Nigeria's equivalent of Guantanamo Bay which is a special facility for terrorists, built by the British Government a few years ago, in Kuje Prison in Abuja.
This self-seeking and fanatical monster and cold-blooded and heartless beast who regards himself as a high standing member of our community and who constantly and disrespectfully refers to Christians as "unbelievers" should be arrested by the authorities like a common criminal, stripped naked, put in chains, placed in a tiny monkey cage, paraded before the public, tried in a court of law and made to spend the rest of his sorry life in that facility for his undying and remorseless support and love for terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Worse of all is the very serious allegation that some of those that have called him out have had their lives threatened and that fatwas have been issued on them by both the Minister and his supporters.
Building bridges across religious, regional and ethnic lines and seeking to establish the peace between hitherto hostile groups and warring factions in our country does not include tolerating the presence of or fellowship with those who seek to kill our people, wipe out our Christian faith, destroy our values and norms and change our way of life.
No single religion can lord it over another in our country because ours is a secular state with constitutional guarantees for members of all faiths.
I utterly despise those extremists that think and behave like Pantami and I have nothing but sheer contempt for all that they stand for and seek to achieve.
The days of butchering, threatening, talking down to and insulting Christians in our country are long over and those that habitually indulge in such things must have a rethink before it is too late.
I consider the millions that have been slaughtered in the East, West, Middle Belt and core North in the name of jihad and sectarian violence over the last 60 years and I shudder with anger and disbelief.
I remember Gideon Akaluka who was beheaded in Kano many years ago, the young female RCCG Pastor who was murdered in the streets of Abuja for preaching the gospel a few years back, the 800 innocent souls that were butchered in their homes in Southern Kaduna on Christmas day in 2016, the thousands that were slaughtered in Plateau, Kano, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Gombe, Borno, Bauchi and so many other places over the years, the hundreds of thousands that were subjected to pogroms in the North in 1966 just before the civil war and the millions that were subjected to genocide and ethnic cleansing during that war. And there is so much more.
These ugly and sad events are indelibly entrenched in the minds, hearts, bodies, spirits and souls of millions of Christians in our country and the fact that, in accordance with the dictates of our faith, we are constrained to forgive and turn the other cheek must never be misconstrued for stupidity or weakness.
We remember every single one of those that achieved martyrdom and that were cut short for their faith and in our hearts we still mourn them. The fact that they died in Christ and are therefore with the Lord in paradise is our only consolation.
We also remember those that suffered and are still suffering untold hardship and persecution simply because they are followers of Christ and we do so with much pain and regret.
Yet let me say this loud and clear: enough is enough! The mass murder, religious cleansing and endless, godless blood-lettting that we have witnessed over the years against Christians cannot and must not continue.
The Christians of Nigeria are no longer prepared to be anyone's sacrificial lamb or whipping boy. The people of Nigeria are no longer prepared to accept religious extremism or intolerance.
Both the Muslims and Christians of Nigeria must all be protected and treated fairly and equally under the law and neither must be killed or persecuted for their faith. There is no room for fundamentalism on either side.
I have as much contempt and hatred for a Christian that kills Muslims simply because he does not share his faith as I do for a Muslim that kills Christians for the same reason.
Religious intolerance is primitive, barbaric, antedelluvian and archaic. Those that suffer from that affliction do not deserve to be called Nigerians and they should do us a favour by moving elsewhere.
The good news is that the Muslims in our country that think like Pantami are relatively few. They do not represent the mainstream Muslims of Nigeria and neither do they represent the North. They represent only the Islamist terrorists of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Al Shabab, ISIS and the Taliban.
They are also ideologically coupled and embedded with the foreign Fulani terrorists and bandits that have plagued our land, that are killing our people, that are tormenting our farmers, that are raping our women and that have a strange and inexplicable affection for cows.
Not only is the cold-blooded beast called Pantami not fit to be a Minister of the Federal Republic but he is also not fit to walk our streets freely because he presents a grave danger to our people and our society.
The sooner he is dropped from President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet like a hot potatoe and brought to justice the better. The world is watching.
I was one of seven professors who facilitated a leadership training in my university here in Georgia for local government chairmen from a major Nigerian southwestern state. In the course of the training, I adverted to a January 13, 2018 column I wrote about how power literally damages the brains of people who wield it and causes them to be dissociated from reality.
A few of the chairmen at the training initially said they “rejected” what I said “in Jesus’ name.”But the more I expounded the research on the psychology of power, the less resistant they became. In the light of the interest it excited among these local power wielders, I thought I’d share a revised version of the column for the benefit of other people in power.
Almost everyone I know wonders why people in power change radically; why they become so utterly disconnected from reality that they suddenly become completely unrecognisable to people who knew them before they got to power; why they get puffed-up, susceptible to flattery, and intolerant of even the mildest, best-intentioned censure; why they appear possessed by inexplicably malignant forces; and why they are notoriously insensitive and self-absorbed.
Everyone who has ever had a friend in a position of power, especially political power, can attest to the accuracy of the age-old truism that a friend in power is a lost friend. Of course, there are exceptions, but it is precisely the fact of the existence of exceptions that makes this reality poignant. As the saying goes, “the exception proves the rule.”
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Look at all the power brokers in Nigeria—from the president to your ward councilor—and you’ll discover that there is a vast disconnect between who they were before they got to power and who they are now.
Also look at previously arrogant, narcissistic, power-drunk prigs who have been kicked out of the orbit of power for any number of reasons. You’ll discover that they are suddenly normal again. They share our pains, make pious noises, condemn abuse of power, and identify with popular causes. The legendary amnesia of Nigerians causes the past misdeeds of these previous monsters of power to be explained away, lessened, forgiven, and ultimately forgotten. But when they get back to power again, they become the same insensitive beasts of power that they once were.
So what is it about power that makes people such obtuse, self-centred snobs? It turns out that psychologists have been grappling with this puzzle for years and have a clue. Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California Berkeley, extensively studied the brains of people in power *_and found that people under the influence of power are neurologically similar to people who suffer traumatic brain injury!_*
According to the July/August 2017 issue of the Atlantic magazine, *_people who are victims of traumatic brain injury are “more impulsive, less risk-aware, and, crucially, less adept at seeing things from other people’s point of view.”_* In other words, like victims of traumatic brain injury, power causes people to lose their capacity for empathy. This is a surprising scientific corroboration of American historian Henry Adams’ popular wisecrack about how *_power is “a sort of tumour that ends by killing the victim’s sympathies.”_*
The findings of Sukhvinder Obhi, a professor of neuroscience at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada, are even more revealing. Obhi also studies the workings of the human brain. “And when he put the heads of the powerful and the not-so-powerful under a transcranial-magnetic-stimulation machine, he found that power, in fact, impairs a specific neural process, ‘mirroring,’ that may be a cornerstone of empathy,” the Atlantic reports. “Which gives a neurological basis to what Keltner has termed the ‘ *power paradox’:* Once we have power, we lose some of the capacities we needed to gain it in the first place.”
