NIGERIA AT 48

Nigeria at 48 no news, same old story, FAILED PROMISES, DASHED HOPES and an ever increasing deceitful group of people (a cabal actually) who constitute themselves into a government against the will of the people.

Once upon a time Nigerians would look forward to the independence day celebration and draw from it inferences to help predict the tone of whoever is in government and also remember the people who had at one time or the other fought for the independence and unity of the largest African nation (at least for now). This was so because most times Nigerians were not very sure about the intention of people in government. But these days it is so easy because, from the very onset you can tell where the RULERS are heading from the way they got into government.

Coincidentally, while ruminating over and about the Nigerian question, I bumped into a book authored by Dr. Miles Munroe, in which he explored the question of purpose. He established how Purpose rules over everything "the very essence and reason for existence, the ends for which the means existed", then I came to the conclusion that the big problem Nigeria must tackle is one of discovering her purpose for existence and not bad leadership as we most often assume.

Why Nigeria?

• Largest Black African Nation (with the least contribution to world development)
• The world’s 7th largest supplier of crude Oil (yet without a functional petrochemical refinery and insufficient fuel for our tanks)
• 36 States (only a means of expanding the opportunities for their likes to hold on to power)
• Over 700 tribes (forced into one national identity)
• Rich arable land (yet incapable of supporting or producing enough food for her population)
• Blessed with a people that possess an unusual drive for success (yet lacking good schools for her teaming population)
• Have stayed together even after a civil war (but managing to nurse a relationship with her federating units)
• Biggest contributor of Men and Resources to Peace keeping operations in the continent (yet unable to tackle the Militants in the Niger Delta Region)
• About the largest gap between the rich and the poor amidst abundance and opulence (with over 60% of her people impoverished and wallowing in abject poverty)
• Embraced privatization (but sold only to a few overlords fronting for those in government-past and present)

These are but a few of the inexhaustible list of features that defines the uniqueness of our great motherland, where constant repression of opposition and oppression of the middle and lower class is order of the day with a deliberate intention to force the re-emerging middle class into extinction.

Just the other day the Central Bank (C.B.N.) governor was sensitizing the nation in preparation for the deployment of the next face of Economic and financial reforms (RE-DENOMINATION) as approved by the former president only for him to receive a message to appear before the new government to explain why he must deploy the next phase without fresh approval.

The current financial crises rocking the world (USA, Europe and Japan particularly) was predicted to have serious negative impact on Nigeria’s Economy whose stock market is still in shock following a sudden price depreciation which coincided with the summer holiday period making evident the gluttony of the rich to enjoy themselves outside the shores of the country even at the obvious detriment of the mass whose blood and sweat they exploit to generate these resources. As one commentator rightly puts it “despite all the foreign trips embarked upon by the ruling class, they still have not learnt any tangible lesson to bring back home for our national development” and I am tempted to add they only learn better ways to steal more money and recharge their appetite for illegality.

Perhaps the entire nation should in their little corners resolve to make a little difference even as the Lagos local government polls is around the corner. Just maybe we can start from bottom to top at least the Lagos state government has show commitment to real development which carries with it usually short-run discomforts.

Again I say let us seek to define the purpose of our corporate existence otherwise we have no need to have being in the first place.

ATTRIBUTES OF THE ROASTER

ATTRIBUTES OF THE ROASTER

RE-CAP

Previously (2 posts back) I attempted establishing certain facts governing the area of prosperity and poverty.

I went as far as breaking down into elements the prosperity equation.

Further I established the reality that ideas rule our world of today and named the basic attributes a man must possess to be able to tap into the endless world of ideas possibilities.

SPECIFICS

Prerequisites for economically viable ideation are:

1. Knowledge
2. Expression
3. Conversion

The HUNTER is of no value without the ROASTER and vice versa.

The ultimate is to be both a roaster and a hunter.

ATTRIBUTE 1

• INTERGRITY- the quality of being honest and having high moral principles.

[It is a selling strategy- FITNESS TO STANDARD]

• It has no substitute, let your YES be yes and your NO be no.

