Sunday, May 17, 2009

of endorsements and branding

There is this theory of endorsement, simply put if someone we admire, love or like says something or advocates something, we tend to also like or advocate the same view. Ie Dbanj likes coke, maybe we will like coke if Obama likes Coke, and definitely we would love coke. .
They also say a picture speaks a thousand words, true, that’s why we love pictures at wedding, and graduations. That’s why every major event has a Photo Op, e.g. the moon landing, the Olympic games the Arab Israeli peace signing ceremony on the white house lawn. How much would a picture of you and Dbanj cost? What of you and Obama? Priceless abi?

A state visit, specifically a state visit by the US president is the grand slam of endorsements. You get the US president, the most powerful man in the world to say, “this is my friend in whom I am well pleased”, it’s just the sort of thing Nigeria needs now as we are rebranding.

So why is Obama going to Ghana, yes Accra and not Abuja for his first state visit to Black Africa? Simple, Nigeria as a county is now an embarrassment to the black race. Kalu that is harsh, an embarrassment? The giant of Africa an embarrassment? The largest democracy in black Africa? The nation that brought down Apartheid in South Africa? The Nation that resorted peace to Liberia and Sierra Leone? the largest oil producer in Africa? Kalu how are we an embarrassment? Well just look at the headlines recently allow me;

1. INEC fumbles an election in a tiny state in a tiny ward; this is with the Inspector General of Police in attendance. Police then arrest INEC official over N250 million bribe scandal, (alleged) the REC resigns and retakes her appointment, a political party accused of “donating” money to NYSC corpers who conducted the election (alleged).
2. The Senate committee of power is arrested for fraud in rural electrification programme; this is the committee investigating the $16 (or$6b) NIPP scandal. 158 contracts awarded in one day and N5.2billion paid in one day! (alleged)
3. The NDIC MD is accused of defrauding a failed bank, yes the NDIC entrusted with protecting banks is caught in a failed bank scandal involving Fortune Bank (alleged).
4. Fuel lines
5. Halliburton Scandal
6. Niger Delta Militancy
If you were Obama would you come to Nigeria Now?
Make no mistake America is sending us a message. At the same time Ribadu has been invited to speak to the US congressional committee on financial services on the devastating effects of corruption. The man the administration has declared wanted is invited to speak to the US congress; go figure. I read that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Senate Chairman on Foreign affairs went to the US to book an appointment to see Yaradua; they did not even get to see Mrs. Clinton.

Nigeria has certainly slid down in influence n Africa. Once Nigeria supported the MPLA in Angola against the UNITA of the US, and MPLA won! Now we can’t even release our hostages held by Somalia prates for almost two years now. We were snubbed for the G20, can’t get a Nigerian elected as MD to the African Development Bank ADB. On the business side Nestle is moving their regional head office to Ghana, Michelin and Dunlop have pulled out, even the super eagles are no longer number 1 in Africa.

We need to do something; we have to regain our Mojo, our confidence, our oomph. It has to start with basic things on the ground, simple things like clearing garbage from the streets, enforcing traffic rules, can we be bold as to ask for power ie light? We have to stop looking for foreign investors in London, and Finland etc and come home and fix PHCN. There is a lot of work to do, and you can only rebrand, when there is actually is a brand. If I said NIGERIA, what single word would come to our mind?
In the end it’s our problem and we can fix it

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

of ikoyi and

In the papers today “the lost tribe of Taraba” was the editorial. The story says that a Christian missionary group, the Mission Light House Wukari, “discovered” a community of mountain dwelling people of Jibu. It is said that their condition is worse than the Koma people, they were completely naked, and drank water from a well that their animal drank from. They were “primitive” no less. hmmmm

Last year I had this expat friend whose son, Tom decided to come to Nigeria for a week, he came to explore and had an open mind. So I was detailed, (since we were of the same age) to take him around town. I went to pick up Tom at the house in Lekki. Nice enough chap, he quickly asked me, “where is the local health centre”? I need to get anti malaria shot Tom, I replied “we have none in Lekki, there are private clinics though”, No local clinics? "Well how do the guys who can’t afford private health care survive"? Tom asked, Well I replied “they pray, visit their herbalist or drink Agbo. Wow no health care!

I took him to Silverbird,( I wanted to show off with our mall). On the road were lots of potholes so Tom asked “why so many potholes? “Don’t the guys in this borough pay their taxes”?, suppressing a snigger I replied “Tom, first of; Nigerians don’t pay taxes, second if they even paid the tax, why should the LGA chairman fix a road? He needs to buy his L3 Landover first, then accumulate his re-election war chest, then after that maybe fill a few potholes” wow potholes!

Just as we were about to turn into Silverbird, an Okada rider slammed into our car, the “passenger” was thrown up into the air, “quick” Tom cried, “call 911, tall them to send an ambulance”. Where do I start? “Tom, first there is no 911 call centre, even if there was, I have no credit” , “ok” tom said, “where are the phone booths, there is usually a free emergency number”, sorry no public phone booths. Wow, no phone booths, no 911 emergency!