*Take Buhari,* for example. Before 2015, he was - or at least he appeared to be - empathetic. *He supported subsidies for the poor, railed against waste, thought Nigerians deserved to buy petrol at a low price because Nigerian oil was “developed with Nigerian capital,” and so on. He even said foreign medical treatment for elected government officials was immoral and indefensible, and wondered why a Nigerian president would need a fleet of aircraft when even the British Prime Minister didn’t have any.*
Nothing but power-induced brain damage, which activates narcissism and loss of empathy, can explain Buhari’s dramatic volte-face now that he’s in power. This fact, psychological researchers say, is worsened by the fact that subordinates tend to flatter people in power, mimic their ways in order to ingratiate themselves with them, and shield them from realities that might cause them psychic discomfort.
“But more important, Keltner says, is the fact that the powerful stop mimicking others,” the Atlantic reports. “Laughing when others laugh or tensing when others tense does more than ingratiate. It helps trigger the same feelings those others are experiencing and provides a window into where they are coming from. Powerful people ‘stop simulating the experience of others,’ Keltner says, which leads to what he calls an *‘empathy deficit.’* ”
Researchers also found out that excessive praise from subordinates, sycophantic drooling from people seeking favours, control over vast resources they once didn’t have, and all of the staid rituals and performances of power conspire to cause “functional” changes to the brains of people in power. On a social level, it also creates what Lord David Owen, a British neurologist-turned-politician, called the *“hubris syndrome”* in his 2008 book titled In Sickness and in Power.
*_Some features of hubris syndrome, Owen points out, are, “manifest contempt for others, loss of contact with reality, restless or reckless actions, and displays of incompetence.”_ Sounds familiar?* You can’t observe Buhari’s governance - or, more correctly, ungovernance - in the last four years and fail to see these features in him.
But it’s not all gloom and doom. Powerful people can, and indeed do, extricate themselves from the psychological snares of power if they so desire. Professor Keltner said one of the most effective psychological strategies for people in power to reconnect with reality and reverse the brain damage of power is to periodically remember moments of powerlessness in their lives - such as when they were victims of natural disasters, accidents, poverty, etc.
They should also have what American journalist Louis McHenry Howe once called a *“toe holder,”* that is, someone who doesn’t fear them, expects no favours from them, and can tell them uncomfortable truths without fear of consequences.
Winston Churchill’s toe holder was his wife, who once wrote a letter to him that read, in part, “I must confess that I have noticed a deterioration in your manner; and you are not as kind as you used to be.” Was Aisha Buhari performing the role of a toe holder when she publicly upbraided her husband in the past? I doubt it.
Her disagreements with her husband are often opportunistic and self-serving. They are triggered only when her husband’s puppeteers in Aso Rock limit her powers to nominate her cronies for political positions and to dispense favours to friends and family.
Another potent way to reverse power-induced brain damage is to periodically get out of the protected silos of power and solitarily observe the quotidian interactions of everyday folks - their humour, laughter, fights, etc. - without the familiar add-ons of power, such as aides, cameras, security, etc. This helps to stimulate the experiences of others and restore empathy.
_This is particularly important in Nigeria because power, at all levels, is almost absolute and unaccountable._
California-based Aptera recently opened pre-orders for its solar electric vehicle that 'never needs charging' and within less than 24 hours, according to the firm, the $26,000 car sold out.
The futuristic-styled structure is designed with lightweight materials, providing low-dray aerodynamics and cooling.
Aptera's Never Charge technology is comprised of an integrate solar package that provides more than 40 miles of ‘free’ driving per day ‘making it the first vehicle that won’t need to fuel up for most daily driving.’
The vehicle is also equipped with a battery pack that provides 1,000 miles of range, which greatly surpasses the Tesla Model S’s 370 miles of range.
Co-Founder Chris Anthony said: ‘With Aptera’s Never Charge technology, you are driven by the power of the sun.
‘Our built-in solar array keeps your battery pack topped off and anywhere you want to go, you just go.’
Aptera was available for pre-orders on December 4, with pricing starting at $25,900 up to $46,900 for four-wheel drive.
The vehicle is designed liquid-cooled electric motors that allow the vehicle to go from zero to 60 miles per hour (mph) in just 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of 110 mph.
And if you do need power, the vehicle can be charged by a standard 110-volt outlet.
Aptero co-founder Steve Fambro, told the : ‘40 miles doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s the equivalent of parking your car and having it magically fill up with two gallons of gas overnight.’
‘So the fact that you can park it at work or wherever and go back to it with more energy in the tank than when you left it – have it charge itself without having to pay a dime to drive it every day.’
‘That’s the kind of freedom I think a lot of people would love.’
The company had a bit of a rocky start when it was first founded in 2005.
Jay Leno was impressed by the vehicle in 2013, he hosted Apetara on his show Jay Leno’s Garage, which brought in thousands of orders for the three-wheeled car.
However, the firm ran out of money and closed its doors in 2011.
But it revamped its design, which seems sleeker than the original, and appears to be doing well after selling out pre-orders in less than 24 hours.
The firm plans to start production and deliveries sometime next year.
MailOnline
Kimberly Witt
It happened again. This time in Central Park in New York City. Amy Cooper, a white woman, called the police after a black man who was bird-watching asked her to leash her dog, which is the rule in that part of the park. In the now-famous video, Cooper called 911 and said an African American man was "threatening" her and her pet.
That call could've taken a fatal turn, the way it did on Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota — 11 miles from where we live. A white officer knelt on the neck of a black man, killing him at the scene.
Cooper has since apologized. She surrendered her dog to a shelter and was let go from her job at an investment management firm.
Like Christian Cooper, the black birder in Central Park (no relation to Amy Cooper), my older son eagerly spots orioles, finches, and warblers in our backyard trees. He developed his love for birds when he was in elementary school.
For me, this all just means I have to add another fear to my growing list for my two sons: birding while black.
For my young black sons, nearly every activity comes with an added level of danger.
When my husband and I, who are white, became first-time parents to then eight- and nine-year-old brothers from Ethiopia, we were living in a predominantly white town in Iowa. Naively, we thought we were living in a post-racial society, that love was enough, and that our sons would thrive in our community. As our boys grew older, we learned they weren't safe from racism.
Our agency did a fairly good job preparing us for many of the complications that come with adoption, like facing the challenges that could result from early childhood trauma and maintaining connections with a birth family.
But race issues were a different story.
We had one conversation about it with a white social worker and a quick training about tending to black hair and black skin. We weren't required or encouraged to talk with black adult adoptees or to connect with people of color in our own area.
At the time, one black friend pointedly asked, "Are you going to raise them white?" But neither my husband nor I knew what that meant then.
It became clear one summer afternoon, when a cop showed up at our door when my kids were 10 and 11.
