The New EU-Africa Partnership: Any?...New??

Question: Is there any partnership?

Poser: What was the gain in the expired Lome Conventions (from ACP-EEC/EU)?

Hint: Can we paint da pain of the extant Cotonou Agreement (ACP-EU)?

Enquiry: What is new about the current Africa-Europe Partnership, when both the AU and EU are acting as usual - shutting out the people?

Mystery I: Do politicians have pathological problems with "people-power", after pocketing da people's votes? In the year of our Lord 2007?

Mystery II: Are civil servants becoming "civil masters" after pocketing da people's pay? In the light of the power, popularity, and the rise & rise of civil society?

Truly amazing!

BACKGROUND
Let's have some small historical/situational background to this matter. Basically, the West is trying to wake-up and jerk up in the face of the so-called "Chinese" (and read: Indian & Asian) invasion of Africa - essentially for raw materials, eventually for trade expansion, and ultimately for global influence. Period. the West is merely responding to a real & perceived threat!

Otherwise, why was Africa undermined, underdeveloped and abandoned all theses decades? Is the continent not Europe's nearest neighbour? And historical staging post! But for the Chinese, will the Suez Canal today be back in Egypt's hands? But for European safe havens, will African leaders have found home for looted funds and other resources?

Yes, African leaders/rulers sucked up to the divide-and-rule policies and tactics of the West for so long. That was why none of the previous development assistance packages succeeded. Not the Lome Conventions. Not the even the current Cotonou Agreement. They were all programmed to fail, it seems! And many crusaders, experts and commentators - on both continents! - so charge. Well...

The brain drain, like the slave trade before it, blatantly favour the West. Bilateral trade is the same - with raw materials/commodities leaving Africa with no value added - and resold to it in hard currency as manufactures. Even for low technology items! The IMF/World Bank and both the Paris and London Clubs' loans simply went down the drains, mostly ending up in the West as looted wealth by mindless leaders!! Agriculture and Industry were deliberately neglected so the continent may be and remain a dumping ground!!!

Africa was borrowing to purchase, instead of borrowing to produce! And the sad debt trap subsists.

THE EMERGING DAWN
Happily, new leaders are rising on both continents. And the BRIC countries have jolted the world into long overdue consciousness, in the light of which neither Europe nor Africa can be or remain da same again!

One of the enlightening elements must be the vast chasm that has characterised both the meaning of "terrorism" and the means of fighting it. Notably after 9/11. Particularly on Iraq. Traditional allies have disagreed. Citizens and crusaders have disapproved. And the world be now at a crossroads!

With strong voter-power and the power of civil society, things are changing. The new leaders are becoming more realistic and parliaments more pragmatic. The EU, having enlarged, has now become more independent and forceful. In the US, for example, the Democrats now control the congress and oversight has become very vigorous, rigorous and even acrimonious. No matter.

One more enlightening element is the apparent routing of the neo-conservatives and their hold on the Bush White House. Taboo subjects are being unravelled, scandals are everywhere, and the Katrina mess is still with us! For the first time in US history, presidential election is being soap-boxed almost two years ahead of voting day, with everyone distancing themselves from the incumbent. What a revelation!

Africa is getting more democratic, and its new leaders more realistic. This is why they are more choosy, becoming more non-aligned, and even looking more and to the East. As for the citizens of this continent, they see no concrete economic benefit in the traditional and historical bonds with the West. In less than SIX years the world, led by the West, has spent trillions of dollars on the so-called war on terror. It has also lost lots of lives on all sides, making racial and religious intolerance one of the defining pains of modern immigration today! How much did we need to tackle POVERTY, which is at once one of da root causes of both immigration and terrorism?

We now have emerging leaders and a discerning global media that can move the world in this new direction. Hope rising!

THE NEW EU-AFRICA PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY
Many critics have torn the extant frameworks and agreements to shreds on both continents. It is sad, but a good sign. If the past efforts were good enough, they would not have brought both parties to this pass. The worst culprit had been the EU-ACP one. Only recently, the Director General of the Secretariat expressed serious reservations over the ongoing overdue/overdrawn negotiations for renewal and restructuring. Many others have no better assessment.

Recently, the EU Trade Commissioner criticised both Nigeria and South Africa for stalling the current rounds of negotiations on the so-called EPAs. Well, the AU doesn't think the old regime of divide-and-rule should subsist. All future dealings should be on equal footing. How can any party have a problem with that?