ATTRIBUTE 2

• RISK TAKING- a major determinant of returns on investment is the RISK ELEMENT inherent in any investment project.

• The fear of the unknown and uncertainty rob many of prosperity.

ATTRIBUTE 3

• PERSISTENCE – the staying power, doing something continuously despite difficulty.

• You must be ready to persevere such that when the storms of life and business challenges come you will stand the test of time.

ATTRIBUTE 4

• CHANGE AGENT – you must be ready to spearhead a new era, regardless of oppositions. Be a crusader of a new dawn.

• [This is a SURVIVAL STRATEGY- FITNESS TO LATENT NEED]

• Bearing in mind that humans generally do not like change and will do all within their power to frustrate it.

ATTRIBUTES 5

• WINNING ATTITUDE – Being positive and OPTIMISTIC even when the chips are down.

• Focusing on what you desire rather than what situation presents.

ATTRIBUTES 6

• PEOPLE CENTRISM – care for and about the next man, being your neighbour and brother’s keeper.

• [this is an EXPANSION STRATEGY- FITNESS TO NEED]

• Attending to identified needs is the shortest route to wealth creation, because when you find a need and meet it you’ve added value which the beneficiary/consumer is ready to pay for.

ATTRIBUTES 7

• PROFESSIONALISM – skill and high standard of behaviour.

• Sometimes you are tempted to water down your standard because you want to secure a deal. NO COMPROMISE on standard. But be sure not to out-price yourself in business transactions.

ATTRIBUTE 8

• GOD LOVING – this is applied Christianity. This is quite different from RELIGIOUS EXERCISE AND RITUALS.

419 ADVANCED FEE FRAUD ALERT

That there are fraudsters all over the world is no longer news, with recent landmark prosecution of cases involving transnational large scale advanced fee fraud tends to lend credence on the one hand to the fact that it truly exists and gives some hope that it could be policed on the other.

Certain schools of thought have emerged in the study of the people, methods/models, and the victims. Making a huge demand on government financial security agencies, the society (family, community, religion), as well as the victims themselves.

My motivation for this post is owing to the fact that despite attempts from the above mentioned quarters to curtail the scale of advanced fee fraud (otherwise called 419 in Nigeria) new emerging methods keep coming up everyday, fresh victims keep falling and the security agencies keep being eluded by the smartness of these fraudsters.

Quite a number of advances have been made by these 419ners to me but you know, only a greedy fellow who does not want to work for money or cut corners will fall for their antics. Take for instance a fellow tells you his father owns the national stadium of a country and the National Petroleum Corporation and then you send him money to under-cut the company or sell to you illegally an undiscovered oil block and you fall flat for it? Well, I say you have a problem yourself. Nigeria is not a Kingdom where Monarchs have domain over natural resources, moreover you want to buy an oil block through the back door. If you ask me the victims are the 419ners.

Recently I was sent a mail from a so called Irish Lottery Agency that I have won 1,350,000.00 pounds. Such messages do not get delivered by e-mail, it is accompanied with a lot of publicity. Check out the value, do the arithmetic it comes to about =N=310,500,000.00. That you will agree with me is not small money. Then after the long story, I was told to pay some miserable sum of money for the opening of an account and courier.

Whosoever falls for this sort of trick is not just a fool but greedy and simply put a thief.

The consensus we can reach about 419 are basic and simple;
If you are greedy you fall, government agencies sometimes aid and abet 419, family, societal and religious leaders have a greater share of the blame than governments.

It is monster that feeds and survives on the greed of their victims.

They are a moving target and must be policed as such.

DIVINE RESTORATION

POSITIONING FOR RESTORATION

The difference between poverty and prosperity are:

• “OVER” IN “POVERTY” ;
• And
• “ROSPERI” IN “PROSPERITY”.

This is so because both words start with letter “P” and end with the letters “TY”

So we can conclude that in the equation of rewards or success the letter “P” and “TY” are constant.

Your level in life is a function of certain factors as we shall begin to explore right away.
Now I will implore you to pay rapt attention for the few minutes this this piece will last because they are defining moments you cannot afford to joke with.