A city worker had called the police when he noticed a group of kids trying to see what was inside a storage shed in the park right near our home. The worker noted that a "couple of black kids" were involved. Because my children were among only a handful of children of color in the area, the person knew that our sons were a part of it.
Our boys listened attentively, apologized for their actions, and promised to never do it again.
Before the officer left, my husband pointed down the street to the house where the other boy who was involved lived. As we watched the officer pull out of the driveway, though, he turned the corner and headed in the opposite direction.
My sons got a terrifying stern talking-to, and their friend didn't even get a knock on the door. I couldn't help but play out future worst-case scenarios in my mind.
My career as a high school English teacher gave me a grim fast-forward view of life for my sons if we stayed in our town. I saw non-white students get racially-charged nicknames, and get pigeon-holed for all of the ways they weren't "white enough" to be accepted.
Catapulted by the 2016 election, we decided to move. My husband and I visited schools and interviewed for jobs in St. Paul, Minnesota, home to a vibrant Ethiopian community. We knew we had made the right decision, when — that spring, before our move— members of my school's track team in Iowa told a teammate to "go to the back of the bus" while also using the n-word.
The move to St. Paul brought us more diversity in schools, neighborhood, church, and social groups. It also gave us better restaurant options, constant fresh injera — the delectable spongy bread we eat with Ethiopian dishes. We also got a vibrant arts and music scene.
That didn't mean, however, that racism and ignorance disappeared.
Several months after we settled in, our then-sixth grader went on a weeklong overnight trip with his class to an outdoor learning center in rural Minnesota.
Due to a scheduling issue, his class shared the facility with another school group from a rural district. Towards the middle of the week, our principal called to tell us about an incident.
While eating lunch with his friends, a kid from the other school told my son to "go back to Africa."
My sons' friends stood up for him and reported the incident immediately to the adults. The school and the facility handled the situation in the best possible way, providing steady, informed leadership that we didn't always receive in our small town.
When my son called us that night, we were able to hear his voice and know that he felt safe and cared for. He was mostly uncomfortable with the unwanted attention. He came home with a bag full of stinky laundry and stories about adventures with friends, including a tipped canoe and glasses lost — and then later found — in the lake.
It was a sad and powerful reminder that even a drastic change in geography couldn't do away with white supremacy. These sad and powerful reminders happen all too frequently for people of color in this country.
Our move has made us all more comfortable, less conspicuous. While I know there is nowhere my sons can walk around completely safe in the US, I know that they've been empowered to own their racial identity in a way that never would have been possible where we lived in Iowa.
Along with their friend groups, their music taste has diversified as well. My sons now have non-white coaches, youth group leaders, barbers, and doctors. They can walk with ease within their own culture.
Their beautiful Ethiopian names no longer elicit snickers and questions in every new setting. They are never the only black kid in any situation, and in many cases, those roles have been reversed. My husband and I are sometimes the only white fans cheering for our sons' sports teams.
But when I hear of yet another innocent black person killed, or reported to the police, my heart stops again.
I lie awake at night questioning over and over again if we made the right choice bringing children from Ethiopia, a country where the color of their skin doesn't feel like a death sentence.
My fear is palpable, but I know it's a shadow of the fear my sons — and every other black person in this country — must carry around every day. I may be the mother of black sons, but I am still steeped in my own privilege. I still have work to do as we try to dismantle a world of white supremacy, and I dig in to learn what it means to be an anti-racist.
Insider
Dear Mr. President,
Subject: Mr President, please belong to all of us
“One of the swiftest ways of destroying a Kingdom is to give preference of one particular tribe over another or show favour to one group of people rather than another. And to draw near those who should be kept away and keep away those who should be drawn near.” Usman Dan Fodio.
I have been prompted to write you this open letter, Mr. President, by the loud sounds of drums, singing and dancing that erupted within many groups in the last few days on the grounds that you attained the 5th year in office as President of Nigeria. It comes as no surprise that enthusiasm for the celebration is not shared equally by segments of the public. While your admirers and supporters believe you have performed well, many others believe the five years you have been in office as our President has not met the yearnings, expectations and the change promised Nigerians.
Mr. President, you know me well enough and my position on issues to realize that I can be neither a rabid supporter nor a fanatical opponent of yours. I believe being a responsible citizen is enough reason to wish you well and to work for your success. As we have seen all too clearly these past few years, your success is ours as is your failure. We swim or sink with you!
You might wish to recall that after the results of the 23rd of February 2019 presidential elections were announced, giving you victory, I addressed a press conference during which I urged the runner-up, Mr Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, to concede defeat. The reason was clear: tensions were running high and little missteps by the leaders might ignite violence, as often happened after major elections. Some supporters of Abubakar disagreed with me and told me off. As it happened, Abubakar went ahead to mount a legal challenge to the outcome of the elections up to the Supreme Court. Mercifully, his actions did not result in an outbreak of violence as we feared.
At the same occasion, I counselled the declared winner, your good self, to use the opportunity of your second term to redeem your pledge of being a leader and president of all Nigerians.
On the occasion of the first-year anniversary into your second four-year term, I feel there is an urgent need to revisit this subject matter.
Mr. President, you have often expressed the hope that history will be kind to you. It is within your competence to write that history. But you have less than three years in which to do it. You may wish to note that any authentic history must be devoid of myth. It will be a true, factual rendition of the record of your performance.
And truth be told, Mr. President, there are quite a lot of things that speak to your remarkable accomplishments, not least of which is that for the first time in our democratic history, a sitting President was defeated. That feat was achieved by Muhammadu Buhari. The reason was the public belief of you as a man of integrity.
The corollary to this is that at the expiration of your 8-year tenure in 2023, your achievements will not be measured solely by the physical infrastructure your administration built. An enduring legacy would be based on those intangible things like how much you uplifted the spirit and moral tone of the nation. How well have you secured the nation from ourselves and from external enemies?
At this time and in the light of all that have happened since you took office, any conversation with you Mr. President cannot gloss over the chaos that has overtaken appointments into government offices in your administration. All those who wish you and the country well must mince no words in warning you that Nigeria has become dangerously polarized and risk sliding into crisis on account of your administration’s lopsided appointments which continue to give undue preference to some sections of the country over others.
Nowhere is this more glaring than in the leadership cadre of our security services.
Mr. President, I regret that there are no kind or gentle words to tell you that your skewed appointments into the offices of the federal government, favoring some and frustrating others, shall bring ruin and destruction to this nation.
I need not remind you, Mr. President, that our political history is replete with great acts of exemplary leadership which, at critical moments, managed to pull this nation back from the precipice and assured its continued existence.