In the mall Tom said, “Kalu I need to get some D Banji tunes, where is the Apple media store”? Tom, we have no ITunes for Nigeria? Wow no ITunes! So we left Silverbird and I took him to go bowling (yes we have one) suddenly the lights went off, Tom dove under the desk, “Kalu quick, it’s an earthquake, the powers gone”. Dear me, “Tom see in Nigeria, power does tend to go out from time to time”, wow no constant power! Leaving the bowling alley we saw some mai ruwa (Hausa water sales men) pushing 25 liter jerry cans on a cart in Ikoyi. What’s that? Tom asked “well Tom, that water”, “for what?” he asked, Well the resident in Ikoyi buy it, but hang on Kalu Ikoyi is a high brow area yeah, you mean they don’t have running water in their homes? Yep. Wow no running water!

Tom peeped out and saw a sign saying “don’t urinate or defecate here, by Order” “Kalu he asked, is this like candid camera? would people actually “go” on a bridge? Where are the public toilets? Cant they just pull up at a gas station and go?” Well tom, actually there are public toilets for now”, wow no public toilets!

We then got stuck in traffic jam; “Kalu” Tom asked why are those buses on our lane? Tom I sad they are doing “one way” “so where are the traffic cops”? He asked, well they are over there collecting N20 form the okada guys”, “collecting bribes!” tom exclaimed? “Aren’t they scared the CCTV will catch them doing that”? Well there is no CCTV. Wow no Traffic Cops, no CCTV! The traffic jam was too bad, so Tom has a brainwave, “Kalu, park the car, then let’s get on the subway”, emm, “Tom there is no subway”, wow no subway!
I took Tom home, it was pretty late, so the OPC boys (security men) stopped us, Tom nearly has a hearth attack,” kalu they have machetes, hide”, “Tom theses are our security men”, “your security men?” Tom screamed “where are the police”? Well half are in Abuja with the politicians the other half are in Ekiti, I replied. Wow no police men doing beats.

I left tom feeling good about myself, we are developing now, I mean Lagos was wearing a new look, roads have been fixed, street and traffic light working, even BRT, we try jare, Eko o ni baje.Tom left the next day, last month I got a letter from him, reads as below

Dear Kalu,

I cannot thank you enough for being a tour guide to a helpless foreigner like myself. You know I told you I was a student, well I was studying anthropology, and I could not get material to write my thesis till I got to Nigeria.

My classmates went to Egypt to see the pyramids, other went to Rome to see the Coliseum, other to China to see the Great Wall, but providence brought me to Lagos, you see I “discovered” something new and it’s all because of you.
I discover a new type of humans, they have quite a lot of resources, but they can survive without, health care in their local governments, bad roads, no power, and no public transportation, no running water in their homes, no public toilets, no 911 emergency responder, no traffic police, no CCTV, they “go” on the streets without a care, hire private armies for security, worse of all, they have no ITunes. When I told my professor such a people existed he doubted at first but I showed him pictures. He was floored he, said it is impossible for people to live so “primitive”. My school has given me a junior fellowship, next month I am back in Nigeria to further study these unique people, I even hear there are better cities to study than Lagos, like Ekiti, Aba and Jigawa. I am so excited.

If I do this right, I could be in for a job with the Discovery Channel, wish me luck. I remain in your debt.

Your friend Tom

It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu

of dreams and visions

“Your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions”

There is this great story I read, a boy was sold in his youth into slavery, he became a “house boy” to a General, was accused wrongly of rape, sent to Kirikiri, and there he was wasting away till one day, he was summoned by the SSS to see the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

The C in C told him, “young Man, I had a dream yesterday, all my Babalawo’s and advisers cannot interpret it, they say you have a gift of dream interpretation” so the King told the young man his dream, and the young man interpreted “Oga, you will have 7 years of Oil boom, and then 7 year of global recession” wow! The King said, “What do we do?” “Well the young man replied “appoint a Minster who will save just a fifth of all the earnings during the boom years, so that when the recession comes, we will not have a depression”. The C-in-C was so impressed he gave the young man the job of the minister, “go and perform” he told the young man. The young man went created an excess crude account and saved, and soon the nation had $65 billion in foreign reserves.

After the end of the seven years the world faced a recession, everyone was broke, only the nation had cash, so they were invited to G8, g20 even G2 so that they could be cajoled to invest, the Nation became top dog, the nation invested and bought up quality assets all over the world, became a force to be reckoned with, and her people prospered. This is a true story.

Let me ask a question what was harder to do? Interpret the dream or implement it?

What is a dream? What is a vision? Forget the consultant definition, a dream is a failed vision, a vision is a dream that came to pass. Walt Disney had a dream to “make people happy”; today we say he had a great vision. The British Empire had a vision that “the sun would never set on their empire”, today, we call it a dream. Google had a dream, “to be the perfect search company”, today we say they had great vision, Enron had a vision to “be the world leading company” (really) today we say it was a dream.