Europe and Africa, in a multipolar and multilateral world have huge possibilities and an amazing spectrum of mutually beneficial reservoir of resources. Europe has technology and finance, and Africa has human and natural resources. How can any party have a problem in combining these and joining forces for win-win outcomes? Yes, both have options: EU can go to other equally resource-rich regions, notably South America, but will contend with stiffer competition from the traditional and emerging forces/players there. Then the distance! Africa can go to the equally finance-rich regions, notably Asia, but will also contend with both competition and concerns about neo-colonialism and new imperialist exploitation. Then the distance! Both parties should simply get sensible and serious, and enjoy the precious gems of both worlds. And, yet, also play the best of other worlds as a golden bonus! This be the rational view.

Radical Action & Fresh Building Blocks
We must be prepared to think deep and far to make a new partnership work, and be worth its salt. Not much of the past commends or recommends itself. Previous deals have been too bland and too lopsided to work. Now we need bolder, better and balanced deals. Period.

1) De-couple Africa from ACP the "Cotonou Agreement" (CA)
Africa should withdraw from the "ACP block" arrangement in the CA because we have little in common with the political, economic or geographic activities/realities of either the Caribbean or Pacific regions. And we do not need the agreement or a European auspices to engage with our diaspora - which, in any case, extends beyond the two regions. All EU-Africa dealings should be collapsed into NEPAD and other exclusive platforms and instruments.

The gains of this move are are as self-made as they are apparent. The CA is dead. It should be buried. For the new partnership to work, Africa must not be diluted. The EU is one block, so is the AU. Period. This will clear out, in one fell swoop, all the bureaucratic and political bottlenecks and the ever present temptations to play the diverse ACP countries/regions against each other in power manipulations! It will definitely cut costs, quicken decision making, and secure impact of EU assistance to the three regions. This unbundling has been long overdue! No question.

2) Establish a "Brain Drain Mitigation" Compact
To make the present harmful brain drain a less painful phenomenon than the slave trade, and a better managed reality of our times, we need to formally acknowledge and harness it for the good of all. From science to soccer, academia to athletics, experts to inventors, Africa's brightest and best are in the West. Mutuality is the key.

A mitigation compact will help both continents harvest this critical resource for sustainable development. A credible census and user-friendly databank should foreground a golden basket of investments, aid, technical assistance, trade and exchange instruments/platforms for targeted interventions.

This compact should enrich the formulation of a futuristic "millennium immigration policy" for the West, beginning with Europe. We must find a way of moving people around the globe, just as we move capital, materials and services. The EU and AU must now lead the way.

3) Millennium Immigration Policy....Europe-Africa Migration (EAM)
Both continents must be honest enough to acknowledge that the immigration question is both pain and gain. Like the US, the EU should make a samba and a song of the huge contributions of the so-called "foreigners" to its economy. We do not hear enough of that, and do not hear that enough! The AU should openly acknowledge the huge benefits that home remittances of African immigrants bring to its economy, in these hard and parlous times. We do not hear enough of that, and do not hear that enough! Yes, it is a win-win of sorts.

Yet, the strains are there: Europeans feel "invaded" and "depleted of their resources". Africans feel "humiliated" and "unappreciated for their huge contributions". It is a lose-lose of sorts. The horrendous costs of illegal immigration (in EU resources/image and African lives/AU image) must now be converted into gains.

EAM should cover the following, among others:
* New labour needs, including Europe's demographic challenges
* Creative visa regimes
* Re-population of rural-Europe through strategic deployment of immigrants
* Vacation & Short-term Employment
* Work Experience & Placement Services
* EAM Job Centres with official scouts and head-hunters
* Returning-Residents package
* Self-employment & Professional Services Card
* Seniors Exchange Programme/Active Retirees
* Skills & Languages Training/Capacity Building, including satellite campuses
* EAM Volunteers Scheme
* EAM Guest Workers Programme
* Taxation

4) E-A Grand Alumni....Bonds beyond Words, Links beyond Frontiers!
We ought be baffled how less we use the various "former-this" & "ex-thats", spanning schools, business, diplomacy, charity, sports, religion(clergy/missionaries), professions, security services and media!

E-A Grand will be a multilevel platform to pool & pull the huge human resources, institutional relationships and organic multisectoral/multinational liaisons forged by expatriates, students, fellows and trainees - on both continents - over the decades.

From this pool we can do amazing things: People-to-People facilitation, investment drive, clever forward & backward-integration schemes, payback-give back protfolios, mobilisation on topical issues and UN Global Thematics. The possibilities are enchanting, exciting and endless!

