tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79521580343034611542024-03-05T03:13:18.875-08:00Seun Oyeniran's BlogSeun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-7332809493235703942014-04-27T05:50:00.001-07:002014-04-28T18:31:34.658-07:00Africans, don't give up on Africa<p>Although my wife is Canadian because she was born here; her ancestral roots traces back to the West Indies and ultimately Africa. My wife studying history and eventually furthering in Modern Slavery make both of us a team for Africa emancipation. If we're not talking about promoting African values in our Canadian context, we are busy putting the lines together about Africa: the news, reports, economic analysis, the society, environment etc. So when she sent me an email containing a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/25/world/africa/stunning-photos-africa-ibm/index.html">link</a> to the set of pictures below during one of her research, I wasn't at all surprised. The pictures were published on CNN’s Inside Africa website with the caption: “Stunning photos show Africa through African eyes”. The publication was part of the the <a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/africa.shtml">IBM Research Africa</a> 12 Global Research Lab Project</p> <p>My wife naturally connected with the stories that followed each picture because of her education and of course the many trips we have made together into Africa and African related attraction around the world. For me, however, I connected with those pictures because I saw myself in them. They told my story.</p> <p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="662" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBleyNXNSCYMi2OOZavZgwzY2i_7tiouR8M21Jr7jWXt2vsJpynz6o-bBqGfc1rPCcOg0679puIeYuMI0YAPEOwiQ8lxMA5TKYsxI-GhY9hS1jnHVSDlSRf9glikOz71Us2hpqQb8wM3c/s1600-h/photo%2525203%25255B21%25255D.png"><img title="photo 3" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 3" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-zhhdaoC1Ttg/U1z81SQEzjI/AAAAAAAABIM/h7IY5HOc1F4/photo%2525203_thumb%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="306" height="216"></a></td> <td valign="top" width="250"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXl7EiBm7flHSxRHnzpV6teqPzudfHx_0fvDuecbhkx4E5ZUrUKOK_avlKVwCPA0Vs97VYe40huPvry_AyGkhiiuelKcCZUpztAraK85NPivmn9aMAKd490qiO0KjUNiimhLJztj2grh2s/s1600-h/photo%2525201%25255B16%25255D.png"><img title="photo 1" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 1" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-CIGUILhODOQ/U1z834x87SI/AAAAAAAABIc/nMKgUty-fEY/photo%2525201_thumb%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="314" height="215"></a></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410">The house I was born in Mushin Lagos, Nigeria was just across the railway line like this. Since I was born up till date, I’ve never seen a single train pass through. My parents never stop telling tales of how busy that railway line used to be.</td> <td valign="top" width="250">Yet in other places, trains are working. Railway workers strike and others leave the few working ones over crowded like the one seen above.</td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1sdOhizilJtFb-6brX53Q51ybWBUuy4LxMRUaWcByWRWjjdKELokMj1SNWUEAh6e4nhexOxmoHzQQod_eMuuXHGrZ9jYF7h1J8Ilc5AI0NslGCKCRazrpy9uRtOR4IMF84zITRBvawnh/s1600-h/photo%2525202%25255B19%25255D.png"><img title="photo 2" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 2" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-V_LnbLCPeWA/U1z86jvdtlI/AAAAAAAABIo/MBMGnXeZv0A/photo%2525202_thumb%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="303" height="209"></a></td> <td valign="top" width="250"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJyWLUyCO6NoIf-Lo-gpmAXp9EnNZTsTW5XEBUuB0a1YOSwnDdKhxGdN9cbWCp9XxF5ney8Bl0JOCvn0QD0D0m1lVyWbcKt_ZGAt73ucOouXi6mAtq4ropJCskRBYic1FtHldeYjA9Sewn/s1600-h/photo%2525204%25255B14%25255D.png"><img title="photo 4" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 4" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRN46pN5Ew6oEiaO2RVnPJirtGroLUCh4lK-QNO81q9NwDNsPW_ZE6S8MKlC4iPjqSUl4fF-yA508Wno5OaamCfKlrs9elUWDwl5lXwo7swj7J0Bag3Fz8bYUYE-tXivGths023cIarNZ/?imgmax=800" width="312" height="209"></a></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410">We fetched water like this. I remember lifting big buckets on my head on very long distances. And you just have to fill up those big drums stored behind the kitchen doors.</td> <td valign="top" width="250">Africans are extremely creative. We make something out of nothing. Don’t pity Africa, work with Africa! We have a thriving creative economy, youth bulginess.</td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy9OphLPQ-WwGDp4gCKcsmxAbXd5SIrCnwlw5_A1r5N5c8LKfcKkHBYtkueOMhbcKjIKiMK5Q7umsdmtTRtyiPrhieNSpld3aC4PBwmzSf6TPL8QT_gAWLUfyoNat9CkGZoV9APNSZgvh/s1600-h/photo%2525203%25255B20%25255D.png"><img title="photo 3" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 3" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CYPf_uJczk4/U1z8-y1n4VI/AAAAAAAABJI/1K9r64ItvEU/photo%2525203_thumb%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="301" height="200"></a></td> <td valign="top" width="250"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJ1oUVwxInIfCeqknFQUOdkxpn1v1sXZr1XlhLVPj_cF0jzWKwKXyDEEM7lcq_XWilg_36BswF0S_bzkyh9DDzgORHsDQvk8oYeIumjRosN0MplJhJ2X3GuFYFhbAHC3vc2SJrEzH2Gij/s1600-h/photo%2525201%25255B15%25255D.png"><img title="photo 1" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 1" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-40nvW0fUSRs/U1z9BtERGoI/AAAAAAAABJc/lr_RYx0hlIc/photo%2525201_thumb%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="312" height="202"></a></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410">Yet we have hope. The future is not ahead, the future is now. When I was a kid we soil ourselves like this young child, telling ourselves we are eating food as we put this dusts on our chin. We have not lost hope. Its this hand-in-soil that has strengthened our creativity. </td> <td valign="top" width="250">They say religion has been our bane. But who could I have been if I had not known the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of our faith our communities are built on tenets of respect and love. Its this foundation that allows people like myself to thrive all around the world. </td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6hw0y9PU7vDKB5V-kVN-i2hZAWoDaERB9tsj99K-Nz_DyiCFKhf-2Ihb97C6yKIEeT-m4eZY84ePj15bm-_tl10Vt_Lf8DU41z49kA4nqF9ltsB6gFiA9MkUsLGVLY-8_rZxWcVqRc2h/s1600-h/photo%2525202%25255B20%25255D.png"><img title="photo 2" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 2" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-95HNjybJ_RQ/U1z9EHkYIII/AAAAAAAABJo/yovo5OdSOT4/photo%2525202_thumb%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="305" height="200"></a></td> <td valign="top" width="250"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyIvmpTGo8xUp9z14MBh98q9wC_P9V9cMBMUAnzZTz7HkwchD0H6qHX3jCA7xMUucSb7NbcuHAerkAFFXWxZOli_uvz6gLnq_1Kn0aWH5hfZnhgDHsyiMYbMlpBCf1YqxhvkLolPECh9pe/s1600-h/photo%2525204%25255B15%25255D.png"><img title="photo 4" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo 4" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-n1V4fkTwvd0/U1z9G6uZ6fI/AAAAAAAABJ8/mDMfssCO4PY/photo%2525204_thumb%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="311" height="205"></a></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="410">While many people know this young boy made a pair of “glasses”, only very few people knew what he made it of and what the process of making it require. I know because that boy was just exactly like me! we made those funny looking pair of “glasses” out of table-top calendar spine. Creativity is in our DNA! This is Africa!!</td> <td valign="top" width="250">This picture passed the strongest message to me. What are we doing to secure the future? Or better still, what am I doing? I see Bill Gates and his earnest effort and I say to myself yes, this is the way to go! We have to secure the health of our future generations. </td></tr></tbody></table></p> <p><br>This is Africa. We are Africans. If we have come this far why go back? Our faith has been strengthened because daily, we face challenges that forces us to exercise them. We have experienced mountain moving faith as we see mountains of poverty and economic hardship sublime. We are hard working and we also believe in honest dealings even though corruption is fast making this assertion an illusion. We have grown because we strengthened our communities by caring for one another in a most unique way. These is Africa, where you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner in the house of three different people you met on the street. We take care of our own, we don’t let one another down. This is the Africa I have grown into from the 1980s into the 2000s. All the evil that has happened in recent times must be be reversed. We will not sit and look at them take away our glorious future. We will reverse it. We will fight it with our words across the diaspora. </p> <p>We are not where we want to be, yet, we are not where we used to be. The road is still very far. We must not allow idiosyncratic people who have crept into our communities deny us of our glorious destination. We must not fail to connect with our core competences, build on our strength and secure future generations. I personally don’t expect a sudden change but one thing I’m sure of is that: myself and many others who share similar vision will not give up. Africa will arise to take its rightful place among committee of nations. It has already begin to happen, the chart below shows Nigeria is the 3rd fastest growing economy in 2014 and hence a major destination for investment (Wealth Professionals Magazine Issue 2.2 pp8,14). By 2050, global economic dynamics would also have shifted in Africa’s favour. Keep in mind that this are assumptions and pre-included are very high risks factors. If we continue to work on reducing these risk factors: ensure political stability, a stable society, we can exceed these growth estimates by very wide margin. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-a88HvsPjbLpbzEoJc_3s3b3wFdLS3nt1ns0QJVLDubgzyvCbXNWdsT6_OmvBio1dccJiHWcgl6sOpNsSm6Zx_Nn8qMVKGzr052cGhte7XfCM52fUaTkH88bcNYh8MUKwrUmVsYtOcxN/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Vd9ax4jpTKU/U1z9IHTrbYI/AAAAAAAABKM/g4wyCLCvWl0/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="248" align="left" height="298"></a></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRm2nF_Lpes_h9nJ_TvF8YJ-LWkCj5VyxrnxnLth0xDaRhy08uXZeu5REivsr3476zAB8u-ethm9Ldjd64BbSJK7l_lxn6nsuMPjQZ6CvCu1D5Sr_9FfSrRwxWcARfj2XpLjC4Ik2Jh3S/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-iW1Zr6eIn24/U1z9JQtVUsI/AAAAAAAABKc/uqGffr3Sjrg/image_thumb%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="346" height="300"></a></p> <p>Its time Africa, We must not give up!</p> Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-83850924683429789042014-02-03T19:36:00.000-08:002014-02-03T19:45:42.504-08:00Remittance and Other External Financial Flows to Africa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In 2012, for the first time, remittances became the
largest external financial source to Africa, ahead of Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) and Other Development Assistance (ODA). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVSJmWLGpX_CABBAc72OVQm-DjpPwp5sqzQThyphenhyphenRlLS-Kri__y7RMJukH_L-FK6taMq41KfCZVwJ_jpJ_xVAGVP6hvInaQxxxyxpkdBJLn62DHC4wdd82mjKY_Ii-5b-t2JRU6rmUYQt1f/s1600/inflows_africa_final.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVSJmWLGpX_CABBAc72OVQm-DjpPwp5sqzQThyphenhyphenRlLS-Kri__y7RMJukH_L-FK6taMq41KfCZVwJ_jpJ_xVAGVP6hvInaQxxxyxpkdBJLn62DHC4wdd82mjKY_Ii-5b-t2JRU6rmUYQt1f/s1600/inflows_africa_final.png" height="465" width="640" /></a></div>
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According to African Economic Outlook, (2013) more than 30million Africans (about 3% of its population) are living outside of their home country, remitting 11% of global remittances in 2012, compared to 8% in 2001. Nigeria receives between 30% and 60% of remittance in the African region(Orozco, 2003).The World Bank (2012) reported that the top recipients of officially recorded remittances for 2012 are India($70 billion), China ($66 billion), the Philippines and Mexico ($24 billion each), and Nigeria ($21 billion).<br />
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Remittances are mostly sent to Africa through informal channels; hand carried during visits to home countries and households, sent through transport companies or delivered through other informal channels largely due to limited access to and the high cost of formal financial (banking) services relative to average per capita incomes in African countries
(Pendleton and others 2006; Bracking and Sachikonye 2008; Tevera and Chikanda 2009). According to International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD, 2009) large share of remittances from outside Africa is channeled through a few large international money transfer agencies, who in sole partnership with African banks and post offices.<br />
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Irving,Mohapatra, and Ratha (2010) found that almost 70% of central banks in Sub-Saharan Africa cited high costs as the most important factor inhibiting the use of formal remittance channels. Innovative options such as mobile money transfer are getting popular but adoption of these has been limited mostly to domestic money transfers, largely because of concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing. These technologies have the potential to vastly improve access to both remittances and broader financial services, including low-cost savings and credit products, for African migrants and remittance recipients.<br />
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Remittance receiving households in Africa usually save remittance money in some type of financial institution rather than put
it under the mattress. These steady stream of remittances receipt can be used as a factor in evaluating the credit worthiness of recipients for microloans, consumer loans, and small business loans (for example, to purchase agricultural equipment [Ratha, 2007]). Not only has a number of research found that bulk of remittances are used for consumption or investment in human capital (education, health, better nutrition), data from a multiple surveys and story-telling evidences indicate remittance has been found to provide initial capital to starting a business thereby stimulating entrepreneurship (De Haan <i>et al., </i>2000;De Haan, 2000 Dermendzhieva, 2011; Cortes, 2007).