A few examples will demonstrate this:
In February, 1965, the NPC-led Federal Government was faced with a decision to appoint a successor to the outgoing Nigerian Army General Officer Commanding (GOC), General Welby Everard, a Briton. Four most senior officers were nominated; namely, Brigadiers Aguiyi Ironsi, Ogundipe, Ademulegun and Maimalari. The first three were senior to Maimalari but he was deemed to be more qualified due to his superior commission. He was the first Sandhurst Regular trained officer in the Nigerian Army. His being a Muslim Northerner like the Minister of Defense, Muhammadu Ribadu and the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa granted him added advantage by today’s standards. But to the surprise of even the Igbos, and opposition from some senior NPC members, Minister Ribadu recommended Ironsi, pointing to his seniority. The Prime Minister concurred and Aguiyi Ironsi was confirmed as the first indigenous GOC of the Nigerian Army.
When on 13 February 1976, the Commander-in-Chief, Murtala Muhammed, was assassinated in a failed Coup de tat, Olusegun Obasanjo, his deputy and the most senior officer at the time, was sworn in as his successor. The Chief of Army Staff, General T.Y Danjuma, a Northern Christian, was next in line to succeed Obasanjo as the Chief of Staff, SHQ and Deputy Commander in Chief. General Danjuma however waived his right and recommended a much junior officer, Lt. Col. Shehu Musa Yar’adua, for the post. Shehu was promoted two steps up to the rank of Brigadier and appointed Chief of Staff SHQ and Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Lt. Col. Muhammadu Buhari was appointed Minister of Petroleum. This was done to placate Muslim North which was deemed to have lost one of its own, Murtala Muhammed.
Both the chief of staff, Mr. Sunday Awoniyi, and the personal physician Ishaya Audu to the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello, a direct descendant of Usman Dan Fodio, were Christians.
Barely nine years after the civil war in 1979, NPN Presidential candidate, Shehu Shagari, picked an Igbo, Alex Ekwueme, as his running mate. They enjoyed a truly brotherly relationship as President and Vice President. President Shagari’s political advisor, Chuba Okadigbo and National Assembly Liaison, assistant, K.O Mbadiwe, were both Igbos. His economic advisor, Emmanuel Edozien and his Chief of Personnel Staff Michael Prest, were of Niger Delta extraction. Remarkably, all his military service chiefs were Christians with the exception of his last Chief of Army Staff, General Inuwa Wushishi under whose tenure he was removed in a military coup de tat.
Mr. President, as a witness and beneficiary, it is our expectation that you would emulate these great acts of statesmanship. Which is why we have continued to engage with you.
You may wish to recall that I had cause to appeal to you, to confirm Mr Walter Onnoghen as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria a few days before the expiration of his three months tenure of acting appointment to be replaced by a Muslim Northerner. We were saved that embarrassment when his nomination was sent to the senate by the then acting President, Yemi Osibanjo. When he was finally confirmed a few days to the end of his acting tenure, he was removed after a few months and replaced by Mr Tanko Muhammed, a Muslim from the North.
May I also invite the attention of Mr. President to the pending matter of appointment of President of the Nigerian Court of Appeal which appears to be generating public interest. As it is, the most senior Judge, Mr Monica Dongban-Mensem, a northern Christian, is serving out her second three-month term as acting President without firm prospects that she will be confirmed substantive head. I do not know Dongban-Mensem but those who do attest to her competence, honesty and humility. She appears eminently qualified for appointment as the substantive President of the Court of Appeal as she is also said to be highly recommended by the National Judicial Council. If she is not and is bypassed in favour of the next in line who happens to be another northern Muslim, that would be truly odd. In which case, even the largest contingent of PR gurus would struggle to rebut the charges that you, Mr. President, is either unwilling or incapable of acting on your pledge to belong to everyone - and to no one. I hope you would see your way into pausing and reflecting on the very grave consequences of such failure not just to your legacy but to the future of our great country.
Thank you for your time, Mr. President.
Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd)
Once again, new economic readings from the World Bank's International Comparison Program have fed into the long-going debate over whether China is surpassing the United States as an economic and financial power. And once again, the answer to that question is a qualified "no."
The World Bank’s International Comparison Program has just released its latest measures of price levels and GDP across 176 countries, and the results are striking. For the first time ever, the ICP finds that China’s total real (inflation-adjusted) income is slightly larger than that of the United States. In purchasing-power-parity (PPP) terms, China’s 2017 GDP was $19.617 trillion, whereas the US’s stood at $19.519 trillion.
Of course, when China’s total income is divided by its massive population, the picture changes. Although China’s per capita income has pulled ahead of Egypt’s, it remains in the middle of the pack globally, behind Brazil, Iran, Thailand, and Mexico.
In any case, the two concepts – total and per capita income – each have distinct implications for geopolitics, so one must consider them separately. China wants to be treated like a developing country (at least in trade negotiations), and the ICP’s per capita income figure shows that it is precisely that. But when it comes to power politics and China’s influence in international institutions, total income matters more.
The ICP compares countries on a PPP basis, which is the right method when computing per capita incomes, but potentially problematic when assessing geopolitical power. On the latter question, a better approach would be to compare national GDPs at actual exchange rates, in which case the US economy turns out still to be far ahead of China’s.
When the ICP released its last report six years ago, it created a media flurry, with headlines such as the Financial Times’ “China poised to pass US as world’s leading economic power this year.” Those ICP measures, which pertained to 2011, showed that China’s GDP was gaining rapidly on that of the US. Soon thereafter, it was reported that the crossover had indeed taken place, at least according to national growth statistics interpolated between the six-year ICP benchmarks.
But, again, those findings were based on a PPP reading of the data. The problem, familiar to international economists, is that Chinese and US output are each measured in the country’s respective currency. How should one translate the numbers so that they are comparable?
The obvious solution is to use the contemporaneous exchange rate: multiply China’s renminbi-measured GDP by the dollar-per-RMB exchange rate, so that it is expressed in dollars. Viewed in these terms, the US economy ($19.519 trillion) is still over 50% larger than China’s ($12.144 trillion), according to the latest figures.
By contrast, measuring GDP in PPP terms is more appropriate for comparing standards of living, because it accounts for the fact that many goods and services are cheaper in China than they are in the US. Generally speaking, one RMB spent in China will go much further than one RMB spent abroad. While some internationally traded goods have similar prices, things like haircuts – a service that cannot readily be exported or imported – are cheaper in China than in the US.
The PPP measure has many uses, but assessing geopolitical power is not one of them. It is not helpful in answering the primary question that most commentators fixate on: how China’s economic size and power compare to America’s in the broader contest for global supremacy.
For that, a more relevant consideration is, for example, how much money China can contribute to the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral agencies, and how much voting power it should get in return. Another consideration is the view from other countries with rival claims in the South China Sea: how many ships can China buy, build, and deploy? For these and other geopolitical questions, it is more useful to rely on China’s GDP at current exchange rates. The issue isn’t how many haircuts Chinese consumers can buy, but what the RMB can buy on world markets.
To be sure, some point out that the IMF itself presents GDP in PPP terms for certain very limited purposes in its World Economic Outlook. But the IMF takes no stand on the question of which economy is bigger.