5) Empower "Non-State" Actors (NSAs)
For decades all foreign aids and loans have gone to the state in Africa. Even foreign scholarships and fellowships were monopolised and hoarded by the bureaucrats and politicians. You got them only if you worked for government! Or were owned by government. I should know because I was the very first private sector recipient of the prestigious and highly coveted UK Chevening Scholarship Awards 20 years ago. It changed my life, and career! I was fortunate.

There are many many persons, companies and organisations whose dreams, ideas and projects would have helped change our countries, continent - even the world! - if they were not denied access to the huge foreign aid/loans ultimately squandered/looted by our governments. Pity.

NSAs must be what it says: any person or entity that is not the state. The Non Governmental players and stakeholders in Europe and Africa. Once they are sufficiently empowered, creative and courageous "oversight" and constant monitoring & evaluation will evolve and subsist. Value added governance will flower and thrive in Africa within a decade.

6) Liberate The Press & Liberalise ICT
Jointly, the EU and AU must ensure and enforce the Freedom of Information Law in all nations within the new partnership. This will strengthen the press in Africa, and further secure civil, human and people's rights across the continent. It will tighten the noose around dictators and corrupt leaders/politicians. Democracy cannot be taken for granted in these climes!

Next is to eliminate the so-called "digital divide" by collapsing costs, deploying solar & wind power for energy supply, expanding telecoms coverage/penetration, and tying specific funding to this intervention.

7) Subject New Partnership to...Gender Audit & Youth-Impact Tests
Both in compliance with UN Global Thematics and response to our demographic challenges, all aspects of the new regime of cooperation must be women & youth-friendly. It is self-elucidating case, an inexorable force.

8) Trans-African Infrastructure...10-Year Fast-Tracked Intervention
Inevitably, a robust commitment to Africa's economic & integration infrastructure must undergird any new EU-AU Partnership. Trans-African roads, railways, energy and maritime
infrastructure must be built....for economic advancement (to create jobs/wealth and eradicate poverty) and regional integration (to foster harmony and eradicate conflicts/wars).

An expedited 10-year agenda, catalysed by governments and powered by the private sector, is recommended and a sure bet. See the huge progress being made by GSM operators.

TODAY'S AFRICA IS READY FOR CHANGE.... RADICAL CHANGE!
With the friends and global goodwill this continent now attracts, and the pain felt by her large diaspora, our people are ready to take the bull by the horn. In Nigeria, for example, citizens feel utterly embarrassed, disgusted and agitated about the unpardonable levels of corruption, crime, underdevelopment and poverty. Citizen-Action is afoot! Other countries are doing same.

Happily, the peer review mechanism of NEPAD, the power of democracy and the Mo Ibrahim prize for leadership and good governance be a salutary convergence of potent forces for change. We are fully convinced that many African leaders are now credible agents of change. In a word, Africa is ready, able and willing to make and embrace change - real change.

EUROPE IS RICH ENOUGH TO ACT.....TODAY!
You know, when we tally the huge resources at the disposal of European governments and their private sectors, one cannot but agree with the Make Poverty History coalitions that we do not need to wait one more day to act...in support of Africa.

Look at the billions being flaunted in corporate mergers, consider the huge sums being written off in subprime and other financial losses/misadventures, see what has been and is being spent on the so-called war on terror, imagine the level of resources dedicated to illegal immigration! All these indicate one thing: Europe is generously/lavishly endowed with the wherewithal (as in technology, expertise, logistics and finance) to jointly lift Africa from poverty to prosperity! And there are huge profits plus healthy/sustainable returns to be gained by the private sector here. No question at all. So, folks, let's do it.

TOWARDS LISBON ....December 2007
The preparations for the EU-AU Summit set for Lisbon, Portugal, in December 2007 have been rather intriguing and lopsided. Not many in Africa know anything about the issues or content of the coming deal; and the summit seems overshadowed by the "Mugabe Invitation" debate! We, in Africa, are not robustly engaging in the process. Information is scant and, as usual, politicians and civil servants are failing our peoples. The media on both continents obviously have better things to do than dwell on the new partnership nitty gritty! The historical disconnect, apathy and gulf persist.

I can however report the valiant efforts of a northern organisation, the European Centre for Development Policy and Management (EDCPM), through which I get free briefings on the whole exercise. I have not found a comparable African player in the south! Check them out at http://www.ecdpm.org/ and be informed! Certainly the AU has a lot to learn from the EU. This, alas, is catch-up time!

JUMP-START & LEAPFROG with new MEDIA CAMPAIGN
There should be no pretence about the fact that this new partnership process is undermined by an apparent absence of popular participation. We must now get the media on board through an ambitious and wide-spread campaign on both continents, particularly in Africa. If well-managed and sustained, stakeholders and citizens will participate robustly. We must worry about the gap.