In Nigeria’s short history we have had visions and dreams, “food and Housing for all by the year 2000” was a pipe dream, and Abuja FCT was a good vision.

Ok vision 20-20. . Was it harder to get this dream or implement It.?

Lets understand the 20-20 dream, it is to be among the 20 biggest economies by 2020. To measure how big an economy is, you measure the GDP. GDP means the output of the country ie the amount of crops, cars, pure water, generators, hotels, and beer, maize, bread produced in the country, a larger GDP means a larger economy. Vision 20-20 is brilliant; it’s simple, sexy, and easy to understand and also aspirational. But Nigeria is excellent at getting dreams, we dreamt DFRII, MAMSER, WAI, Food for all by year 2000, NEEDS, SAP, SMEIS, OFN, NAPEP, Good People, Good Nation etc so getting a dream in Nigeria is easy. What about implementation?

First a digression, Why 2020? Why 20? Why target GDP growth? Why not to have the 20 best universities by 2020? Why not to produce the best 20 cash crops by 2020 (everything can grow in Nigeria, we have Deserts, Savannah, Lush forests and swamp that’s why IITA is in Nigeria) why not have to biggest 20 manufactures by 2030? why not the best primary health care by 2020?

Ok visions are built on the strengths, resources and even geography of the people. You cannot be in Saudi Arabia and dream to build the world largest alcoholic brewery, the innate condition of your nations people skill, culture, geography and resources will not allow that. Hence we have the theory of comparative advantage by David Ricardo. In simple term David postulated that you discover what you have ie your strengths and build on that to beat the world,

Ok Kalu what does Nigeria have? What is our competitive advantage? Well population. You see when people say Nigeria is the “Giant of Africa”, they don’t mean we have the largest land mass, nor the richest resources, nor the best roads, nor the best power generation station nor the best Army nor the best Hotels nor the best football team, they mean literally we are plenty, 150 million English speakers, (ok broken English speakers).

But the govt has not invested massively in the very thing that will take us to 20-20 which is the people, our strength. We are investing in persons (Senators and Governors) but not people. Kalu how do you invest in People? Well by educating them, by giving them “light” so their kids sleep and not kill mosquitoes all night, so the man can earn a living and send the kids to school, you give them health so they live above 42 years (WHO figures) you give them housing so they can raise a family, you make the judiciary functional so that 90% of the population is jail are not awaiting trial (yes that a fact) then most importantly you give them the power to elect their leaders then stand back and see what happens.


Lets me put it this way, if you were in Kindergarten and you were told by your parents that you have to graduate in 11 years with a PHD in Particle Physics impossible? Here’s the catch, you will have no new books, you will have the same teachers, and you will stay in the same classroom, impossible?

Well to get your doctorate you need new teachers, new books, new classrooms new everything. That means we need new roads, new power stations, new courts of laws, new laws on labour and intellectual property rights, new laws on land use Act, Social security etc So Vision 2020, requires not just massive investment, but investment to empower people who will work in the factories, build the roads, treat the populace, police the populace, educate the populace, maintain the power plants etc

Let me list below the top 20 GDP, I want some one to tell me which country we will replace in 11 years

1. USA
2. JAPAN
3. CHINA
4. GERMANY
5. FRANCE
6. SPAIN
7. UK
8. ITALY
9. CANADA
10. BRAZIL
11. RUSSIA
12. INDIA
13. SOUTHKOREA
14. MEXICO
15. SWEDEN
16. AUSTRALIA
17. NETHERLANDS
18. TURKEY
19. BELGIUM
20. INDONESIA

Saudi Arabia is 23 (with all their oil ooh), Nigeria is 40

Now Indonesia is the nearest target (assuming they stand still).Our GDP is $338 billion Indonesia is $915 billion, so we have to grow the entire economy by 171 times (e.g. 171 new stock exchanges with the same listings as the present one in Lagos), also consider Indonesia produces 142 billion Kwh of electricity, Nigeria produces 22 billion kwh, so we have to build 545 new PHCN’s! the bulk of Indonesia workers are in Services and Manufacturing the bulk of Nigeria people are in Agriculture ie substience farming, Indonesia has over 600 airporte, we have just over 60. , Indnesia has 6,458 km of rail track, we have 3, 505 (we have no rail link from east to west) Indonesia has 391,000 km of roads we have 193,000 pls stop kalu.

So what the government is saying is that we will jump 20 places by growing our entire economy 171 times and knock off one of the countries on this list abi? Can it be done? the real question is who will do it or implement it? Who will focus on Education, Health, Security, Power Generation, Rule of Law, infrastructure development, Intellectual Property protection etc?

In 11 years we will know if 2020 was a dream or a vision.

It’s our problem we can fix it.


Kalu