The closest it comes to offering an official position is with its formula guiding the assignment of quota shares to member countries. Here, the measurement of GDP is weighted, with 60% counted at market exchange rates and only 40% at PPP rates. (The GDP index accounts for half of the total formula; other measures, such as trade openness, comprise the other half.)
The IMF takes quota sizes seriously. If China were to attain a higher quota than the US, for example, the Fund’s Articles of Agreement would require it to move its headquarters from Washington, DC, to Beijing.
For now, China has far less clout than the US at the IMF. But under President Donald Trump, the US is surrendering its influence in multilateral organizations such as the World Trade Organization, NATO, and the World Health Organization (even in the midst of a pandemic). It should surprise no one that China is filling the vacuum.
The US does not lack the economic or financial power to sustain its 75-year leadership of the international order. But under Trump, it has forgotten why that leadership position is important, and is flushing its power, and its reputation, down the drain.
Project Syndicate
With many countries beginning to emerge from lockdown in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic attention has turned to the economic recovery .
The potential shape of that recovery - U-shaped, W-shaped, V-shaped or even ‘square root-shaped’ - has split economists and strategists. All 50 U.S. states, along with the majority of European countries, have now taken steps towards reopening following lockdown restrictions.
Businesses are heading back to work, shops and restaurants reopening and airlines are preparing to resume flights.
However, chief investment officer at wealth management firm London & Capital, Pau Morilla-Giner said there were some areas of the economy that will not come back, at least not in the next five years.
These include consumer spending levels, many jobs, commercial real estate occupancy, global tourism levels and luxury goods spending. He added the venture capital-financed start-up boom and foreign student exchange levels were also unlikely to return in the short to mid-term.
Morilla-Giner said consumer spending habits, particularly for younger people, would permanently change as a result of the pandemic. He said much attention has been given to the pace at which economies should reopen, but so little at the “behavioral impact on consumers,” adding it was almost certain that people would spend less.
“For many millennials and Gen Z, one mantra will dominate spending habits from now on: ‘never again will I be financially unprepared for a crisis’. Uncertainty will bring caution, caution will bring frugality,” he said.
“Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the western world’s GDP, so this will have a knock on effect on GDP growth rates,” he added.
U.S. jobless claims rose by 2.1 million last week, taking the total above 40 million since the Coronavirus pandemic took hold in the country. The rise was down on the 2.4 million claims made the previous week, but it is the 10th consecutive week with first-time claims of over 2 million.
Morilla-Giner said many of the numbers highlighted the “scale of the evolving economic damage and its likely deep resonance,” warning that many jobs would not come back.
“There is hope that many of these jobs will come back as the economy reopens, but the risk is that rising bankruptcies result in many furloughed workers being left on the sidelines,” he said.
The travel and tourism sectors have been particularly affected by Covid-19 with many countries introducing travel restrictions on top of stay-at-home orders. Airlines across Europe and in the U.S. , including American (AAL) , Delta (DAL) and United (UAL) , have sought state aid in the fight for survival as planes remain grounded.
Morilla-Giner said tourism was the “achilles heel” of the global economy as it is so discretionary.
“It took U.S. airlines six years to return to profitability after 9/11 and eight years for fares to return to what they were in 2000,” he said, noting that travel and tourism accounted for 10% of global GDP and supported 10% of all jobs on the planet before Covid-19.
The World Travel and Tourism Council has said the pandemic puts a third of these jobs - 100 million - and $2.7 trillion in GDP at risk.
MarketWatch
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By Gabriel Oguntoyinbo
"Parents listen to your Children We are the LEADERS of tomorrow Try to pay our school fees And give us, sound education"
For some folks who had their primary education in Nigeria, I guess they'll be familiar with the above primary school lyrics which was basically to ginger students to remain focused at their early stage in life and become Nigeria’s future Leaders in whatever capacity they find themselves.
Who then is a Leader? There are different ways to define this, but the key qualities of a Leader must be to have a clear vision and focus of making a dire situation better, having the genuine desire to understand the feelings of the people they lead and assuring them of a better future, against all odds. These qualities are complementary with accountability, empathy, maturity and in some cases, age especially if you find yourself leading a nation where the younger generation constitute majority of the population.
Many decades ago, we were told, right from our formative years, that we would steer the ship of governance of our beloved country, and for us to achieve this, we must be educated to make the best of decisions to direct our affairs in the right path. Alas, we've been scammed, and this won’t end anytime soon, unless we rise and take the challenge on ourselves and fight for what rightly belongs to us!
Isn't it a shame that the names we heard during the 70’s and 80’s, are still being heard till today?
Audu Ogbeh, as a case in study, was the minister of communications under the Shagari led government in 1982 when he was 35, after he was previously the deputy speaker of Benue state house of assembly in 1979, at age 32 and up until 2019, he called the shots as Buhari's minister of agriculture. In my opinion, he has done his best in all capacities and now is the best time for him and his contemporaries in other regions to take the back seat and be elder statesmen (if they choose to) and assist in advisory capacities and allow the younger generation to make a difference in our nation.
A cursory look at the current cabinet of President Buhari shows that the youngest minister is the attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami at 48 years. This then makes me wonder if there is anybody amongst the younger generation worthy of a ministerial appointment in the present administration!
A succinct look at Nigeria's leadership trajectory shows that all our military heads of state between 1966 – 1979 took the mantle of leadership (albeit through a coup d’état) under the age of 45. The 1st democratically elected president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari took over at the age of 54.
What then happened along the line that we now parade gerontocrats as the best to lead us and jettison our youths?
I’ve read a handful of books, journals and articles in the past which details how Nigeria was indeed the giant of Africa, supporting other nations in their times of need (the apartheid struggle in South Africa and the deployment of ECOMOG troops in Liberia’s civil war are two great examples I’ll point out).
There was a period when our official currency was of a higher value against the pound sterling! There was a high influx of immigrants into Nigeria. What then happened along the line that has thus made Nigeria a laughing stock amongst other nations, and not a force to be reckoned with any longer?
There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is presently in a state of disrepair due to the previous dysfunctional leadership it has had which thus gave rise to the current economic, security, political decay it’s citizens currently wallow in.
To correct these ills, the major tool the electorates have in deciding who they can rely on in terms of leadership is the ballot box, using their permanent voters’ card.
Unfortunately, it can’t be said that Nigeria has had any election devoid of various forms of malpractices, and majorly, corruption.
Herein lies the crux of the matter.
An electoral system which has been destroyed on all fronts won’t be attractive for the resolute citizens to fully participate, especially youngsters who have the interest of the nation at heart. It is unimaginable that in some states, a contestant requires about N100 million to secure a seat as a house of assembly member. A continuation of this dubious practice will not augur well for the future leaders of the country as they’ll be solely focused on making all available political posts as a money-making venture. Hence the reason why you hardly see any tangible or meaningful projects being carried out as the funds are being embezzled to cover electioneering costs, mostly.