A NOTE ON WESTERN "HYPOCRITICAL" CONDITIONALITIES!
From the perhaps altruistic and certainly moralistic historical pedestal of the war on despots and dictators, the West regressively succumbed to embracing them unashamedly aorund the globe! My country, Nigeria, is a good example. Our crude oil is so "sweet" and natural gas so plentiful that western governments and their blue-eyed oil companies gleefully did business with every military regime for 30 YEARS! And both the London/Paris Clubs and IMF/World Bank lent bashfully and unconscionably (without accountability, transparency or any value added) to the despots! Oh, one small point: the safe haven for the loots? Well...in da WEST.

This pattern is repeated and replicated in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. It is worst in Africa.

Now that we are starting afresh, the EU should abandon this hypocrisy. It was always a poorly veiled excuse to do nothing, or keep those nations down. Why does the West sell huge arms and luxury goods to the dictators, lend them huge sums to import consumer goods, but never cared about the people's voices or votes?

Each Block Their Bane! Both Africa and the West have their varying share of corruption, scandals and crime. For 13 years now in a row, the Court of Audits has refused to sign off on the EU Commissions accounts! That's unsettling. We recall also that, for years, there have been a zillion questions and queries on the EEC-ACP/EU-ACP regimes, including allegations of fraud, mismanagement and failures. It is time the EU frontally tackles the legendary web of opaqueness and celebrated complexities in its rules, policies, processes, systems and practices. The audit queries must be confronted and cleared NOW. They diminish Europe's moral standing and its global image.

Alas, the US is faring no better. The latest series of its Government Accountability Office reports are damning and chilling. So are numerous other findings, official or independent. From porks to contracts, policies to practices, Iraq to Katrina, roads to medicare, schools to churches, and Wall Street to Main Street, it is scandals and frauds galore! The american media is having a roll on the politicians. A web of class-action suits hovers all over, even as shareholders tackle the execs. Insurance companies are cutting corners while homeowners and pensioners are at their wits' end! Mind boggling stuff.

Bottom line? We all have work to do on corruption, accountability and good governance. And I do accept that the most work is on our side in Africa. At least in the West, the system works: In most cases, you get caught or outed, and you get punished. The AU has a lot to learn from both the US and EU. No question.

CONCLUSION
Europe and Africa are closer in all ways, it is hard to comprehend the distance and disconnect that characterise their extant relations. The truth be told, the two continents are drifting apart! There is hubris, there is rebuff, there is blackmail, there is resentment, there is mutual distrust. And these are pervading both official and unofficial realms. Too bad. Now is the turn of visionary leadership. This be the time for creative, proactive and innovative action - led by courageous actors. Overdue. Can Lisbon show da way?

My take on this new endeavour is this: By all means let's have a new partnership. But let's now craft it in the likeness/image of our peoples and our lands. Let's circumscribe the realities and then subscribe to a joint future of profitable mutuality. In doing so, economic empowerment through trade & investment must lead the pack, power the pact. Do this, and watch our peoples flourish. The setting is right, and the signs are good.

Welcome to tomorrow!

New Economy: Bring Back Our Old Bankers!

We've made many many mistakes in the past. We've done many faddish and rash things. We've copied ALL da wrong things and deferred too many right things. We've now come to da crunch: Where do we go from here?

Forwards, I scream! So, let's start with the economy. Nigeria has committed itself to a rigorous agenda: To become one of the world's Top 20 economies by the year 2020! Great. It will do so by, among other things, using the Financial Services Sector to drive the programme. Great. Or, is it? Yes, if the banks can rise up to the plate!

So, I have some thoughts...

Let's start with some enquiries: Some very basic questions on house-keeping, order and sanity. Mainly preparatory stuff most people can easily digest:
1) In Nigeria, is banking a profession, vocation or occupation?
2) Which laws and bodies ensure its utmost professionalism?
3) What are the official and unofficial levels of bad-debts and frauds?
4) What are the lessons of the consolidation exercise?
5) Have we done the SWOT Analysis of ALL the NEW banks, post-consolidation?
6) How many staff does each have, and how many are professional bankers?
7) What is the success level of their cards and e-banking forays?
8) What lessons from 1-7 above for branch banking?
9) Do they uphold the rudiments of banks' historical anchors: agric-finance, trade-finance, mortgage-finance, micro-finance and SME-development?
10) Where are we in women banking and youth enterprises - which were so promising before?
11) What are the annual numbers of qualified bankers from the CIBN "production line"!?
12) What are banks doing about capacity building, and getting their staff to become ACIBs?