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Identifying these poverty-eradicating and sustainable development potentials of remittance, World Bank recently initiated a global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), which is aimed at facilitating multidisciplinary debate and discussion on migration issues, developing policy options, and assisting sending and receiving countries implement pilot policies. While KNOMAD is on one hand, there is growing debate on how to use remittance in sustaning development in Africa through financial market linkages examples are the diaspora bond, collateral securitization, among others.
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So what are your experiences with remittance as an African in diaspora? Do you feel the cost of sending money to Africa is too high? What are your suggestions on making remittance work for sustainable development in Africa? Do you have anything to share with our team on remittance in Africa in General?<br />
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Join me on twitter <a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-69672723058007135722014-01-01T02:00:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:45:28.418-08:0010 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXj68FdrZ7kLVmzdeQqd7oRIlICVRVFnnHpTXlm85hpx9jtf0x90ME6dCQOE0UoNBzwegM-9aTyyl2acEvbh13nEj795OPXQt0Qgb47VpFnwM-rbrAu2Exy24VxiBmneqBp7V95hFnpuwP/s1600/Nigerian-pupils-work-on-c-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXj68FdrZ7kLVmzdeQqd7oRIlICVRVFnnHpTXlm85hpx9jtf0x90ME6dCQOE0UoNBzwegM-9aTyyl2acEvbh13nEj795OPXQt0Qgb47VpFnwM-rbrAu2Exy24VxiBmneqBp7V95hFnpuwP/s320/Nigerian-pupils-work-on-c-008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">'Smart aid': Nigerian pupils work on computers at <br />LEA primary school in Abuja. The school is a pilot site for <br />the 'one laptop per child' project, which aims to <br />provide children a means to express their potential. <br />Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/Corbis Source: TheGuardian.com</span></td></tr>
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The fact that Pope Francis particularly <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/25/world/europe/pope-christmas/index.html?sr=sharebar_twitter" target="_blank">prayed</a> for Nigeria during his Urbi et Orbi, or "to the city and to the world," message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Wednesday, December 25 draws global attention yet again to a country seen by many as a creeping giant. Insecurity has not only crippled the local economy, foreign investors are also sceptical on what direction the country is going. In 2013, the country witnessed the death of many civilians as incessant shedding of blood and killing at an unprecedented rate continues. In a quick response to what seem like a terror shock; security (Armed Forces, Police, National Security Adviser's office, and the para-military services) will be receiving the largest share of the country’s budget in 2014 just as it did in 2012 and 2013. This is in line with what is obtainable in advance countries where protection of persons and property receive dominant share of the government expenditure. Together with the National Conference scheduled for early 2014, it is expected that budget spendings will help foster peace and security thereby creating enabling environment for the economy to thrive. While the attention given to insecurity is a right step in a right direction, there are a few other thought lines for year 2014. Ranging from the drive for an “inclusive” budget (in meeting job creation targets and grassroots’ needs) and deepening technology to iRokotv $21 million funding and the spillover revolution of Nollywood, here are my top 10 outlook for Nigeria and indeed Africa in 2014:</div>
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<b>1. Awareness of Mobile Payments will increase in 2014:</b> Mobile payment options like MTN Mobile Money, Paga, and U-MO are expected to grow in 2014. The need to bank the unbanked and other reasons for the expected growth is explained in the key finding of the <a href="http://www.efina.org.ng/assets/Documents/EFInA-A2F-2012-surveyFGDKey-Findings.pdf" target="_blank">EFInA</a> Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2012 Survey. MTN’s wide spread coverage, Etisalat’s fast internet service, Airtel’s affordability and Glo’s venture in the mobile banking are factors that will ultimately lead to growth in mobile payments in Nigeria in 2014. Already, payD is used in the South African market where, using their mobile phone, customers are able to securely make online payments using their debit, credit or cheque card. In Zimbabwe, EcoCash, Telecash and OneWallet are taking the lead in Mobile Money. There has also been increasing popularity of Mobile Money in Uganda with the country’s 12 million mobile money subscibers reaching a transaction of $640m between January to November 2013.</div>
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<b>2. e-Commerce will take centre stage:</b> This is very related to the above point on Mobile payment and transactions. On 16th December 2013 German e-commerce incubator and cloning giant Rocket Internet, MTN, Africa’s largest cellphone operator and Stockholm-listed Millicom International Cellular partnered to develop internet e-commerce businesses in Africa through Africa Internet Holding (AIH), a vehicle to develop e-commerce businesses across the African continent (alongside partner Millicom International Cellular). They each took a 33.3% stake but the value was undisclosed. While still subject to regulatory approval, the parties expect the transaction to close during the second quarter of 2014. The implication for Nigeria? More transaction will be fulfilled online and there will be a radical change from the traditional brick and mortar shopping to shopping online as seen in developed countries. Businesses will have to respond by developing B2C and B2B enterprise architecture that will facilitate e-commerce. AIH has already developed a number of e-commerce ventures in the last 18 months, including Jumia, Zando, Kaymu, Jovago, Lamudi, Carmudi, EasyTaxi and Hellofood. The partnership is expected to capture the growth potential of the digital media space across footprints in the region. </div>
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<b>3. The year of Financial and Overall inclusion in Nigeria:</b> With a huge rural population that is economically challenged, financial and labour market inclusion is indispensable for the sustainable growth of Nigeria and when government at top level have identified this fact, we see it as a right step in the right direction. Inclusiveness is an explicit strategy for poverty eradication and accelerated growth and it’s highly welcomed in Nigeria. It is expected that the N4.642 trillion ($29 billion) 2014 budget (available <a href="http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2014_proposal.html" target="_blank">here</a>), if properly implemented, will strengthen the rural base, agricultural sector, allowing for better equality in income distribution in the economy. To quote the Nigerian Minister of Finance, "It's a budget for jobs and inclusive growth…The budget supports policies that will continue to push agriculture, manufacturing, investment so that our youths can have modern jobs." Also if the <a href="http://www.sure-p.gov.ng/main/" target="_blank">SURE-P</a> funds are well utilized as proposed, hopefully, the economically marginalized will be reached through job creation and in creating safety nets for women and children. Oil is more of a curse than a blessing for Nigeria as the video below shows and hopefully all of these will ultimately lead to an economy that will gradually (because it will not happen suddenly) move towards economic diversification away from oil. At the same time, it is expected that the existing banking infrastructure in Nigeria will be upgraded in 2014 to meet growing demands. The average number of clients per Bank branch is 3882, compare to 3922 in Kenya and 8595 in Tanzania. Central Bank of Nigeria microfinance banking policy (2005) and the CBN financial inclusion strategy (2012) are all worthwhile interventions put in place by the government to encourage financial inclusion. </div>
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It is true that the Nigerian automotive policy seem like a move that “puts the cart before the horse”, it should however be a celebrated initiative because of the enormous positive social externalities it can bring. Such initiatives allow the manufacturing sector to find its bearing as local contents are sourced for car parts (raw materials from the agricultural sector), the engineering academia (who have many internationally recognized professors) will play their practical roles in economic development, jobs are created and international automobile innovation hubs can be established in the country. Hopefully Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) and others will trace their way back to Nigeria as the power reforms and other government reforms work to address problems that led to failure similar policy moves in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Let’s leave this point here for now even though there’s temptation to stretch the inclusivity theory to cover the purported housing sector reforms under the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), the agricultural transformation program and other recent economic push. It will be interesting to see how the economy unravels in the year 2014 and certainly there will be many events to watch out for. </div>
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<b>4. International Development assistant (or ODA) is not expected to increase but remittance will: </b></div>
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGUo9ovOQU6yCAAd9BQZ66kuF0By7ih_eW9C10ZiXeyfyUC42Q_PuZ87oeFIrdCSci7k4zZ7Lfzr5na_LGowTFdzUp_fuIxxNhCX-ZJ5moe18xO3b3kZWS4NVMwsySkagpTSv_s-FNCKq/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGUo9ovOQU6yCAAd9BQZ66kuF0By7ih_eW9C10ZiXeyfyUC42Q_PuZ87oeFIrdCSci7k4zZ7Lfzr5na_LGowTFdzUp_fuIxxNhCX-ZJ5moe18xO3b3kZWS4NVMwsySkagpTSv_s-FNCKq/s400/Slide1.JPG" width="400" /></a></b></div>
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Life was sweet when the leaders of the world's most powerful western economies pledged themselves to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/debt-relief" target="_blank">debt relief</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/aid" target="_blank">aid</a> to help poor countries in July 2005 when Britain hosted the G8 summit at Gleneagles. Growth was strong, asset prices were rising, and the financial crisis was two years away. Fast-forward to 2013, one thing was obvious when Britain chaired a similar G8 meeting at Lough Erne last summer: there will be no repeat of the commitment to double aid within five years. Money is tight. Most donour countries in the OECD are on their fiscal cliffs with characteristic high energy prices and compounded by their struggle to ensure financial solvency.<br />
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Since remittance exceeded foreign direct investment (FDI) and other development assistance (ODA) for the first time in 2012, remittance trend is seen to continue to play significant role in developing economies. In 2009, Nigeria received over $10 billion in remittances from citizens living in the diaspora and was ranked first among the top 10 remittance recipients in 2010 in Sub-Saharan Africa with average share of remittance to GDP of 10.4% between 2005-2011 (<a href="http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/outlook/financial_flows/remittances/" target="_blank">African Economic Outlook</a> 2013; World Bank, 2011). The World Bank (2012) <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2012/11/20/developing-countries-to-receive-over-400-billion-remittances-2012-world-bank-report" target="_blank">reported</a> that the top recipients of officially recorded remittances for 2012 are India ($70 billion), China ($66 billion), the Philippines and Mexico ($24 billion each), and Nigeria ($21 billion). Although remittance has been identified to eradicate poverty among the recipient households (Chukwuone et al, 2012), little is known about its effects on job creation and employment especially for the young people. Remittance has its own unique way of addressing the challenges such as corruption that ODA and FDI face both in donour countries and recipient nations. Remittance is specific in use and carries efficient group/channel effects. It is expected that 2014 will be the year when social, fiscal and labour-market policy recommendations will be made to help in channelling the large amount of remittance in Nigeria for sustainable growth. This will fall in line with increasing international debate on how to reduce cost of remittance as well as help developing countries cope with falling ODAs.</div>
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<b>5. Political pressure will heat up towards 2015 general elections and ethnic and religious bigotry will increase: </b></div>