Guess what? I’m sure most of you reading this piece must have come across all I’ve written and now asking, what is the way forward? Great! This is where your attention is needed.
Now that the above scenario is not new to political watchers in the country, there needs to be a way forward which must be adopted as quickly as possible to show all seriousness in achieving this aim.
For the younger generation, one key solution in finding our path on the right track again, in my opinion, is for us to create platforms where we can assess the credibility of contestants amongst us, going forward. What are their antecedents, what are their managerial capabilities, how knowledgeable are they in various fields which will affect the lives of the citizens positively, how can they proffer solutions to issues bedevilling the country, what are their political ideologies, what political platform would they be contesting under, how will they fund their electioneering campaigns? These are serious questions that need to be asked before we can give our support to any of these contestants.
For those within our generation interested in contesting for elective positions, preferably in 2023, it is our duty as youths to rally round them, put them on their toes, and ask the questions set out above and as they relate to how the current situation can be better placed, and the future of the country can be put back on track. Infact, if necessary the youth with its numerical strength can have a political party chosen as a platform to actualise this. I agree this will be a daunting task, as every attempt by aspirants to indicate interest in political offices will be met with stiff resistance, like serious death threats until they back off.
However, engaging serious, active and willing contestants on the platform with make a stellar difference.
As people of the younger generation, it is expedient for us to keep the hope of making Nigeria a better country. This goes beyond hurling insults on one another of different social media platforms daily. This is a time to reflect deeply and ask, what difference can one make at their active age in making Nigeria better?
As a result, I believe this is the time for the younger generation to rally round and do the needful by positioning ourselves to take the mantle of leadership, if we are desirous about putting the country back on track and make it the country we want it to truly be.
It bothers me so much when I see youths canvassing for support on behalf of gerontocrats, whenever a presidential election, for example, is fast approaching! Why do we still rely on the same set of people who have stolen the nation blind, and who have caused the major decay in infrastructure, insecurity, unemployment, hunger et al which we daily complain about and which has caused the emigration of many youths to western countries?
A case in point is the current covid-19 pandemic which has brought the world to a standstill. In a country where you have a shortfall of medical professionals who have emigrated to mostly western countries due to the decay in the health sector, it's not a surprise how the pandemic has been badly managed in most states of the country. However, some states must be commended for the sterling efforts they've made in containing the virus, but they can do better.
Looking at the economic sector, regarded as the life-wire of a nation, fresh ideas are needed daily to stem the tide of the pandemic. As a leader, in terms of crisis, it is pertinent to constantly address your audience (the populace) and re-assure them of what your government is doing in ensuring the casualties are contained and how they can assist in any way possible.
At the state level, some state governors have deemed it fit to engage individuals under the age of 40 to be in their cabinet. Some great examples are in Anambra, Kwara and Cross river states where some commissioners are under the age of 40.
For me, these are great stories I like to read about as I believe these are people, who with their vast knowledge and exposure, will contribute to the betterment of their various states.
If this can be achieved at the state level, I see no reason why the government at the centre can't replicate this.
Enough of Nigerians who constitute most of the population carrying placards to show support for gerontocrats during electioneering campaign, and now is the time to come together and support those amongst us vying for various elective positions. This is a daunting task as the amount spent on campaigning and various rallies isn't child's play. One of the platforms will be focused on soliciting for funds for these contestants, and funds will be accounted for. As the bible says: the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force, so we need to come together and realise our potentials by getting involved and participate in politics at all levels.
I agree that the current political landscape in Nigeria is a dangerous path but collectively, we can make it better if we want it to be, rather than stand aloof and watch as the country gets destroyed daily. This involves the efforts of we younger generation at home and in the diaspora.
The next general election is 3 years away and I believe we can still make hay while the sun currently shines by actively participating in affairs that'll make the country a better place. IT IS IN OUR HANDS! #EndOfRant
Gabriel Oguntoyinbo (Business Consultant).
This paper is a contribution to the NEW GENERATION LEADERSHIP, NGL Forum
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BY ABIMBOLA ADELAKUN
Ordinarily, one should ignore the director of Muslim Rights Congress, Prof Ishaq Akintola. His predilection for inciting controversy via religious conspiracy, mostly for its own sake, makes him a public nuisance.
However, we have been Nigerians for long enough to know religious matters easily escalate. Besides, inflammatory words thrown around amidst a pandemic can gain traction among people holed up in their homes and seeking distractions to keep their minds active.
Just lately, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, suggested that ingesting disinfectants or taking in sunlight could treat COVID-19. One would have imagined that no one would be stupid enough to believe such a ludicrous idea, but some people did, and to their detriment too.
With Akintola too, who knows which simpleton mind will take this his latest oddity seriously?
On Tuesday, Akintola authored a press statement that was widely reported in the media.
He stated, “More disturbing is the rumour that the National Centre for Disease Control in the state has locked up its offices and its officials are not responding to distress calls. The only testing centre in Kano which is situated at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital has also been allegedly locked up. So, where did the NCDC get its figure on Kano? Something is fishy here. We are surprised that testing centres are almost nonexistent in the North. Is this a deliberate attempt at debilitating Northern population with its attendant impact on Muslim majority population in the country?”
Whatever he meant to achieve with that last sentence, framed as a rhetorical question, should be taken seriously. We should not dismiss his words as the rant of a man whose mind has been addled by the prolonged lockdown.
By now, almost everybody knows that Akintola has a penchant for religious propaganda, but this latest assertion goes too far. As we have seen this season of COVID-19, people look to their leaders for the moral meaning of these moments even when -as it turned out- some of those people do not know more than anyone else.
Yet, before one knows it, one fellow somewhere will take up Akintola’s chorus. If they combust Nigeria on account of his unfounded claims, will he take responsibility for what he said?
There is a pattern to Akintola’s public engagement. He sees every issue through the narrowed prism of anti-Muslim conspiracy. His paranoia is so extreme it embarrasses even his fellow Muslims who see the world beyond his white-and-black world of colour blindness. The fact that Akintola runs an organisation that no other person publicly identifies with is instructive in itself. Does he really speak for Muslims, or he is a lone wolf trolling the public?
This time, just what did he plan to achieve by making such wild and frivolous accusations? Why is he waving the victim card on behalf of the Kano State Government? We know Kano could be in bad shape already, and the paucity of available resources might make their case grow worse soon.
On Monday, the governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, told the BBC that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had done poorly by the state in fighting the epidemic. While he complained of a shortage of test kits and overall inefficiency of those who should be managing the situation, he was probably unaware their situation is not different from what obtains in the South-East and South-South as well.