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Bankers Committee, The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) have all spoken out on the dearth of professionalism in the financial services sector, especially the in banks! Last week, the senate president reiterated this lament!! A visit to our banking hall will tell you just how poorly the levels have sunk!!!

Things are very very bad. Most of the staff have no idea what banking is. Many are "financial illiterates". You are told things by rote, not by reason or rationality! An independent survey is now inevitable - to shove da mirror in our face, as it were!

Global Warning...on Skilled Labour:
Anyone with enough attentiveness will hear the endless lament about shortages of good quality manpower in most developed economies, the rich world. People are living longer, and the baby boomers are staying healthier. In places like Japan and Russia as well as some European states, the populations are aging faster than they can replace/replenish the work force! The youths in many cases are abandoning their home towns and villages, sometimes countries, for good!

All these are informing and driving immigration policy around the world. Now, most developing nations are the hunting grounds of the rich countries for skilled labour! Professionals from doctors to nurses, from ICT experts to chemical engineers, from university dons to microfinance practitioners, are now joining masons and beauty therapists in da New Brain Drain!

Hallo hallo, even Eastern Europe (ask Poland!) is been drained by the West!!

Clever companies and governments are recalling old hands, delaying retirement or extending the mandatory age limits, even as many countries are now incentivising employers and citizens alike, to address the problem. France's cabinet is currently working on its own major shake up: expected to be bold and revolutionary!

But here in Africa, our people are complacent. Nigerian leaders were busy retrenching, sacking and re-sizing staff, from both public & private sectors, without adequate preparations or quality succession, in the last eight years! In a depressed economy, health and education plunge. So is it with Nigeria. Our system is churning out half-baked graduates and unskilled professionals. The youth service scheme has been virtually paralysed by lack of funds and scandalously diminished placement/posting opportunities: companies are folding up, governments are downsizing. What a double blow!

It be from this milieu, dear thinker, that we are just crawling - after the damning shame of da last elections - hoping to regroup, recoup and rebuild. Where then are the professionals that will staff and sustain the banking system? And thus help da financial services sector drive and power the economy to its 20-20-20 summit?? Big question.

Trusting Nigerians and the me-too mentality of our public officials, the new policy of using microcredits/microfinance to drive the anti-poverty agenda and power wealth creation through MSMEs, will witness a proliferation of schemes and sorrows pretty soon. Every government, every excellency, every NGO, every community will soon start its own bank or scheme! Very little thoughts will be given to sustainability and success, especially the issue of professionalism.

The Global Dimension
Crisis is in the air! The US subprime mortgage crisis is creating ripples around the world. This week, the UK will know if the Northern Rock, its No.5 mortgage bank, will survive the run on it!

One reason the world financial system is now quaking is because all sorts of fancy products and services, including predatory financial engineering, have crept into - if not taken over! - banking.
People are simply figure-crunching, bundling & unbundling sterile assets, securitising strange & questionable mortgages, and refinancing an opaque miasma of debts & equities, with amazing ease and at da speed of light! Real banking is about PEOPLE. These days it's about FIGURES!
Very strange, indeed.

Hedge Funds have happened upon us like a thief in the night, and we are all wondering what hit us! Even the G8 found it too hot an issue to touch, let alone tackle, at its last meeting!! When this
remorseless but exciting phenomenon runs its course or "curse", may it not cost us in blood and tears!!! We warn, we pray.

Which is why the sensible call for Nigerian banks to recruit from the international labour market must be heeded with caution, and handled with care. We must recruit, but we must produce the bulk of our manpower in the long-run.

Part of the Solution...is...Past Players & Old Bankers!
To achieve some measure of sanity and stability, the banking system must seek out and bring back old hands: These are qualified professional bankers, experienced former staff, and former lecturers in banking & finance.

Once they are in good health and of no criminal records, re-hire them and retrain them fast! It will be magical what this will do for the sector.

WARNING!!!
If the banks delay, may someone tell them that the microcredit hawks are both in the running and swooning! Trouble is, when those ones politically mushroom and vocationally wither, we will still be stuck with da real banks - warts and all!

Let's Budget for the Media...(Press as Fourth Estate)

Am I stirring something? Yes. But only to the myopic or misbelieving! The 21st century is about change, and is about to change EVERYTHING! Believe.

Democracy is believed to be about choice, human rights, votes and good governance. Fine. So, it is firmly anchored on the 3-Arms (parliament, executive, judiciary). And in most cases, stood on the 3-Levels (federal, region/province/state, local/county). Then, finally, comes the Press (holding government and our leaders accountable). So, we say: the FOUR Estates of the Realm.