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52CesceErE49CYFm1Q28cPUCwdJQrqNE1gAW8K0L0RQby2ahkCvSk2mg_F_2dNLw-71Kh4ONsJQnEpFwp45Uac_tF358sp6Tj7P0bQxke1u8YrSltqwnwWymaeAmN1vf_jl8zG1BiRWXi/s1600/APC-PDP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52CesceErE49CYFm1Q28cPUCwdJQrqNE1gAW8K0L0RQby2ahkCvSk2mg_F_2dNLw-71Kh4ONsJQnEpFwp45Uac_tF358sp6Tj7P0bQxke1u8YrSltqwnwWymaeAmN1vf_jl8zG1BiRWXi/s320/APC-PDP1.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">It’s not reasonable to observe the spate of open letters flying about in Nigeria in 2013 and think such attitude will fall in 2014. In fact, open letters and associated political forces will continue to generate heat as the country draws closer to the 2015 general election. Apart from the five governors of the ruling PDP defecting to the opposition APC on Nov. 26 2013, on Dec. 18, the ruling party lost 37 parliamentary seats to the same opposition party. This is a collection of events some analyst call “</span></span><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21587219-ruling-party-and-countrys-president-face-their-greatest-ever?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">things fall apart</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">”. Nigeria’s political history and elections since democracy has generally been characterized with violence and it will take a miracle for such to quiet down going by the situation of things in 2013. The ruling party and the president will continue to face challenges and the greatest-ever will be in 2014. It is not only in Nigeria, similar issues are expected across Africa and we will recollect that even South African’s President Jacob Zuma was booed and jeered by South Africans during Mandel’s burial ceremony – a worrying sign for his African National Congress (ANC) as it heads for polls in about six months. Many Nigerians and also friendly foreigners agree that the country is facing various problems on political stability. Analysts see the major problem as that of national unity in an atmosphere of the rising profile of ethnicity and religious bigotry. The ongoing deadly ethnic-religious clashes in some parts of Nigeria and renewed militancy and oil theft in the southern Niger delta (put at between 100,000 (</span></span><a href="http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/0913pr_nigeriaoil.pdf?dm_i=1TY5,1TWRR,BHZKWB,6JT2M,1" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Chatham House</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">) to 250,000 (</span></span><a href="http://issuu.com/spaces.for.change/docs/report_of_the_ribadu_led_petroleum_revenue_special" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Nuhu Ribadu Report</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">) barrels of oil a day) continue to amplify the political divide thereby giving room for more heat in the polity. 2014 will not only be a critical year for INEC (who is expected to receive buoyant support in the 2014 budget), political parties are expected to hold their national conventions to choose their parties presidential candidates in preparation for the 2015 elections. We should be interested and look forward to how the commission will respond to emerging electioneering issues in 2014 with Ekiti and Osun governorship elections serving as a litmus test for the 2015 election. Not to forget to add that 2014 also marks 100years since the country's Northern and Southern protectorate was merged into one Nigeria in 1914 (i.e. the centenary). This will call for renewed global attention on Nigeria to see how the political climate is changing or challenging the history and aspiration of the people.</span></span><br />
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<b>6. Information technology (ICT) use will grow as Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) expands with expansion in use of mobile devices and smartphone all of which will enforce better governance: </b> As Samsung gains leadership in the indian market, it is well positioned to become African leader. In 2014 the battle between Apple and Samsung (mobile device leaders) will have impact in the African market as Apple will strive to expand its market niche in the growing African economy. A Positive impact should of course be expected for Africa as this will not only bring in new products, prices should fall too. Africa is seen as a growing market when it comes to internet usage. According to the World Bank Africa Development Indicator 2012-13 report, of the 89-million recorded internet users in sub-Saharan Africa, half were in Nigeria. While only around 15.6% of <a href="http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm" target="_blank">Africans are online</a>, infopreneuers, journalists, bloggers and the likes will take on social media in 2014 to utilize various platforms in sharing information and shining the light on injustices. A recent <a href="http://image.slidesharecdn.com/newresultsnew-131025103155-phpapp02/95/slide-13-638.jpg?cb=1382715438" target="_blank">survey</a> of 1000 university student found that 90% of them use Facebook. Twitter and other social media will witness higher use in Nigeria moving forward.</div>
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There are also a growing number of social entrepreneurs in Africa, who are utilizing their training and education to develop businesses and initiatives that tackle social challenges. Innovation hubs, incubators and accelerators are supporting entrepreneurs across the continent and are gradually attracting investors and corporate partners. Spaces supporting tech entrepreneurs, such as the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/22/tech/innovation/nigeria-cc-hub/" target="_blank">Co-Creation</a> Hub in Nigeria and <a href="http://www.ihub.co.ke/" target="_blank">iHub</a> in Kenya, are creating jobs and improving the livelihoods of the poor. <a href="http://icow.co.ke/" target="_blank">iCow</a>, an application that provides timely agricultural information to dairy farmers in Kenya via SMS has reached almost 12,000 farmers and increased their income through elevated milk yields and decreased disease outbreaks.</div>
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<a href="http://www.efiko.com.ng/index.html" target="_blank">Efiko</a>, an application that enables students in Nigeria to test their knowledge of the school curriculum and compete with friends, has been played by thousands of senior secondary school students. Although most of these initiatives are at times criticized for being elitist, the applications springing up from them will definitely play impactful roles as we enter into 2014.</div>
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<b>7. Higher use of technology will lead to better governance in 2014: </b>since Barack Obama signed the <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/" target="_blank">Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government</a> on his first day in office, eventually led to <a href="http://www.data.gov/" target="_blank">Data.gov</a><span id="goog_617796849"></span><span id="goog_617796850"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a>, African countries have also made efforts to have similar open data portal and Kenya in particular is playing leading role in this regard with the <a href="http://www.opendata.go.ke/">www.opendata.go.ke</a>. The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is making similar effort with the <a href="http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/">www.nigerianstat.gov.ng</a>. The story of governance in Africa though punctuated by war, coups de etat and not-so-democratic elections is also full of stories of democratic progress and innovation. Technology is playing a role on the demand side of governance with citizens taking to technology platforms to amplify their opinions and demand better services from governments. It’s playing a big role on the supply side as well with governments adopting e-government and making progress along the path to open government and turning Africa into an attractive place to live in and do business. Notable example include the <a href="http://www.revenue.go.ke/index.php/kra-portal" target="_blank">Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Portal</a>, <a href="http://www.tra.go.tz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=464&Itemid=1" target="_blank">Tanzania Revenue Authority e-Filing and mPayments</a>, <a href="http://in2eastafrica.net/rwanda-police-introduce-new-technology-in-traffic-dept/" target="_blank">Rwanda Mobile-enabled Driving license applications</a> and <a href="http://www.lbr.gov.lr/" target="_blank">Liberia’s Online Company Registry</a>. This economic and urban boom in cities like Lagos and Accra where existing public infrastructure systems -- from transportation, to water, sanitation, energy, healthcare, public safety, education and administration – is under increasing strain, technology could play a variety of roles to address these issues. Other areas to watch out for include electronic lands registries, integrated financial management systems and electronic business registration in an effort to improve service delivery in their government to government (G2G) interactions and G2C / G2B services. Of course the idea of cloud computing, big data and mobile technology will be interconnected areas of discourse in 2014. </div>
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<b>8. iROKOtv will accelerate towards becoming Africa's Netflix with spillover benefits for Nollywood and the Nigerian creative economy:</b> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodJ-nOIADQJejseINBaWgfFGv-ceT7vh6UO6a6xVNrGMdwdepWuLCo8mR_f4MTKp4PE6Eu8YCUqLyzeMB21-RityX_VMpDl5WXwe_kQgweIDlHG3D0KblAt9gwj2h9OMxRHMc8Amx4J5o/s1600/Nollywood+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodJ-nOIADQJejseINBaWgfFGv-ceT7vh6UO6a6xVNrGMdwdepWuLCo8mR_f4MTKp4PE6Eu8YCUqLyzeMB21-RityX_VMpDl5WXwe_kQgweIDlHG3D0KblAt9gwj2h9OMxRHMc8Amx4J5o/s400/Nollywood+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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iROKOtv, the Africa-based movie platform for Nigerian movies (known colloquially as ‘Nollywood’) has closed a funding round of $8 million, led by existing investor Tiger Global, with further participation from Sweden-based Kinnevik. A new investor to this round is US-based Rise Capital. This brings the total raised to $21 million, which makes iROKOtv one of the best well-funded internet companies in Africa today. iROKOtv a Video-on-Demand (VOD) platform for African content which claims one million monthly users. The new capital will be used to flip the company’s audience from a primarily Diaspora base to an African base, as well as migrating from a largely ad-supported model to subscription service. Obviously, the aim here is to become the Netflix for Africa. Currently, 50% of iROKOtv’s audience is located in the UK and US. It’s important to mention that Nollywood will continue to grow in 2014 as both content quality and market penetration improves. A long-run market equilibrium analysis of what makes Nollywood different from Hollywood; giving it a comparative/competitive advantage is shown below. Some of these include large small, medium sized enterprise with low factor input and cost leading to high output (when compared to western countries) yet sufficient to break-even. Nollywood’s popularity has spread throughout English-speaking Africa and has even gained traction in the African Diaspora of North America, Europe and the Caribbean (Olley, 2009). Increasing government support for Nollywood and industrial stimulus resulting from affordable digital filming and editing technology provide opportunity for real life “family-oriented-than-American-films” story lines of love, violence and HIV/AIDS that depicts the typical African struggle for livelihood amidst difficult economic condition brings the African Story to the world. Genres also usually include religion, the occult and rags-to-riches tales. It is expected that the industry will continue to build on this model and witness continued growth in 2014. Oh, can I talk about the booming Nigerian music industry?!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKZpb58dxHQA8EKCqlwKTTRajpx2Z0ufq_1TDCDaEsqDro90_gqb9brtOGgufdwt6WOXT4F3q8aoW_-dn5nEC6gkxwWky3OYG26sYQSueRiSMSU5xd_UioF4A28o9ZvkGt1roFl72u2ss/s1600/Nollywood+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKZpb58dxHQA8EKCqlwKTTRajpx2Z0ufq_1TDCDaEsqDro90_gqb9brtOGgufdwt6WOXT4F3q8aoW_-dn5nEC6gkxwWky3OYG26sYQSueRiSMSU5xd_UioF4A28o9ZvkGt1roFl72u2ss/s400/Nollywood+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>9. CNN will be making concerted effort at capturing more African market/audience and that should attract other TV service providers: </b></div>
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XMgmabf4gMusQnQDLgtILPqGVN0caa050B66McQ_1vEJO7nad8wGYWovoNEXTN4tWdFTh48CCjMMwpJh9GPdRrSqZuLEtg5Q2xJXPFuTQGFreT_A4t7zBpMOQ6ACmj_iwE5FBR6H2hFN/s1600/CNN_African+Start-Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XMgmabf4gMusQnQDLgtILPqGVN0caa050B66McQ_1vEJO7nad8wGYWovoNEXTN4tWdFTh48CCjMMwpJh9GPdRrSqZuLEtg5Q2xJXPFuTQGFreT_A4t7zBpMOQ6ACmj_iwE5FBR6H2hFN/s320/CNN_African+Start-Up.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div>
