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A Billion Dollar Story

Image: Pinterest Nigerians are some of the most entrepreneurial folks on the planet, constantly braving the odds in a hostile environment to operate their businesses. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the real lifeblood of the Nigerian economy, powering over 80% of Nigeria’s workforce and contributing roughly 50% to the GDP. Understandably, it is a priority concern for administrations. But between 2014 and 2018, over $1 billion was likely misappropriated through the mismanagement of MSME programs; an amount surpassing capital expenditure on health and education combined within that same period. Imagine the shattered dreams. Hopefully, initiatives like the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) start-up facility for Africa will fare better and have a more lasting impact. Already launched in Nigeria, the timbuktoo initiative sponsored by the UNDP will harness $1 billion in public and private funds to catalyse business across Africa in the next ten years. Pla...
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On The March Again

Image: Buzzfeed.com Another election season is upon us and a lot of folks aren’t even sure what to expect anymore. Many have given up on the system and its ability to deliver fair elections and others have trust issues with the candidates that have reared their heads. Who can blame them? Our dear country hobbles under the weight of long spells of vile leadership. Truth be told, it doesn’t appear as though there is much to look forward to, even as the usual suspects carry on with consultations and scurry for endorsements. Are we again expected to make compromises and settle for whatever drifts to the surface from the heap of recycled shaft? Or can we dare to hope for more this time around? Will the people have their champion? Whatever the case, we will have new leadership come 2023. But the road that leads to 2023 seems to be paved with mostly good intentions. Many want the best for this country but appear unable to get past their frustrations to be able to make their own contributi...
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Disclaimer: not a movie review

Image source:wallpaper cave I recently discovered an Indian movie titled Maharshi . The protagonist Rishi Kumar was a high flying global CEO and software genius. He possessed wisdom far beyond his years and considered every decision with a philosophical thrust. His appearance throughout the movie was impeccable; his magnificent gait and perfectly coordinated fight scenes were often rendered in slow motion as he dispatched adversaries with clinical precision, without ever breaking a sweat. But the film was a bit more intricate than these gaudy trappings. The farmers’ agitation in India over the untoward corporatization of the agricultural value chain is one that garnered global attention; many could identify with the struggle. Simple farmers whose contributions were already undervalued put it all on the line and stood against government policies they argued stifled their margins and effectively left them at the mercy of corporate overlords. Maharshi’s plot not only draws attention...
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Illusion of hope

Image - lawinaction Much of the conflict that continues to ravage Africa revolves around a singularity known as ‘division’; along with its many cousins and incarnations, these divisions are exacerbated by a brutal scurry for resources and an often rather crude play for power. It doesn’t matter where; the conflicts are usually contended along similar colonial fault lines. The intensifying situation in Cameroon between Anglophone minority separatists and the majorly francophone government is a painfully precise example of this malaise that afflicts the very soul of the continent.   Elsewhere it is Hutus against Tutsis, Amhara and Qimant, Luo, Kalenjin in opposition to Kukuyu, Tigray versus Ethiopia versus Eritrea, Somaliland entangled with Somalia, Farmers clashing with Herders, North versus South, Minorities versus the Majority, citizens and their ruling elite.   Politics is contested along ethnic lines instead of ideological ones. Electoral cycles are quite literally lif...
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This world no balance!

Photo: WSJ The United Kingdom is set to increase its nuclear weapons stockpile by raising the number of warheads from 180 to 260 by the middle of the decade. The move is part of strategic reforms meant to better position Britain in a rapidly evolving international political landscape that is seeing the tectonic plates of global power realigning and shifting towards the East. The hypocrisy of the Western nations in this regard is astonishing considering the severity with which they pursue programs aimed at stifling and dismantling the nuclear programs of nations seeking to develop one. How is the West morally justified to impose heavy sanctions on countries like Iran and North Korea for daring to develop nuclear warfare capabilities, when they are in fact adding to their dangerously over bloated arsenal? Such irresponsible behaviour is immoral on so many levels. This double standard characterises the relationship much of the developed world has had with everyone else. The world is ...
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Monsters amongst us

Image: UNDP One in three women globally, around 736 million, have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes, according to new analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO). What a damning statistic and what a searing indictment of men as perpetrators of such evil against women; indeed an indictment on a society that has failed women. Many of the obnoxious acts carried out against women are etched in centuries of culture where women are regarded as subservient, second-class citizens. And unfortunately our systems have evolved far too slowly to disavow this appalling societal malady. A truly global scourge more pronounced in low-income countries and conflict regions but eerily represented even in the most sophisticated of nations. Violence against women according to the WHO report starts at an early age; the most heinous assault on the purity and foundation of our humanity. How have we allowed this sinful malaise to persist for so long? What lies at the hea...
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Here we go again!

  All the kinds of news coming out of Nigeria today I believe is precisely why many Nigerians opted for a change in 2015. We were fed up with the constant news of unbridled corruption, kidnappings, bombings and deaths. Alas, things appear to have gotten only worse. It is still the same cycle of injustice, disregard for citizens’ rights and a very lethargic response to tackling institutional corruption. I must say, I truly believed the current administration would go about the task of fighting corruption with such veracity that government as we know it would become unattractive to the kind of folks it usually draws. It however seems like for every step the Buhari administration takes forward, it inadvertently takes two steps backwards. This administration has been a failure on practically every front that I criticized previous ones for. But more fundamentally, a government that is incapable of protecting its own people has failed in one of its most primary responsibilities. The ...
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