Nothing new in that civics lesson, right? Fine.

In all nations, we budget for the first THREE and let the FOURTH fend for itself - unless, of course, it is publicly-owned. Well, most of the world's press - from newspapers to radio stations and television houses - were government organs before not too long ago. Many many still are. But things are changing fast.

Known facts, right? Fine.

In a way, therefore, we can argue that we actually budgeted for the Fourth! Fair. Hey, but are government-owned media free and able to HOLD government and leaders ACCOUNTABLE? Don't kid us, folks. Go in search...

So, here is the real beef:

The media have evolved in many ways, will transform in even more ways, and the INTERNET will make things more challenging, if exciting, in the years ahead. While being able to inform, educate and entertain, the media must still constitutionally HOLD us all ACCOUNTABLE in the end. So, as we privatise for efficiency and effectiveness, we must support DEMOCRACY and sustain GOOD GOVERNANCE. That portion of media costs must have our imprint - our collective imprint.

I propose that every nation, every democracy, provides for this TASK by GRANT-aiding their MEDIA Houses. It is a simple matter: let us do so in the same manner we happily funded them when they were owned by government, except that we now must work out the criteria for eligibility, accountability and responsibility. Then, write the laws to bind us all.

Very easy, right?

Well, we fund political parties through some formulae, don't we? We finance civil society and multilateral agencies somehow, don't we? So, let's work out the very best, innovative, ambitious and constitutional way of funding the MEDIA - the very FOURTH Estate of our Realm!

A national trust, an independent 5-yearly bond, treasury cheques, tax credits, or...

For Africa, this be a goldmine for democracy!

Building & Construction In Nigeria: Create New Firms

PART I.......(HOUSING)

Now that the nation has seen the emptiness and hypocrisy of the past, it is time to take our destiny in our hands, anew!

There are too few players in Nigeria's construction business. And it is still very lacking in local content and indigenous investment. Over the years, corruption has kept our own people from winning major contracts from our own governments! As is being reported from Europe and the United States, many multinationals simply bribe their way to sumptuous and salacious contracts in the third world, including Nigeria. In the bidding, if there was bidding, no local entrepreneur stood a chance in heaven or hell! In several cases, the foreigners procure "local" businessmen and politicians as puppets - to beat indigenisation policies or affirmative action.

No transfer of technology or know-how ever takes place, and no reinvestment either - profits are repatriated, over-invoicing be state-of-da-play, and the multinational simply smile to their bank in an orgy of obscene capital flight!!!

For decades now, Nigeria has been a dishonourable showcase and unpatriotic case-study in this regard. The advent of democratic governance held so much promise for change. But, alas, our politicians at all levels out-competed themselves in furthering the shameful practice, and often introduced mind-boggling varieties that have baffled our development partners, friends and anti-graft agencies!!!

The RESULT? Collapse of national infrastructure. Collapse of local contractors. Loss of pride. Unemployment. Upsurge in crimes. Social and Economic Discontent. Decline in national capacity. High import dependency. Inflation. Sick national currency. More corruption. Etc. Etc.

A NEW BEGINNING
I believe in borrowing and buying for abroad. We are in a global village. And it is impossible for Nigeria to develop otherwise. So, here is how we may proceed...

a) To tackle our HOUSING challenges, create 109 Burnt Bricks Firms/Factories - one per senatorial district - that will make us proudly use local materials
b) To provide all our wood-products/materials create 3 Mega Sawmills per LGA at raw material sources nationwide, plus 12 Furniture & Fittings Firms/Factories per state
c) Encourage states to invest in cement production, especially in the raw material zones
d) Create 1 Mega Paints Manufacturer per state
e) Create 1 Mega Nails & Binders Manufacturer per geo-political zone
f) Create 1 Mega Roofing Materials Firm/Factory per geo-political zone
g) Create 1 Mega Electrical Materials Firm/Factory per geo-political zone
h) Create 1 Mega Plumbing Materials & Pipes Manufacturer per geo-political zone
i) For marbles, stones, sand, granite, etc., each state should license quarries and micro-miners
j) Establish 12 Integrated Full-range Solar Energy Manufacturing Firms/Factories
k) Create 12 Mega Home Appliances & Office Equipment Manufacturers nationwide
l) Each Zone should establish a World Class Joint Venture for Full-range Construction/Building Equipment Assembly/Manufacture (6 nationwide)

To operationalise all these, international joint ventures with local majority stakes and foreign technical partners/investors is the way - especially from Asia and South America. Successful Family Businesses from Europe and North America should also be attracted. Only "born-again" multinationals should be considered!!!