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CNN International is proposing to launch a new TV show titled <a href="http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/AFRICA/african-start-up/" target="_blank">African Start-Up</a>, which will join the existing African Voices, CNN Marketplace Africa and Inside Africa programs is a bid for the globally acclaimed news company to cement its long standing commitment to Africa. The new series, airing as a weekly segment and then bi-Monthly as a half hour special, follows several small and medium-sized Enterprise and Entrepreneurs in various African countries to see how they're working to make their dreams become reality. One of African Start-Up production is ‘<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/28/tech/nigerian-itunes-dances-mobile-beat/index.html" target="_blank">Nigeria iTunes</a>’ which explores how ideas are generated, business plans formulated, capital raised and distribution model for products defined. The entrepreneurs take viewers through their daily challenges, charting both the setbacks and the opportunities that exist for those with the vision and creativity to try something new. The weekly segment is set to air in January 2014. Just as the entry of Starbucks (world leading coffee company) is an indication of economic growth in a country or community it venture into, the expected implication of the CNN move is that more TV service providers will be looking forward to the African market which seems booming at the moment.</div>
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<b style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">10. The African telecommunication sector will grow and quality is expected to improve in Nigeria:</b><br />
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<b style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNF50SZIpc9UCtmZFaiPg4PY7GYz3PkokSmQBH0SUMG7omqxBvRprU0ipUWEAk_veQH6ItPDuDLPeWl8mbLfvfvwEY9_vMGC3iE3Uy50mZmqEgrmimncYoXQmkXmQtyJR4Zxtllns_vz4w/s1600/GSM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNF50SZIpc9UCtmZFaiPg4PY7GYz3PkokSmQBH0SUMG7omqxBvRprU0ipUWEAk_veQH6ItPDuDLPeWl8mbLfvfvwEY9_vMGC3iE3Uy50mZmqEgrmimncYoXQmkXmQtyJR4Zxtllns_vz4w/s1600/GSM.png" /></a></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;"> Part of research conducted by </span></span><a href="http://www.informatandm.com/section/home-page/" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Informa Telecoms & Media</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">, entitled: </span></span><i style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">Africa Telecoms Outlook 2014: Maximising digital service opportunities</i><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">, identifies mobile broadband and the increase in global connectivity as key drivers behind this projected growth. According to statistics revealed in the research, there were 778 million mobile subscriptions in Africa by end June 2013 and the expectation is that the mobile-subscription count will reach one billion during 2015. Contrary to what is being experienced in other regions, in Africa mobile voice revenues are expected to grow over the next few years. The research adds that annual mobile data revenues on the continent are expected to rise from US$8.53 billion in 2012 to US$23.16 billion in 2018. Data accounted for 14.3% of mobile service revenues in Africa in 2012 but will account for 26.8% in 2018. “The growth in data revenues in Africa is being driven by factors including: the continent’s new submarine and terrestrial cables; the rollout of mobile broadband networks; the increasing affordability of data devices; and economic growth. As well as facilitating a rise in data connectivity in Africa, these factors are creating a platform for a range of new digital services on the continent, such as mobile financial services, e-commerce and digital content and services for the business market,” states an excerpt from the study. In an </span></span><a href="http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/nigeria-govt-talks-tough-over-service-quality/7418/#.Ur81S_RDvYR" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">article</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;"> on BizTech Africa, Nigeria govt talks tough over service quality, Minister of Communications Technology, disclosed at media parley with senior journalists, said the Ministry of Communication Technology, the Consumer Protection of Nigeria (CPN) and the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are collaborating to sanction or prosecute erring telecoms operators that have been delivering poor quality service to Nigerians. The Minister said “the Federal Government will no longer condone poor service delivery to subscribers and reiterated that henceforth, it’s no longer shall be business as usual, and operators must rise up to redress the current poor state of quality service delivery.” </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Another <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201312301519.html" target="_blank">related</a> development is the reduction in the cost of
Right of Ways (RoW) in certain states in the country which will facilitate the </span>roll-out<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> of telecoms infrastructure in the
country. Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON)
identified that this reduction would definitely impact on telecoms service
delivery.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: normal;">It will be interesting to keep tab on events as they unfold
in 2014.</span><br />
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<b>Conclusion: </b>Although there are numerous challenges facing Nigeria, there are equally huge opportunities to tap into to accelerate growth and development in the country. It is obvious that the greatest opportunity is in the technology industry <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21571889-technology-companies-have-their-eye-africa-ibm-leading-way-next-frontier" target="_blank">being the next frontier</a>. IBM is seen to be leading the way followed by Microsoft, Google, Baidu (China’s response to google) and their affiliate partners (Orange, Hauwei, etc) as they explore investments opportunities in Africa. Like many African countries, Nigeria’s demographic prospects are promising, too. As America, Europe and China age, Africa can expect a bulge of workers in their productive prime. Though skills are in short supply, they are becoming more abundant. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, in 2002 only 32% of Africans had secondary or tertiary education, but by 2020, 48% will have. The continent can call on degree-laden expatriates such as Uyi Stewart, the Nigerian chief scientist of IBM’s Nairobi lab. The ability of government, businesses, financial service providers and the Nigerian people in general to positively respond to rising issues and convert challenges to opportunities will go a long way in shaping the Nigerian economy in 2014. Maintaining peace and security is extremely crucial to reap these benefits as this will create a climate friendly for international partnership, investment and sustainable economic growth. As Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Heckscher-Ohlin identified in their economic postulations, every country should explore in competitive advantage to foster economic growth. Nigeria is blessed with natural resources, competitive distribution system (cutting across Africa and the world in road, airways and seaways network), a cheap workforce (fueled by abundant labour supply), a cultural revolution (with an expanding middle class) and a youth bulginess condition that continue to stimulate domestic demand. 2014 truly holds a lot and it can spell both dividends or doom depending on how we respond to opportunities and challenges as a people. </div>
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The list is certainly not exhausted. What are your thoughts about the Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with me on twitter <a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-89938501529515817202014-01-01T01:55:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:39:45.622-08:00Nigeria in 2014: Concluding Remarks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Although there are numerous challenges facing Nigeria, there are equally huge opportunities to tap into to accelerate growth and development in the country. It is obvious that the greatest opportunity is in the technology industry <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21571889-technology-companies-have-their-eye-africa-ibm-leading-way-next-frontier" target="_blank">being the next frontier</a>. IBM is seen to be leading the way followed by Microsoft, Google, Baidu (China’s response to google) and their affiliate partners (Orange, Hauwei, etc) as they explore investments opportunities in Africa. Like many African countries, Nigeria’s demographic prospects are promising, too. As America, Europe and China age, Africa can expect a bulge of workers in their productive prime. Though skills are in short supply, they are becoming more abundant. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, in 2002 only 32% of Africans had secondary or tertiary education, but by 2020, 48% will have. The continent can call on degree-laden expatriates such as Uyi Stewart, the Nigerian chief scientist of IBM’s Nairobi lab. The ability of government, businesses, financial service providers and the Nigerian people in general to positively respond to rising issues and convert challenges to opportunities will go a long way in shaping the Nigerian economy in 2014. Maintaining peace and security is extremely crucial to reap these benefits as this will create a climate friendly for international partnership, investment and sustainable economic growth. As Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Heckscher-Ohlin identified in their economic postulations, every country should explore in competitive advantage to foster economic growth. Nigeria is blessed with natural resources, competitive distribution system (cutting across Africa and the world in road, airways and seaways network), a cheap workforce (fueled by abundant labour supply), a cultural revolution (with an expanding middle class) and a youth bulginess condition that continue to stimulate domestic demand. 2014 truly holds a lot and it can spell both dividends or doom depending on how we respond to opportunities and challenges as a people. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-11414663413688346932014-01-01T01:48:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:40:18.808-08:00Nigeria in 2014: The African telecommunication sector will grow and quality is expected to improve in Nigeria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNF50SZIpc9UCtmZFaiPg4PY7GYz3PkokSmQBH0SUMG7omqxBvRprU0ipUWEAk_veQH6ItPDuDLPeWl8mbLfvfvwEY9_vMGC3iE3Uy50mZmqEgrmimncYoXQmkXmQtyJR4Zxtllns_vz4w/s1600/GSM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNF50SZIpc9UCtmZFaiPg4PY7GYz3PkokSmQBH0SUMG7omqxBvRprU0ipUWEAk_veQH6ItPDuDLPeWl8mbLfvfvwEY9_vMGC3iE3Uy50mZmqEgrmimncYoXQmkXmQtyJR4Zxtllns_vz4w/s1600/GSM.png" /></a></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;"> Part of research conducted by </span></span><a href="http://www.informatandm.com/section/home-page/" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Informa Telecoms & Media</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">, entitled: </span></span><i style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">Africa Telecoms Outlook 2014: Maximising digital service opportunities</i><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">, identifies mobile broadband and the increase in global connectivity as key drivers behind this projected growth. According to statistics revealed in the research, there were 778 million mobile subscriptions in Africa by end June 2013 and the expectation is that the mobile-subscription count will reach one billion during 2015. Contrary to what is being experienced in other regions, in Africa mobile voice revenues are expected to grow over the next few years. The research adds that annual mobile data revenues on the continent are expected to rise from US$8.53 billion in 2012 to US$23.16 billion in 2018. Data accounted for 14.3% of mobile service revenues in Africa in 2012 but will account for 26.8% in 2018. “The growth in data revenues in Africa is being driven by factors including: the continent’s new submarine and terrestrial cables; the rollout of mobile broadband networks; the increasing affordability of data devices; and economic growth. As well as facilitating a rise in data connectivity in Africa, these factors are creating a platform for a range of new digital services on the continent, such as mobile financial services, e-commerce and digital content and services for the business market,” states an excerpt from the study. In an </span></span><a href="http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/nigeria-govt-talks-tough-over-service-quality/7418/#.Ur81S_RDvYR" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">article</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;"> on BizTech Africa, Nigeria govt talks tough over service quality, Minister of Communications Technology, disclosed at media parley with senior journalists, said the Ministry of Communication Technology, the Consumer Protection of Nigeria (CPN) and the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are collaborating to sanction or prosecute erring telecoms operators that have been delivering poor quality service to Nigerians. The Minister said “the Federal Government will no longer condone poor service delivery to subscribers and reiterated that henceforth, it’s no longer shall be business as usual, and operators must rise up to redress the current poor state of quality service delivery.” </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Another <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201312301519.html" target="_blank">related</a> development is the reduction in the cost of
Right of Ways (RoW) in certain states in the country which will facilitate the </span>roll-out<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> of telecoms infrastructure in the
country. Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON)