Before we start I will want you to talk to God our Father, Saviour and Teacher; ask for transportation from your current level in life to a higher dimension of knowledge, expression and conversion of ideas to derive maximum economic benefits.

Take notice of the operational words modifying ideas;

- KNOWLEDGE;
- EXPRESSION;
- CONVERSION.

KNOWLEDGE

“know-how”. It usually comes after extensive study or research; it’s a deliberate acquisition of facts through inquisition; the bible says- study to show yourself approved, this is not taking over the place of divine revelation in knowledge acquisition. It is a show of commitment to a cause.

EXPRESSION

The act of communicating an idea or passing across information and receiving a feedback to the affirmative; being able to articulate and achieve the listener’s understanding is crucial in our age and time; it could be verbal or non-verbal, formal or informal, express or implied; the most important element here is understanding as feedback from the recipient.

CONVERSION

“translating” this is also extremely crucial because it is about the most important defining factor in the prosperity equation. “of what value is a hunter without a roster?” The hunter is equipped with the power of know-how and expression- i.e. gaming tactics & application. But the roster adds value!!!

The roster; power of conversion

The roster is able to add value in two major ways:

• Preservation of resources' value;
• Multiplication of – benefits from current resource - conversion;

My knowledge of finance brings me to the understanding that- you cannot have the power of conversion and remain the same old pauper.

Learn a lesson from the parable of talents; the distinguishing factor is the power of conversion, preservation for future availability and multiplication of resources; these are the determinants of rewards used by the master.

CONCLUSION

Let no man deceive you – “IDEAS RULE THE WORLD”.

Now ask yourself:
Do I Have The Knowledge Necessary For The Reception Of The Impending Showers Of Blessing?
Do I Have The Ability To Effectively Communicate Them?
Do I Have The Skills To Convert My Ideas Via Expression To Economically Viable Rewards Generator?

Do you want to be Just a hunter? Just a roster? Or both a hunter and the roster?
Talk to God, for the bible says “if you ask you will receive, when you seek you will find, and if only you take the pain to knock, the door shall be opened unto you”.

GETTING AHEAD

The Nigerian Business terrain presents a bundle of challenges which only the discerning business man can exploit its full potentials.

With a conservative estimated population of 140Million, 6 goe-political zones each with its unique product endowment, 36 federating states, and over 700 local governments you will discover that its potentials are indeed great.

The snag however is that the Nigerian business waters can only be swam by the bold and daring, equipped with a sound knowledge of the market place and consumer perception peculiar only to the Nigerian populace. Take for instance the law of demand and supply which does not hold in Nigeria, more often than not the very opposite always happen.

Quite recently, business have also discovered the sensitivity of the Nigerian market to brands and colours. While this may not be peculiar to Nigeria, the twist is that, the extent to which brand loyalty and identity hold sway on the Nigerian Consumer strongly depends not only on the intrinsic value of the product but the extent to which the brand has been able to show some support towards the welfare of individuals, community, and state. A typical case for study is the aggression expressed by Operators in the Telecommunications as well as the Banking sectors, with each trying to outdo the other in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and their ability to convincingly express the benefits of such to the average man on the street. Now, that is where most companies get it wrong.

Through the deployment of right Public Relations or Corporate Communications mix, an organisation is able to leverage on the benefit of building and maintaining a sound relationship with her various publics which if managed professionally from the strategic decision making level has the potential of creating a boom at a cost that will be moderate.

Therefore, companies wishing to maximise returns on every Naira spent in the image building and sustaining process should start making decisions from now and engage creative and competent consultants who will not only be able to deliver but can at a cost friendly to the budget.

Getting ahead, requires constructive and proactive engagement with a strong strategic decision to do the unusual in order to get unusual results as the yuletide is approaching.

GO A-BRANDING AND SUCCEED.

BANKING REVOLUTION-NIGERIA

Sequel to the wind that blew through the Nigerian Banking landscape during the President Obasanjo Administration under his Banking Consolidation (Reform) programme, hopes were very high in expectation of wonderful financial products that will sail the Nigerian economy into the much desired double digit growth in all of its ramifications.