If the NCDC has not done enough for Kano, Akintola should at least give them the benefit of the doubt and not spew silly conspiracy theories. From various reports, the NCDC is doing its best within the circumstances of limited resources and the ever-mounting rate of infection. If test kits are available, why would the NCDC be so malicious to keep it from Kano? What would they achieve by watching Kano people die needlessly? Are there no non-Muslims in Kano? Was Akintola aware that on Sunday, the NCDC, Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, announced on Twitter that they were looking for RNA extraction kit to expand their capability at testing? Should that not tell him that those people are in short supply of resources and might not be able to do much for either Kano or others at present? Even if the NCDC, for some curious reason, hates Kano, they still have a responsibility to quench the epidemic outbreak there otherwise the entire country will go down with them. The enemy we are fighting does not discriminate based on ethnicity and religion, it is an equal-opportunity affliction. On this, our fates are tied together regardless of faith or politics, and it is in the collective interest to stem the disease everywhere in the country. Otherwise, we will all perish.
Given that Akintola has been a consistent apologist for the Buhari regime, you suspect his irresponsible accusation could not have been meant for the Federal Government. Although his allegation did not directly state who was behind the supposed grand plot to kill Muslims, but in that paragraph, it was the NCDC he accused of being unresponsive to Kano’s situation.
My interpretation is that the aim of the charge was meant for the NCDC. But why accuse them of genocidal attacks against Muslims? Well, it could be because the NCDC leadership is composed mostly of southerners (and probably Christians). He knows the kind of controversies that sell in Nigeria, a country where people have long been fractured along the fault lines of religion and ethnicity. I hope he realises that by making frivolous accusations, he is setting people up for terrible mischief. That is also why we need to push back against that line of thinking. It must not catch on. If some other people begin to read a religious and ethnic agenda to the work of the NCDC management, we will deal with a fate worse than COVID-19.
Finally, Akintola also wrote that “Nigerian Muslims are currently enjoying a majority status in the area of demography. We must avoid anything capable of decimating our population.” Just what kind of human construes people’s lives as worth preserving only so they can maintain their hegemony over others? First, there is no objective truth in his claim that Muslims are the majority. It is one of those many Nigerian puzzles that cannot be solved because the truth could come at a high cost to the longstanding beneficiaries of this unverified claim. We do not even know it for a fact that Kano State is as densely populated as the figures they tout during elections (and also, when benefits need to be shared according to population rate). We could have had a credible census in the days of President Goodluck Jonathan to enlighten some of this historical ignorance, but some of these reactionary forces stood against it. So, we continue to work in the dark, and people like Akintola can spin tales of what is not.
Second, other than the bragging rights that the so-called “majority status” has brought for the likes of Akintola, what other useful purpose does it serve? Of what use is a “majority status” that feeds only the elite who get to gallop the streets of Kano in Rolls Royce while millions of benighted almajiri children look on, the spectacle of the grandeur so dazzling, that their begging bowls fall from their hands? Does he suppose that Muslims live a better life in Nigeria than their non-Muslim counterparts? Do they access better resources than others? What exactly are they currently “enjoying”?
By Promise Adiele
Fela, the late enigmatic afro-beat maestro, and social crusader, in his song “Sorrow, Tears, and Blood” captures some aspects of brutal and sadistic attributes inherent in Nigeria’s police and military establishments.
For some members of the police and the military, torturing, slapping, and whipping ordinary, defenceless citizens appear to be a birthright that must be morbidly lived out.
Some officers of the police and the military seem to be in informal competition to bludgeon fellow citizens to damnation.
According to Fela, Sorrow, tears, and blood are their regular trademark.
The populace is aware that the police and the military try to conceal their savage vices under a cloak of assumed sophistication and virtue.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 era has given the men in uniform another opportunity to war against their fellow citizens and this has not gone unnoticed by conscious observers.
Anxiety, despair, despondency, and many negative conditions have all conspired against humanity across the world following the outbreak of the lethal COVID-19.
These conditions delicately hang in the air, threatening to descend with fury and rage.
However, while these conditions are ominously bidding their times to finally harvest humanity, two kinds of viruses, coronavirus and hunger virus, currently hold the world by the jugular, especially African countries with their documented anaemic economic conditions inflicted on the motherland by successive unconscionable leadership.
In Nigeria, while the populace struggle and battle with coronavirus and hunger virus, there is another kind of virus presently plaguing the people, brutality virus enunciated by our security outfits.
All over Nigeria, there are reported cases of manhandling and brutality by these overzealous officers who relish any opportunity to inflict pain and agony on their fellow citizens.
I saw a video of some military officers forcing a young man to swim inside a cesspool. His offence – he was standing in front of his living premises apparently to receive fresh air when these military men pounced on him, inflicting the worst kind of human degradation.
As I watched the young man swim inside the filthy pool with pallid agony, I flinched in disgust and with some measure of strong will, controlled my bowels from forced regurgitation.
Recently in Osun state, South West of Nigeria, two police officers were dismissed because, in their lockdown assignment, they brutalized a helpless woman, causing her disgrace and bodily harm.
In Ogbor Hill Aba Abia State, a police inspector, while trying to enforce the lockdown, killed one Mr. Chibuisi, a 44-year-old man with a wife and three children.
According to the then commissioner of police in Abia state Mr. Ene Okon, the offending police officer was arrested and handed over to SCID.
In the same Abia state, a police sergeant killed a 21-year-old young man, Chukwubuike Onuoha for straying outside his compound during the lockdown.
There are other cases of police and military brutality across the country.
According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) more than 18 people have died in the hands of the police and the military since the nationwide lockdown.
This calls to question the rationale behind asking armed men to enforce lockdown.
Looking around the neighbourhoods and streets in Nigeria, the sight of heavily armed security operatives with AK-47 riffles gives the impression that there is war in Nigeria.
Why would officers be armed just to enforce lockdown?
Even before the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, Nigerians lived in awe of men in uniform but the lockdown has witnessed a rise in impunity, brutality, and inhuman treatment from those who out to protect the people.
There are arguments whether total lockdown is the answer to the fight against coronavirus in a country like Nigeria where the informal sector accounts for a substantial percentage of the workforce. Of course, many Nigerians live on a daily income, therefore when they do not go out in a day, they are faced with hunger and starvation. While I do not quarrel with the stay at home order as a response to the ravaging COVID-19, its mode of implementation must be reviewed and readdressed.
When people stay at home, they are devastated by hunger, when they step out of their houses, they stand the risk of contracting the deadly virus or being harassed and killed by fellow citizens in uniform. This is the present dilemma a Nigerian faces. Let us not flounder on the quicksand of argument or rationalization, the current total lockdown is inimical to the circumstances of millions of Nigerians. It has become an avenue for the police and the military to extort people and allow them to move around. Those who are not able to pay their way for movement are punished or even killed. Recently, an inspector of police in Okota was filmed collecting 40,000 naira as a bribe from a motorist who went to get food items for his family.
That particular incident was reported but many such incidents are not reported and therefore not known. Perhaps, had the man not parted with the money, he would have lost his life. It becomes a very anxious situation for Nigerians who do not know what snare to avoid, whether the police, COVID-19 or hunger.