identified that this reduction would definitely impact on telecoms service
delivery.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: normal;">It will be interesting to keep tab on events as they unfold
in 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-26581189902209140182014-01-01T01:45:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:40:37.544-08:00Nigeria in 2014: CNN will capture more African market/audience, other TV service providers will be attracted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XMgmabf4gMusQnQDLgtILPqGVN0caa050B66McQ_1vEJO7nad8wGYWovoNEXTN4tWdFTh48CCjMMwpJh9GPdRrSqZuLEtg5Q2xJXPFuTQGFreT_A4t7zBpMOQ6ACmj_iwE5FBR6H2hFN/s1600/CNN_African+Start-Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XMgmabf4gMusQnQDLgtILPqGVN0caa050B66McQ_1vEJO7nad8wGYWovoNEXTN4tWdFTh48CCjMMwpJh9GPdRrSqZuLEtg5Q2xJXPFuTQGFreT_A4t7zBpMOQ6ACmj_iwE5FBR6H2hFN/s320/CNN_African+Start-Up.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div>
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CNN International is proposing to launch a new TV show titled <a href="http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/AFRICA/african-start-up/" target="_blank">African Start-Up</a>, which will join the existing African Voices, CNN Marketplace Africa and Inside Africa programs is a bid for the globally acclaimed news company to cement its long standing commitment to Africa. The new series, airing as a weekly segment and then bi-Monthly as a half hour special, follows several small and medium-sized Enterprise and Entrepreneurs in various African countries to see how they're working to make their dreams become reality. One of African Start-Up production is ‘<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/28/tech/nigerian-itunes-dances-mobile-beat/index.html" target="_blank">Nigeria iTunes</a>’ which explores how ideas are generated, business plans formulated, capital raised and distribution model for products defined. The entrepreneurs take viewers through their daily challenges, charting both the setbacks and the opportunities that exist for those with the vision and creativity to try something new. The weekly segment is set to air in January 2014. Just as the entry of Starbucks (world leading coffee company) is an indication of economic growth in a country or community it venture into, the expected implication of the CNN move is that more TV service providers will be looking forward to the African market which seems booming at the moment.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-16172425231438009192014-01-01T01:40:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:41:06.958-08:00Nigeria in 2014: iROKOtv becoming Africa's Netflix with spillover benefits for Nollywood, Nigerian creative economy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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iROKOtv, the Africa-based movie platform for Nigerian movies (known colloquially as ‘Nollywood’) has closed a funding round of $8 million, led by existing investor Tiger Global, with further participation from Sweden-based Kinnevik. A new investor to this round is US-based Rise Capital. This brings the total raised to $21 million, which makes iROKOtv one of the best well-funded internet companies in Africa today. iROKOtv a Video-on-Demand (VOD) platform for African content which claims one million monthly users. The new capital will be used to flip the company’s audience from a primarily Diaspora base to an African base, as well as migrating from a largely ad-supported model to subscription service. Obviously, the aim here is to become the Netflix for Africa. Currently, 50% of iROKOtv’s audience is located in the UK and US. It’s important to mention that Nollywood will continue to grow in 2014 as both content quality and market penetration improves. A long-run market equilibrium analysis of what makes Nollywood different from Hollywood; giving it a comparative/competitive advantage is shown below. Some of these include large small, medium sized enterprise with low factor input and cost leading to high output (when compared to western countries) yet sufficient to break-even. Nollywood’s popularity has spread throughout English-speaking Africa and has even gained traction in the African Diaspora of North America, Europe and the Caribbean (Olley, 2009). Increasing government support for Nollywood and industrial stimulus resulting from affordable digital filming and editing technology provide opportunity for real life “family-oriented-than-American-films” story lines of love, violence and HIV/AIDS that depicts the typical African struggle for livelihood amidst difficult economic condition brings the African Story to the world. Genres also usually include religion, the occult and rags-to-riches tales. It is expected that the industry will continue to build on this model and witness continued growth in 2014. Oh, can I talk about the booming Nigerian music industry?!</div>
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What are your thoughts about the Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with me on twitter <a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran">by tweeting to @seunoyeniran</a>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-63885790251252034742014-01-01T01:39:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:43:46.610-08:00Nigeria in 2014: Higher use of technology will lead to better governance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Since Barack Obama signed the <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/" target="_blank">Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government</a> on his first day in office, eventually led to <a href="http://www.data.gov/" target="_blank">Data.gov</a><span id="goog_617796849"></span><span id="goog_617796850"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a>, African countries have also made efforts to have similar open data portal and Kenya in particular is playing leading role in this regard with the <a href="http://www.opendata.go.ke/">www.opendata.go.ke</a>. The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is making similar effort with the <a href="http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/">www.nigerianstat.gov.ng</a>. The story of governance in Africa though punctuated by war, coups de etat and not-so-democratic elections is also full of stories of democratic progress and innovation. Technology is playing a role on the demand side of governance with citizens taking to technology platforms to amplify their opinions and demand better services from governments. It’s playing a big role on the supply side as well with governments adopting e-government and making progress along the path to open government and turning Africa into an attractive place to live in and do business. Notable example include the <a href="http://www.revenue.go.ke/index.php/kra-portal" target="_blank">Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) Portal</a>, <a href="http://www.tra.go.tz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=464&Itemid=1" target="_blank">Tanzania Revenue Authority e-Filing and mPayments</a>, <a href="http://in2eastafrica.net/rwanda-police-introduce-new-technology-in-traffic-dept/" target="_blank">Rwanda Mobile-enabled Driving license applications</a> and <a href="http://www.lbr.gov.lr/" target="_blank">Liberia’s Online Company Registry</a>. This economic and urban boom in cities like Lagos and Accra where existing public infrastructure systems -- from transportation, to water, sanitation, energy, healthcare, public safety, education and administration – is under increasing strain, technology could play a variety of roles to address these issues. Other areas to watch out for include electronic lands registries, integrated financial management systems and electronic business registration in an effort to improve service delivery in their government to government (G2G) interactions and G2C / G2B services. Of course the idea of cloud computing, big data and mobile technology will be interconnected areas of discourse in 2014. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-11484105841563239112014-01-01T01:31:00.001-08:002014-01-05T13:43:22.453-08:00Nigeria in 2014: Awareness of Mobile Payments will increase<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Mobile payment options like MTN Mobile Money, Paga, and U-MO are expected to grow in 2014. The need to bank the unbanked and other reasons for the expected growth is explained in the key finding of the <a href="http://www.efina.org.ng/assets/Documents/EFInA-A2F-2012-surveyFGDKey-Findings.pdf" target="_blank">EFInA</a> Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2012 Survey. MTN’s wide spread coverage, Etisalat’s fast internet service, Airtel’s affordability and Glo’s venture in the mobile banking are factors that will ultimately lead to growth in mobile payments in Nigeria in 2014. Already, payD is used in the South African market where, using their mobile phone, customers are able to securely make online payments using their debit, credit or cheque card. In Zimbabwe, EcoCash, Telecash and OneWallet are taking the lead in Mobile Money. There has also been increasing popularity of Mobile Money in Uganda with the country’s 12 million mobile money subscibers reaching a transaction of $640m between January to November 2013.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-33902402710303635942014-01-01T01:31:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:43:05.693-08:00Nigeria in 2014: e-Commerce will take centre stage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is very related to the above point on Mobile payment and transactions. On 16th December 2013 German e-commerce incubator and cloning giant Rocket Internet, MTN, Africa’s largest cellphone operator and Stockholm-listed Millicom International Cellular partnered to develop internet e-commerce businesses in Africa through Africa Internet Holding (AIH), a vehicle to develop e-commerce businesses across the African continent (alongside partner Millicom International Cellular). They each took a 33.3% stake but the value was undisclosed. While still subject to regulatory approval, the parties expect the transaction to close during the second quarter of 2014. The implication for Nigeria? More transaction will be fulfilled online and there will be a radical change from the traditional brick and mortar shopping to shopping online as seen in developed countries. Businesses will have to respond by developing B2C and B2B enterprise architecture that will facilitate e-commerce. AIH has already developed a number of e-commerce ventures in the last 18 months, including Jumia, Zando, Kaymu, Jovago, Lamudi, Carmudi, EasyTaxi and Hellofood. The partnership is expected to capture the growth potential of the digital media space across footprints in the region. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-88405608636988697972014-01-01T01:28:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:42:48.599-08:00Nigeria in 2014: International Development assistant (or ODA) is not expected to increase but remittance will<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Life was sweet when the leaders of the world's most powerful western economies pledged themselves to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/debt-relief" target="_blank">debt relief</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/aid" target="_blank">aid</a> to help poor countries in July 2005 when Britain hosted the G8 summit at Gleneagles. Growth was strong, asset prices were rising, and the financial crisis was two years away. Fast-forward to 2013, one thing was obvious when Britain chaired a similar G8 meeting at Lough Erne last summer: there will be no repeat of the commitment to double aid within five years. Money is tight. Most donour countries in the OECD are on their fiscal cliffs with characteristic high energy prices and compounded by their struggle to ensure financial solvency.<br />
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Since remittance exceeded foreign direct investment (FDI) and other development assistance (ODA) for the first time in 2012, remittance trend is seen to continue to play significant role in developing economies. In 2009, Nigeria received over $10 billion in remittances from citizens living in the diaspora and was ranked first among the top 10 remittance recipients in 2010 in Sub-Saharan Africa with average share of remittance to GDP of 10.4% between 2005-2011 (<a href="http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/outlook/financial_flows/remittances/" target="_blank">African Economic Outlook</a> 2013; World Bank, 2011). The World Bank (2012) <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2012/11/20/developing-countries-to-receive-over-400-billion-remittances-2012-world-bank-report" target="_blank">reported</a> that the top recipients of officially recorded remittances for 2012 are India ($70 billion), China ($66 billion), the Philippines and Mexico ($24 billion each), and Nigeria ($21 billion). Although remittance has been identified to eradicate poverty among the recipient households (Chukwuone et al, 2012), little is known about its effects on job creation and employment especially for the young people. Remittance has its own unique way of addressing the challenges such as corruption that ODA and FDI face both in donour countries and recipient nations. Remittance is specific in use and carries efficient group/channel effects. It is expected that 2014 will be the year when social, fiscal and labour-market policy recommendations will be made to help in channelling the large amount of remittance in Nigeria for sustainable growth. This will fall in line with increasing international debate on how to reduce cost of remittance as well as help developing countries cope with falling ODAs.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