Scaling the banks to 25 Mega Banks, Creating a new brand for the community banks to become Micro-finance Banks, Removing Quarckry from the Foreign Exchange sector, Increasing Bank 's Minimum Capital base, expanded foreign reserve, scheduled currency re-denomination, among other strategies were in the fore to tackle Nigeria's ailing economy.

Accolades from the world, canceled debt, improved global confidence, direct foreign investment, increased development aid and so on also greeted the numerous moves.

Further, increased capital base translated to better liquidity for banks' money creation function through business financing. Extraction of government fund from banks, mopping-up excess liquidity, etc also gave birth to reduced inflation and vibrancy in the real productive sectors.

In the early parts of this year however, quite a number of disturbing developments have emerged. Notable among them is the unfriendly lending rate. when the banks are ready to give the facility usually after requesting documents they do not expect 98% of the business to have, the rates usually in double digits for short term (below one year) and accompanied with numerous hidden charges that are only made known after the borrower has been committed are then reeled out.

Another issue is the granting of equipment financing facilities. Rather than help the real sector to acquire productive equipment that will yield returns on investments, the Nigerian MEGA BANKS will give facilities to Blue chip workers-oil companies, telecommunications, and politicians, whose pay package they are sure can liquidate the facility (maybe its risk assurance).

Most disturbing is the granting of EDUCATION LOANS, good idea! it sounds like a new lease of life is given the less privileged to acquire education and break the cycle of poverty, but hey! do not be fooled. When you get to know that the birth certificate of your great,great,grand parents will be required including sureties from the presidency, then you will find out its impossible for the poor to get. Disgusting also to find out that it is meant for only over-seas studies (until recently when it was changed), meaning there are no schools in Nigeria any longer or its another way to tell that its a product meant only for the upper class.

The questions begging for answers therefore are:

1. would the Nigerian financial sector ever get better and her impact felt on the economy?
2. would the poor ever have hope of deliverance from abject poverty amidst plenty?
3. would the SMEs ever get: a) access to loans? b) a fair deal?
   
4. where is the place of social responsibility in product design and delivery?
5. is that why graduates of Nigerian universities have now been included in the discrimination against polytechnic graduates by employers (particularly the banks-predominantly new generation)?
   

someone should please answer these questions. Perhaps there is more to it than I see.

Aileon

DOWN & OUT

I got this quote in one of such times when I was at the lowest of my ebbs, and I feel obliged to share it:-

"EVERY SETBACK IS A SET UP FOR A STEP UP"
Although I do not know the Author, but I will give the credit to the Woman that told me, one time my lecturer and motivator: Mrs. R.C. Mamman (Department of Business Administration & Management, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Bauchi State, Nigeria).

Aileon A. Agbon

HOW DO YOU DEFINE DEVELOPMENT

The issue of human development indices have continued to pose a great challenge the world over.



Lately it is becoming more of a developing (better still underdeveloped) world challenge. But lets for the puirpose of this post see it as adding value to human existence such that they feel better than the animals in the wild.



Quite disturbing is the fact that, most of the underdeveloped countries whose leaders and citizens tend to show-off some synthetic afluence or orpulence live below the poverty line even in the midst of plenty.



That Nigerian Educational system is or has lost respect, social infrastructure decayed, political structure fractured by godfatherism and large scale fraud, corruption at its peak (post Obasanjo) and state driving policy constantly surmasulting is most probably not news to anyone even in the remotest part of the world.



I woke up one morning to go-a-fishing for daily bread only to find out that a two year old bridge contract awarded by the ogun state government in the border ojodu area has been swallowed-up by the stream measuring about 17metres in width. Now the implication is that you could only cross by walking knee deep in across the stream or ride in a canoe. and still get wet in either case.



Despite apeals to the government (local and state) to find a lasting solution to the perennial crisis it has continued to fall on deaf ears.



My guess therefore is that perhaps NGOs which have taken over government responsibilities should come to our rescue, but only some few days back i noticed big sign posts placed at certain intervals along the road reading "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA, TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED". Now I or we seem to have hope, but then.....



We can only but hope.