FUNDING DA DEAL!
Our 25 (so far) consolidated banks should return every 3 years to the capital market for cheap equity cash. Right now, we should design a unique matrix of syndicated loans and MSME JVs, including new and specific incentives, to fund the deals.

The federal government will, on behalf of Nigeria, invest US$10bn in a special trust fund to drive the portfolio.

State governments will, on behalf of their people, invest between Naira 10-20bn in special mortgage trusts to drive the housing agenda.

If well done, I suggest that in just 10 Years we will be exporting housing, expertise, products and prosperity to our African Brethren!

Youth-Power for Nigeria's Rural Development

The raging and rightly emotive debate cum controversy over the National Youth Service Corps (in which graduates plus their equivalents do a compulsory one-year service for country) can be understood. It is the culmination of the abject neglect of our future generations, which is all too manifest in Africa's brand of (mis)governance.

Just as they know not what to do with our other resources (owned and loaned or aids!) the ruling class use, misuse, undermine and underrate our teeming young population. Sad.

Now to some refreshing actionable ideas:

LGs, Here Come The YOUTHS!
All participants of the scheme should be deployed to Local Governments nationwide. Nowhere else. Their task? To provide invaluable manpower for community, rural and sustainable development. Their reward? Knowing Nigeria, serving Nigeria at grassroots level - proudly and measurably. And for the LGs? Free and massive human capital paid for by the nation!

Put them to qualitative use, and transform your domain...and our land...dramatically!!!

See Who They Are!
The youth corpers are engineers, medical doctors, specialists, teachers, geologists, geographers, lawyers, nurses, economists, philosophers, caterers, artists, dramatists, aviators, agriculturists, nutritionists, sailors, administrators, designers, journalists, security experts, etc., etc., etc. Free of charge!

Many will go on to the proverbial brain-drain, some to higher studies here, some to other jobs, most into unemployment! The point is: use this gift while it comes, and lasts. In the fullness of time, the scheme will help build the bedrock for poverty removal, wealth creation, peace and prosperity.

Each week, as I post my thesis, we shall see how.

Keep a date.

I Am Sorry!

Please forgive me for not posting on this site all this while. We were all messed up here by our ISP, for several months! I apologise.

Now back, and with so much going on worldwide, I promise to do real catch-up with some very daring proposition.

Please bear with me

"Fruit-Security" in Africa

Every time I watch TV or travel abroad, I have always wondered about how fruits play such an important role in nutrition and wellness yet we, in fertile Africa, remain largely undernourished!
Indeed, lots of African women and children are malnourished! Where are all the agric budgets, all the foreign loans, all the development aid & grants, all the FAO help, all the IFAD funding, etc. etc. etc.??? Gone with the winds to....you know where!

We in Nigeria, for example, can certainly produce a large chunk of the needed fruits on our own continent, and still profitably export to the world. But just come around and see the huge waste in the form of post-harvest losses in our largely subsistent farming environment! It is really such a shame that after EIGHT years of both democracy and unprecedented oil & gas revenues, no one has paid due attention to this mess. Nigerians are hungry at both personal and family levels. Big pity. Poverty in the midst of plenty! This must change. From this year. Yes.

I am not now complaining anymore. No use. What I propagate is a massive intervention in the area of Fruit-Security for our citizens, our compatriots on the continent, and the huge market abroad. I ask all who can farm to do so now. And I invite the local governments to ignore both their state as well as the federal governments in the question of agro-allied business, and just work with their own residents! Attract them, cajole them, coax them, command them, reward them: do what it takes. And do it fast. Very fast.

I'm teaming up with some development colleagues to see how we can learn from, and bring in, partners from successful Asian and East European countries. After the April elections, we will reach out to Local Government Chairmen nationwide (and there are 774 of them!) to pursue a Citizens' Compact in this regard. If a mere 30% of them play ball, we're in business! Good and timely business. In time, others and the moribund private sector will join the train.

Enough is finally enough!
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Africa-South America Partnership: Diaspora Task

Our sons and daughters in the two Diasporas must wake up to the 21st century challenges confronting both continents. We have what it takes, we know what our peoples need, it's time for ACTION!

Now that our leaders have opened the way with the first-ever summit in Abuja last year, we do owe our mother-continents everything we've attained and achieved.

As a first step, you guys should set up a "Contact Group" to work on the joint communique from the Abuja Summit. All our diplomatic missions in the other continents should also get together at country level, and at regional/continental level.

I enjoin the existing Diaspora Associations or Networks to kick-start things right away. The Summit Secretariat has it work cut out for it in this regard as well.