The question to ask is this – are the police and military hierarchy in Nigeria not aware of the unprofessional conduct of some of their men assigned to enforce the lockdown? Is it that the military and police establishments do not give adequate orientation to their men before unleashing them on the populace? What exactly is the rationale for arming officers with AK-47 riffles just to enforce lockdown? Are these officers promoted on account of the number of fellow citizens they maim or kill daily? Last week, along Awolowo way in Ikeja, I saw a military officer alight from his car with two other junior officers. Immediately the senior officer, with an immediate hideousness and undisguised cruelty conveyed in his starched khaki uniform, ordered his men to put an Okada man in the car boot for an offence that was not immediately clear to me. In a show of degraded sensuality, the two young military officers beat up the hapless motorbike rider, dragged him behind the car, opened the boot of the car, forced him inside, closed the boot, and drove away. I recoiled in sickening outrage and looked up to heaven for immediate intervention which never came. I was sufficiently violated and for some days, I struggled to extirpate the horrible image from my mind.
While not totally relaxing the lockdown, it must be reviewed to give room for survival of the people who are ostensibly being protected. The brutal truth is that the palliatives from the government at the federal and state levels are like drops of water in the ocean. Nigerians are independent-minded people. Therefore to suddenly ask them to depend on stipends from the government to survive is asking for too much. To suddenly hand Nigerians over to those who oppress them is to advance the frontiers of defeat against a people who are already groaning under the heavyweight of economic hardship.
Dr. Adiele teaches in the Department of English, Mountain Top University via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The decay in the Nigerian health care sector had been festering for decades. The cause of the rot has always been a multi-headed hydra that has refused to be slain.
Some have said that it is just a reflection of the larger society with poor planning, corruption, incompetence , nepotism and an inefficient system that has clogged the wheels of progress.
No progressive nation takes its healthcare system for granted.
All nations need a healthy citizenry to ensure that productivity is maximized and the future generations are guaranteed a solid future.
The most populous black Nation had not always been in such a precarious ledge in terms of decay in its health care delivery systems.
Even before independence, we already had formidable hospitals like the University College Hospital, Ibadan in the late 50's with several other colleges of medicine from the University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), and the University of Benin which were already established by 1975.
Nigeria has had progressive health Ministers like the late Prof Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, who strived to make qualitative healthcare available to every Nigerian, especially through his primary healthcare programme, which emphasised the grass roots.
He introduced free immunisation for children and created HIV/Aids awareness through advertisements and media campaigns.
He also gave a new lease of life to family planning programmes that previous governments had ignored.
This programmes all saw a drastic reduction in our infant and maternal rates.
Fast forward to 2020, Nigeria is rated 187th out of 191 nations in terms of health care delivery worldwide. We are also ranked in the bottom 5 in terms of worst infant mortality and maternal mortality.
The World Health Organisation, WHO recommendation is for nations to spend at least 5% of its GDP on health care.
In 2017 Nigeria- 3.76% Kenya - 4.80% Egypt - 5.29% Rwanda - 6.57% South Africa - 8.11%.
With healthcare being of little priority in Nigeria budget allocations, the decay has sunk to an all time low, leading to crumbling infrastructure, outdated medical equipment and healthcare personnel exodus .
It is estimated that Nigerians spent about N358 billion on medical tourism last year. With the government not even trying to stem the tide or seek positive ways to address the situation, healthcare professionals have no choice but to take matters in their own hands and seek socio-economic fulfilment elsewhere.
In an Interview in 2019 the current minister of labour and employment was quoted as saying “We have more than enough doctors. You can quote me,” Ngige said.
“We have surplus. If you have surplus, you export. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out. When they go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here.”
Global benchmark exists in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, which recommends a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1000 Cuba 8.2 ,United kingdom 2.8 ,United states 2.6 ,China 1.8 ,South Africa 0.9, Egypt 0.8, Nigeria 0.4.
A former health minister was also quoted as saying that Nigerian trained medical doctors who could not get into residence programme or training might as well become farmers or politicians.
All these are not good mindsets for effective and efficient planning.
According to the General Medical council (UK medical regulatory body), over 1,000 medical doctors register to practise in the UK last year ,adding to the over 5,000 already practising in the United kingdom alone.
It would appear the Nigerian government would rather bury their heads in the sand than address the decay in the health sector.
Then came the Covid -19 pandemic, like a scene from a bad horror movie, it has swept across Nations before finally coming home to roost.
It was met with the usual Nigerian way of dealing with issues' denial,- Covid-19 does not affect people of African ancenstry, it does not survive in tropical climate etc.
Meanwhile, in less than one Month the number of confirmed positive cases has jumped from 20 to over 1000 . Slowly, this pandemic is highlighting the large deficit in our health delivery system.
While Private hospitals are shutting its doors due to lack of adequate PPE(Personal Protective Equipment), diagnostic centres are also shutting its door to even cater to non covid-19 emergencies.
When the pandemic broke across the globe, we had a chance to formulate an action plan, but alas minimal action was taken.
Nigeria has been lucky so far in terms of the presentations of our covid-19 patients, most have been mild-moderate symptoms, but for how long would we continue to ride on the back of mother luck?
That been said, i would give high praise to the Lagos state government for their proactive stance and efforts done so far in the state, but more needs to be done, If and when patients with the more severe respiratory compromise start to come, it will only be a matter of time before our fragile healthcare system is totally overwhelmed.
We have seen how countries like Germany, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and Vietnam have all managed to stem the tide and bring the pandemic under control with early border closure, extensive testing and public health campaign.
Testing capacity so far vs population
South Africa - 100,000 vs 58million
Ghana - 70,000 vs 30million
Nigeria - 10,000 vs 195million.
Our leaders need to wake up to the realisation that covid-19 isn't going anywhere, we cannot be doing things the same way and expect a different result.
While the following solutions are not exhaustive, i am sure they will offer practical answers that will help Nigeria as it battles the present covid-19 pandemic.
Proper co-ordination between all tiers of government and liaising with NCDC and the federal ministry of health to provide guidelines and a comprehensive action plan. Community heads, religious leaders, NGO's and other stake holders should also be carried along to ensure effective coordination.
Adequate funding must be made available in a quick and transparent manner with accountability and keys area targeted for maximal impact.
Key area like infrastructure (mobile and hospital testing),Training, publicity, provision of standardized PPE and also social welfare.
Testing ,Testing, Testing
Encourage local industries to produce to standardized equipments and disposable PPE (facemask, scrubs, gloves ,apron, goggles, etc),hand sanitizers and cleaning agents.
Public and private partnership: Private hospitals are normally the first port of call for most people in the country when they become unwell, so the involvement of private hospitals cannot be over emphasised.
Dr Ajileye Omoniyi wrote this as contribution to the NEW GENERATION LEADERSHIP, NGL Forum
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