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<b><i>reference list</i></b>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-11913060879086753872014-01-01T01:15:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:42:21.128-08:00Nigeria in 2014: Political pressure and ethno-religious bigotry will increase<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">It’s not reasonable to observe the spate of open letters flying about in Nigeria in 2013 and think such attitude will fall in 2014. In fact, open letters and associated political forces will continue to generate heat as the country draws closer to the 2015 general election. Apart from the five governors of the ruling PDP defecting to the opposition APC on Nov. 26 2013, on Dec. 18, the ruling party lost 37 parliamentary seats to the same opposition party. This is a collection of events some analyst call “</span></span><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21587219-ruling-party-and-countrys-president-face-their-greatest-ever?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">things fall apart</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">”. Nigeria’s political history and elections since democracy has generally been characterized with violence and it will take a miracle for such to quiet down going by the situation of things in 2013. The ruling party and the president will continue to face challenges and the greatest-ever will be in 2014. It is not only in Nigeria, similar issues are expected across Africa and we will recollect that even South African’s President Jacob Zuma was booed and jeered by South Africans during Mandel’s burial ceremony – a worrying sign for his African National Congress (ANC) as it heads for polls in about six months. Many Nigerians and also friendly foreigners agree that the country is facing various problems on political stability. Analysts see the major problem as that of national unity in an atmosphere of the rising profile of ethnicity and religious bigotry. The ongoing deadly ethnic-religious clashes in some parts of Nigeria and renewed militancy and oil theft in the southern Niger delta (put at between 100,000 (</span></span><a href="http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/0913pr_nigeriaoil.pdf?dm_i=1TY5,1TWRR,BHZKWB,6JT2M,1" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Chatham House</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">) to 250,000 (</span></span><a href="http://issuu.com/spaces.for.change/docs/report_of_the_ribadu_led_petroleum_revenue_special" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Nuhu Ribadu Report</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 20px;">) barrels of oil a day) continue to amplify the political divide thereby giving room for more heat in the polity. 2014 will not only be a critical year for INEC (who is expected to receive buoyant support in the 2014 budget), political parties are expected to hold their national conventions to choose their parties presidential candidates in preparation for the 2015 elections. We should be interested and look forward to how the commission will respond to emerging electioneering issues in 2014 with Ekiti and Osun governorship elections serving as a litmus test for the 2015 election. Not to forget to add that 2014 also marks 100years since the country's Northern and Southern protectorate was merged into one Nigeria in 1914 (i.e. the centenary). This will call for renewed global attention on Nigeria to see how the political climate is changing or challenging the history and aspiration of the people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. Want to share you thoughts on the</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-26303923775887760412014-01-01T01:10:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:42:03.861-08:00Nigeria in 2014: Looking forward to a year of Financial and Overall Inclusion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With a huge rural population that is economically challenged, financial and labour market inclusion is indispensable for the sustainable growth of Nigeria and when government at top level have identified this fact, we see it as a right step in the right direction. Inclusiveness is an explicit strategy for poverty eradication and accelerated growth and it’s highly welcomed in Nigeria. It is expected that the N4.642 trillion ($29 billion) 2014 budget, if properly implemented, will strengthen the rural base, agricultural sector, allowing for better equality in income distribution in the economy. To quote the Nigerian Minister of Finance, "It's a budget for jobs and inclusive growth…The budget supports policies that will continue to push agriculture, manufacturing, investment so that our youths can have modern jobs." Also if the <a href="http://www.sure-p.gov.ng/main/" target="_blank">SURE-P</a> funds are well utilized as proposed, hopefully, the economically marginalized will be reached through job creation and in creating safety nets for women and children. Oil is more of a curse than a blessing for Nigeria as the video below shows and hopefully all of these will ultimately lead to an economy that will gradually (because it will not happen suddenly) move towards economic diversification away from oil. At the same time, it is expected that the existing banking infrastructure in Nigeria will be upgraded in 2014 to meet growing demands. The average number of clients per Bank branch is 3882, compare to 3922 in Kenya and 8595 in Tanzania. Central Bank of Nigeria microfinance banking policy (2005) and the CBN financial inclusion strategy (2012) are all worthwhile interventions put in place by the government to encourage financial inclusion. </div>
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It is true that the Nigerian automotive policy seem like a move that “puts the cart before the horse”, it should however be a celebrated initiative because of the enormous positive social externalities it can bring. Such initiatives allow the manufacturing sector to find its bearing as local contents are sourced for car parts (raw materials from the agricultural sector), the engineering academia (who have many internationally recognized professors) will play their practical roles in economic development, jobs are created and international automobile innovation hubs can be established in the country. Hopefully Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) and others will trace their way back to Nigeria as the power reforms and other government reforms work to address problems that led to failure similar policy moves in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Let’s leave it here for this first point even though there’s temptation to stretch the inclusivity theory to cover the purported housing sector reforms under the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), the agricultural transformation program and other recent economic push. It will be interesting to see how the economy unravels in the year 2014 and certainly there will be many events to watch out for. <br />
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Read the full article here: <a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a>. Want to share you thoughts on the<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-71115027856961675122014-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:002014-01-05T13:41:25.040-08:00Nigeria in 2014: Information technology (ICT), Social media and mobile device use will expand enforcing better governance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As Samsung gains leadership in the indian market, it is well positioned to become African leader in the mobile device market. In 2014 the battle between Apple and Samsung (for mobile device space) will have impact in the African market as Apple will strive to expand its market niche in the growing African economy. A Positive impact should of course be expected for Africa as this will not only bring in new products, prices should fall too. Africa is seen as a growing market when it comes to internet usage. According to the World Bank Africa Development Indicator 2012-13 report, of the 89-million recorded internet users in sub-Saharan Africa, half were in Nigeria. While only around 15.6% of <a href="http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm" target="_blank">Africans are online</a>, infopreneuers, journalists, bloggers and the likes will take on social media in 2014 to utilize various platforms in sharing information and shining the light on injustices. A recent <a href="http://image.slidesharecdn.com/newresultsnew-131025103155-phpapp02/95/slide-13-638.jpg?cb=1382715438" target="_blank">survey</a> of 1000 university student found that 90% of them use Facebook. Twitter and other social media will witness higher use in Nigeria moving forward.</div>
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There are also a growing number of social entrepreneurs in Africa, who are utilizing their training and education to develop businesses and initiatives that tackle social challenges. Innovation hubs, incubators and accelerators are supporting entrepreneurs across the continent and are gradually attracting investors and corporate partners. Spaces supporting tech entrepreneurs, such as the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/22/tech/innovation/nigeria-cc-hub/" target="_blank">Co-Creation</a> Hub in Nigeria and <a href="http://www.ihub.co.ke/" target="_blank">iHub</a> in Kenya, are creating jobs and improving the livelihoods of the poor. <a href="http://icow.co.ke/" target="_blank">iCow</a>, an application that provides timely agricultural information to dairy farmers in Kenya via SMS has reached almost 12,000 farmers and increased their income through elevated milk yields and decreased disease outbreaks.</div>
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<a href="http://www.efiko.com.ng/index.html" target="_blank">Efiko</a>, an application that enables students in Nigeria to test their knowledge of the school curriculum and compete with friends, has been played by thousands of senior secondary school students. Although most of these initiatives are at times criticized for being elitist, the applications springing up from them will definitely play impactful roles as we enter into 2014.</div>
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Read the full article here: <a href="http://www.seunoyeniran.blogspot.ca/2014/01/nigeria-2014-1.html" target="_blank">10 Economic Highlights to look out for in Nigeria in 2014</a>. Want to share you thoughts on the<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Nigerian Economy in 2014? You can drop your comment below or continue the discussion with on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-56736317794268364532013-12-14T20:11:00.001-08:002013-12-18T08:41:05.726-08:00Mandela: He Chose The Opposite to Maintain Peace and Unity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realised. But, my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” </i>-Nelson Mandela<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: 1918 - 2013</td></tr>
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When Mandela was released in February 1990, even the
apartheid government didn’t know what could follow. They let him go and prepared
for the worse. Even his followers in the ACN expected that violence and
forceful revenge will be in order. They were right to think so because even Mandela
himself had gone for military training in Algeria in 1961 so that he can
develop guerrilla tactics to combat the government of the day. Mandela did
opposite of what the whole world expected. As The Telegraph's
chief foreign correspondent David Blair reflects, not many people thought that
South Africa could peacefully move from racial dictatorship to democracy
without a civil war. Nelson Mandela was crucial to making that happen, allowing
the black majority rule come in peacefully.<br />
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Spending 27 years in prison makes
him the only single man who could have achieved peaceful transition to
democracy; having spent such long years behind bars, no other black South African
could question his commitment to the struggle to end apartheid. At the same
time, no white South African could doubt that his gesture of reconciliation were
heart felt. Nelson Mandela was the only man that could have carried out the
extraordinary act of forgiveness that was required to burry apartheid and to do
it with relatively little bloodshed. Living a tempestuous life, spending more
than a decade as a hardened campaigner against apartheid, living mostly
underground as he led strikes and demonstration of every kind leading to him
being put on trial several times. He was part of a core of activist who opposed
apartheid with everything they had from the late 1940s onward. "He was the only person who
could have accomplished South Africa's transition to majority rule in a
peaceful way, because of his own extraordinary life."<br />
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Even till his late 90s and towards his death, South Africa clung to Mandela because
he remains the link to their great triumph of a peaceful transition to
democracy; seeing him more as a guarantor of their historic moment to democracy.