Let's hear and see the long overdue fireworks!
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Research-AFRICA: R & D for ENERGY

I've watched German and Chinese TV channels overtime with awe and pain at once! The efforts, pains-takingness, costs and pride with which they pursue, promote and preserve their national development and heritage are simply astounding. I've read endlessly about Japan and South Korea: their leadership in cutting-edge technology without trashing their rich culture! I've also followed the resurgent pride with which old India is emerging as a sure-footed super-power. Oh, these folks just thrill me! Then Brazil: its industrial prowess and huge energy strides. Now, it is proudly a member of the celebrated, if dreaded, "BRIC" block (Brazil, Russia, India, China)! Wow.

Whither Africa? That is my question, and quest, each and every time. And it hurts and thrills at once! I know that a few countries can do same solo but we better do things jointly from now on: The African Team - The African Way!

With the combined human, natural and financial resources at their disposal, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Algeria and Libya should lead the way right away.

Day One is about Research and Development (R&D).

Day One is about our skilled souls, heads and hands both Home & Diaspora.

Day One starts with ENERGY in all its ramifications, especially RENEWABLE sources.

Kick-starting this intervention must naturally be SOLAR, HYDRO and WIND energy supply for both the continent and the world. I am thrilled by the vast expanse of deserts, mountains and waters within our territories as well as the rich untapped and under-utilised agro-spaces. Our ecology and geography are awe-inspiring, breath-taking and exotic! Why waste them?

See what the Libyan President did with channeling water from the Mediterranean (8th Wonder of the World, it was dubbed)! Come to Nigeria and see what a wonder the Tinapa Project of our Cross River State is: a tourism master-stroke by a youthful visionary governor!

Part of my concern is the plight of poorer African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Many of them also have our links to the rather docile Commonwealth of Nations. If we act sensibly and courageously, we can pull these countries out of poverty, and up with us all. I am particularly worried about their energy bills - in the face of crippling oil/gas prices. How do they cope?!!

With the SIX listed African countries putting in a billion US dollars each, we can get the private sector to match the grant for this intervention: somewhere between 12 and 20 billion dollars will spin surprises in this project. And that's not an arm and a leg, is it?

Let's sign the cheques!

Re: Foreign Air Fares

Kudos to Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode for setting up an investigations committee into the unfair air fares charged Nigerians by foreign airlines! It's been an imperialistic racket of sorts, and a betrayal of the tenets & beauty of competitive market forces. All patriotic African governments should act right now! Neither Europe nor the US will permit such aberrations.

An additional kudos to the youthful minister for calling the airlines to order on the shabby and despicable manner some of them treat Nigerian Travellers! The press reports on these cases have been as chilling as they have been disgusting. For airlines making a "killing" on Nigerian routes, it is simply scandalous to tolerate such heist. Where is quality assurance and where is customer care?

In this regard, to both help the airlines and respect our nation, the minister should institute a compulsory passenger assessment card to be checked/ticked by all travellers on all flights and delivered into secure drop-boxes. Initial period: 24 months. After that, randomly in league with tourism authorities. This should cover both arrival and departure operations and services.

While it took all of EIGHT years for this "reforming" and "privatizing" administration to see the rip-offs and disrespect, let's just say "better late than never". Pray, let justice be done.

The panel reports in about 3 weeks. Good.

And we wait.

The AU and ECOWAS Challenge

My firm belief is that Nigeria owes the Black World (thru' the African Union, AU) and our West African brethren (thru' ECOWAS) sincere and committed leadership. It is trite to say our future is intertwined and inseparable. We should learn from the EU.

By some stroke of oil & gas we are in a position to do so much and so soon if we have the political and moral will. We should set up mini and medium refineries and energy facilities in the five or six strategic zones of the continent. This will help drive sustainable development and ameliorate the obscene poverty and human sufferings sweeping and seeping through the region.

Nigeria must swiftly act to boost agriculture continent-wide by employing the Youths & Women of Africa. Putting US$5bn to work over the next three years will take care of food insecurity and famine. We have IITA and other agencies to backstop such a laudable, overdue and inevitable intervention. Using our lands and waters for the good of one and the world is a task that must be done! We have no business begging for food aid in this fertile area of the planet. It's a needless shame which we can, should and must STOP! Yes.

Finally, we must now devolve and decentralise both ECOWAS and the AU...to the PEOPLE of AFRICA. We must wrest them from the strangle-hold of the Establishment, bureaucrats and failed "Do-Little" politicians. Let the people own the instruments, and drive the renaissance.

The time is now!