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-80638017799000888942013-12-12T22:34:00.004-08:002013-12-12T22:35:41.597-08:00Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: A life of Profound Humility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As I was thinking of what direction to take my writing of Mandela (because honestly, its really overwhelming to try and summarize the life of such an icon), then, I stumbled on this video of Oprah Winfrey interview Mandela in year 2000. Even if you are so unfamiliar with the historical events surrounding his life which culminated in his being locked in prison for 28years for his fight against apartheid, please watch this 4minutes 46seconds video below. This video shows Mandela's depth of humility, as he consistently focuses the attention on the people who strengthened him all through his time in prison and his drive for equality that has now transcended the globe.<br />
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-54423974566634299002013-12-11T22:59:00.001-08:002013-12-11T23:31:02.878-08:00Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>"I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days." </i>– Nelson Mandela</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the world paid their tribute to Nelson Mandela this week, I sat down in the corner of my room reflecting on the life of this man whose life has touched humanity so profoundly. Merely looking at t<span style="background-color: white;">he <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2521202/Nelson-Mandelas-memorial-service-whos-world-leaders.html#ixzz2nEnML73y" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">incredible list of guests</a> who took their seats at his memorial service</span> will amaze you! BBC News director, James Harding, defending the corporation's coverage of <span class="SpellE">Mr</span> Mandela regarded him as a man of "singular significance" and the "most significant statesman of the last 100 years". After carefully reading several articles written about him and watching a number of videos, including the short clips in this post (plus my little knowledge of historical events surrounding the life of Mandela), I conclude that <span class="SpellE">Mr</span> Harding is not exaggerating. As I reflect on the life of this man who brought an end to apartheid, a political system in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s that separated the different peoples living there and gave privileges to those of European origin, I felt a deep moral persuasion to write this particular article. I even feel more motivated to write knowing fully well that unborn children will come to this material later in future and will learn great wisdom from Mandela who (as US President Obama puts it) is "<span style="background-color: white;">one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth." Although a huge task, I try to capture the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">core lessons about his life; putting them in</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> key headings (which I will have to break into multiple posts subsequently).</span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He saw problems and decided to be the answer to the call of many generations:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1939, Mandela enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare (considered Africa's equivalent of the University of Oxford or Harvard University), the only residential center of higher learning for blacks in South Africa at the time. Focusing on Roman Dutch law to prepare for a career in civil service as an interpreter or clerk (regarded as the best profession that a black man could obtain at the time), he was expelled from school in 1940 because as leader of Student Representative Council (SRC), because he aligned with students boycotts emanating from their dissatisfaction with the food and lack of power held by the SRC. He also later fled home in order to escape a forced marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He settled in Johannesburg, where he worked a variety of jobs, including as a guard and a clerk, while completing his bachelor's degree via correspondence courses. He then enrolled at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to study law. It was from there he came into reality with apartheid: racial discrimination and a <b>segregated political system </b>where a political system in South Africa that separated the different peoples living there and gave privileges to those of European origin; and decided to do something about it. Mandela soon became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942. Within the ANC, a small group of young Africans banded together, calling themselves the African National Congress Youth League. Their goal was to transform the ANC into a mass grassroots movement, deriving strength from millions of rural peasants and working people who had no voice under the current regime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Party (NP) came to power in South Africa in 1948 on a political platform of white supremacy. The official policy of apartheid, or forced segregation of the races, began to be implemented under NP rule. Specifically, the group believed that the ANC's old tactics of polite petitioning were ineffective. In 1949, the ANC officially adopted the Youth League's methods of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation, with policy goals of full citizenship, redistribution of land, trade union rights, and free and compulsory education for all children. For 20 years, Mandela directed peaceful, nonviolent acts of defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. In 1952 the ANC staged a campaign known as the Defiance Campaign, when protesters across the country refused to obey apartheid laws. That same year Mandela became one of the ANC’s four deputy presidents. In 1952 he and his friend <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/oliver-tambo-9501703" style="color: purple;" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">Oliver Tambo</span></a>(a brilliant student he'd met while attending Fort Hare) were the first blacks to open a law practice in South Africa called Mandela and Tambo that provided free and low-cost legal counsel to unrepresented blacks. In 1955 led the Congress of the People. In the face of government harassment and with the prospect of the ANC being officially banned, Mandela and others devised a plan. Called the “M” plan after Mandela, it organized the ANC into small units of people who could then encourage grassroots participation in antiapartheid struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1956, Mandela and 150 others were arrested and charged with treason for their political advocacy (they were eventually acquitted). Meanwhile, the ANC was being challenged by Africanists, a new breed of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/groups/activists/african-american" style="color: purple; outline: none;"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">black activists</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>who believed that the pacifist method of the ANC was ineffective. Africanists soon broke away to form the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), which negatively affected the ANC; by 1959, the movement had lost much of its militant support.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">In March 1960 the ANC and its rival, the PAC, called for a nationwide demonstration against South Africa’s pass laws, which controlled the movement and employment of blacks and forced them to carry identity papers. After police massacred 69 blacks demonstrating in Sharpeville (<i>see </i>Sharpeville Massacre), both the ANC and the PAC were banned. After Sharpeville the ANC abandoned the strategy of nonviolence, which until that time had been an important part of its philosophy. </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Mandela, who was formerly committed to nonviolent protest, began to believe that armed struggle was the only way to achieve change.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">In December 1961,</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"> he co-founded <span class="SpellE">Umkhonto</span> we <span class="SpellE">Sizwe</span> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">(Spear of the Nation or simply MK)</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">, a military offshoot of the ANC dedicated to sabotage and guerilla war tactics to end apartheid. In 1961, Mandela also orchestrated a three-day national workers' strike. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">He was named its commander-in-chief of MK and went to Algeria for military training. Back in South Africa, he was arrested in August 1962 </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">for leading the strike </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">and sentenced to five years in prison including being charged for incitement and leaving the country illegally. </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">In 1963,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"> Mandela was brought to trial again. This time, he and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment for political offenses, including sabotage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on <span class="SpellE">Robben</span> Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted tuberculosis and, as a black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment from prison workers. However, while incarcerated, Mandela was able to earn a Bachelor of Law degree through a University of London correspondence program. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Despite the maximum security of the <span class="SpellE">Robben</span> Island prison, Mandela and other ANC leaders were able to keep in contact with the antiapartheid movement covertly. Mandela wrote much of his autobiography, </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Long Walk to Freedom</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">secretly in prison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Later, Mandela was moved to the maximum-security <span class="SpellE">Pollsmoor</span> Prison near Cape Town. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">A 1981 memoir by South African intelligence agent Gordon Winter described a plot by the South African apartheid government to arrange for Mandela's escape so as to shoot him during the recapture; the plot was foiled by British intelligence. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Mandela became an international symbol of resistance to apartheid during his long years of imprisonment, and world leaders continued to demand his release. He</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"> continued to be such a potent symbol of black resistance that a coordinated international campaign for his release was launched, and this international groundswell of support exemplified the power and esteem that Mandela had in the global political community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">In response to both international and domestic pressure, the South African government, under the leadership of President F. W. de Klerk, lifted the ban against the ANC and released Mandela in February 1990.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Mandela, who enjoyed enormous popularity, assumed the leadership of the ANC and led negotiations with the government for an end to apartheid. While white South Africans considered sharing power a big step, black South Africans wanted nothing less than a complete transfer of power. Mandela played a crucial role in resolving differences. For their efforts, he and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. In 1994 South Africa held its first multiracial elections, and Mandela became president.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Mandela sought to calm the fears of white South Africans and of potential international investors by trying to balance plans for reconstruction and development with financial caution. His Reconstruction and Development Plan allotted large amounts of money to the creation of jobs and housing and to the development of basic health care. In December 1996 Mandela signed into law a new South African constitution. The constitution established a federal system with a strong central government based on majority rule, and it contained guarantees of the rights of minorities and of freedom of expression. Mandela, who had announced that he would not run for <span class="SpellE">reelection</span> in 1999, stepped down as party leader of the ANC in late 1997 and was succeeded by South African deputy president Thabo Mbeki. Mandela's presidency came to an end in June 1999, when the ANC won legislative elections and selected Mbeki as South Africa's next president. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">As I continue my writing in this series, I will like to hear from you too. I just finished listening to former and present UN Secretary General talk about his humility and call him their mentor. What about is feable, human side? What have you leant from the life of Mandela? Some Christians are even asking: will he make heaven? You can drop a line below or chat with me on twitter: <o:p></o:p></span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">Nelson Mandela. <span class="GramE">(2013). <i>The Biography Channel website</i>.</span> Retrieved 12:33, Dec 12, 2013, from</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/nelson-mandela-9397017" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">http://www.biography.com/people/nelson-mandela-9397017</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2008.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;"> © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"Nelson Mandela the orator: his most powerful speeches."</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 1 Dec. 2006. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10139739/Nelson-Mandela-the-orator-his-most-powerful-speeches.html" style="color: purple;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10139739/Nelson-Mandela-the-orator-his-most-powerful-speeches.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"Mandela: Icon, Hero and Flawed Human."</span> <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">Mandela - ABC News. ABC News Internet Ventures, 7 Dec. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mandela-icon-hero-flawed-human-21134352?singlePage=true" style="color: purple;">http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mandela-icon-hero-flawed-human-21134352?singlePage=true</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"A Who's Who of world leaders: The incredible list of guests who took their seats at Nelson Mandela's memorial service."</span> <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">Mail Online. N.p., 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2521202/Nelson-Mandelas-memorial-service-whos-world-leaders.html" style="color: purple;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2521202/Nelson-Mandelas-memorial-service-whos-world-leaders.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"Read Obama's complete speech at Nelson Mandela memorial."</span> <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">The Globe and Mail. N.p., 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/read-obamas-complete-speech-at-nelson-mandela-memorial/article15850924/" style="color: purple;">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/read-obamas-complete-speech-at-nelson-mandela-memorial/article15850924/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"Mandela’s struggle was personal inspiration: Obama."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Daily Star</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/mandelas-struggle-was-personal-inspiration-obama/" style="color: purple;">http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/mandelas-struggle-was-personal-inspiration-obama/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"My life with Mandela –Obasanjo."</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;"> </span></span><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">The Punch Nigerias Most Widely Read Newspaper</span></i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">. N.p., 7 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://www.punchng.com/news/my-life-with-mandela-obasanjo/" style="color: purple;">http://www.punchng.com/news/my-life-with-mandela-obasanjo/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"Desmond Tutu's tribute to Mandela's <span class="SpellE">magnanimityAdd</span> to ...."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="GramE"><i>The Globe and Mail</i>.</span> <span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE">N.p</span></span>., <span class="SpellE">n.d.</span> Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <http: article15838645="" news-video="" news="" o:p="" video-desmond-tutus-tribute-to-mandelas-magnanimity="" video1id15850332="" www.theglobeandmail.com=""></http:></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"World leaders pay tribute to Mandela."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>- Africa</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/12/world-leaders-bid-farewell-mandela-20131210134926782841.html" style="color: purple;">http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/12/world-leaders-bid-farewell-mandela-20131210134926782841.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 12px;">"BBC receives 1,350 complaints for 'excessive' Mandela coverage, including some viewers angry at interruption of 'Mrs Brown's Boys'."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Independent</i>. Independent Digital News and Media, 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-receives-1350-complaints-for-excessive-mandela-coverage-including-some-viewers-angry-at-interruption-of-mrs-browns-boys-8993369.html" style="color: purple;">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-receives-1350-complaints-for-excessive-mandela-coverage-including-some-viewers-angry-at-interruption-of-mrs-browns-boys-8993369.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-24387746792448538192013-11-07T12:03:00.002-08:002013-11-09T12:25:02.784-08:00My 29th Birthday: Reflections on Books, Countries and People that Shaped my Individuality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Gazing at the freedom birds inside Eaton Centre on Yonge St, Toronto my imagination is drawn to the magnificence of modern day architecture put to display in Canada's largest mall in downtown Toronto. My last one year has witnessed many travels across continents from Ghana in West Africa to Jamaica in the Caribbean. Yet having two years residence permit in the UK and 10 years entry permit into the United States, my decision to remain in Canada is inadvertently a prove of my acceptance of the country not only because it’s now my country of procreation since my wife is from here but due to the many reasons I will be talking about shortly. I am sure you will be wondering by now that 'this man as really travelled around the world.' Just as you are wondering, I myself am wondering. It amazes me how a boy from a village in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria has eventually pitched a tent over 5500milles away from his origin. This is a short story of my life. Born exactly 29years ago today, I have been shaped by many experiences influenced by people, places, things both seen and unseen and I can be described as one of the product of our truly globalized world.</div>
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<b>Of the books and literatures and their authors that have shaped my thinking</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recently read books: Reforming the Unreformable (Okonjo-Iweala),<br />
The Accidental Public Servant (El-Rufai), Son of Hamas (Yossef), <br />
Touching Godliness (KP Yohannan)<br />
Straight Talk to Men, Night Light Devotion for couples, <br />
Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide (Dr, James Dobson)</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.johnperkins.org/" target="_blank">John Perkins</a> book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, was an eye opener for me. It showed me the entire corporatocratic ideology that shaped our world pointing clearly how we found ourselves in the global mess in the first place. Although he raised much dust, it’s interesting that all the names mentioned in the books till date couldn’t prove him wrong, everything he wrote about seem true. I give him a lot of credit and continue to follow him on twitter as he preaches the message of "transforming the world into a sustainable, just, and peaceful place where all beings thrive". <a href="http://sonofhamas.com/" target="_blank">The Son of Hamas</a> holds both the spiritual account (of Mosab Hassan Yousef) and an historical documentation. It’s a book I do cherish that provides detailed information of the issues in the Middle East between Isreal and Palestine. I have spent a lot of time reading literatures that has strengthened my knowledge of spiritual and family life. <a href="http://www.gfa.ca/about/kpyohannan/" target="_blank">K.P. Yohannan's</a> book on Touching Godliness is pristine. My leading author and speaker in family life are Dr. James Dobson and Richard Smalley respectively. In terms of understanding developmental challenges facing growing nations in Africa, I have read the book of people I have come to admire for their work Nasir El-Rufais Accidental Public Servant (I recommend his oral interview session with Graeme Blair and Daniel Scher in Washington DC in 2009 as a first, good read), Dr. Okonjo-Iweala's book on reforming the unreformable is golden to understand the complexity and difficulty of the structural transformation in Nigeria and the depth of corruption the country witnesses. The list still goes on…</div>
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<b>Of Nigeria and Her many developmental challenges</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.111111640930176px; line-height: 13.993056297302246px; text-align: left;">A worker at a makeshift production camp in Nigeria’s swamps <br />processed crude oil at an illegal oil refinery site near the river Nun in Bayelsa.</span></td></tr>
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Many have always referred to Nigeria as giant among nations but taking baby steps. I wonder if Lord Lugard had committed an error in amalgamating the Northern and Southern territories into one Nigeria in 1914. But he couldn't have made a mistake if the people decide to make their case better by working together for a collective growth. Diversity can be a tool for sustainable growth. Toronto for example has been referred to as the world’s most multicultural society and living there for a few months I completely agree with that statement. People come from different walks of life, different countries, to strengthen a system they believed worked for them. I wonder where Nigeria missed it. Growing up in a public high school we learnt both the Surat Al-Fātiĥah and the Lord's prayer and till today people like myself reflect on the glory of those golden good old days. I wonder where Nigeria got her model of divide and rule and the ideology of placing religion and tribal conflict on top of pressing national issues. But I see tremendous hope for the nation. I have two reasons to justify that: one is in the angle of freedom of information and the growth in technology and the second is the hope that the younger generations will get it right. As one of the indicator for technology in a country is the internet, <a href="http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/FOTN%202013%20Summary%20of%20Findings.pdf" target="_blank">Freedom On The Net 2013</a> showed Nigeria has fared quiet positively. Although there's is still much to be done, progress recorded so far is good and Nigeria is just at the verge of moving to the freedom domain; many thanks to the tireless efforts of people like <a href="http://www.gbengasesan.com/" target="_blank">Gbenga Sesan</a>, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria. I have hope for the younger generations also. Here is a quote from the 2013 Commonwealth Youth Development Index <i>"A country like Nigeria, for instance, has high teenage pregnancy, low levels of education, high youth unemployment, yet has a higher levels of civic participation than New Zealand. This suggests that although the youths have limited education and employment opportunities, Nigerian youth are looking elsewhere for active engagement"</i>. It may not look like a lot but that statement is one of the very few positive feedback Nigeria has gotten in international reports. As a nation, there must be concerted framework (putting together all the policies) that leverage youths capacity in civic participation for nation building. We hope that will be implemented in the future.<br />
We cry against oil theft and vandalism reaching crude oil barrels of between 100,000 (<a href="http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/0913pr_nigeriaoil.pdf?dm_i=1TY5,1TWRR,BHZKWB,6JT2M,1" style="color: purple;">Chatham House</a>) to 250,000 (<a href="http://issuu.com/spaces.for.change/docs/report_of_the_ribadu_led_petroleum_revenue_special" style="color: purple;">Nuhu Ribadu Report</a>). We cry against Boko Haram, shedding of blood and the killing of innocent people, we cry against corruption and bribery in Nigeria. I hope it will not be too late for us to see the true price of oil as explained in <a href="http://priceofoil.org/?s=nigeria" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">The Price of Oil Organization report</a> and see a need to pursue economic diversification with earnestness. I hope we will manage diversity for prosperity and ensure inclusivity for all people. And I hope we uphold the dignity of labour.</div>
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<b>Of the people who uphold the dignity of labour and whose works are profoundly touching <b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hon. Michael Coteau and myself</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uzma Shakir</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sam Malvea</td></tr>
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It’s rare to find people who are committed to your progress and even more rear to find people who work tirelessly to ensure social justice. To the former, I celebrate people who have been with me over the years; my teachers and mentors who despite growing up in their hands have given me the opportunity to exercise leadership and be a man of my own. To the latter, the first is the Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Hon. Michael Coteau, whose softspokeness, open door policy and down to earth attitudes makes him someone extremely approachable. I can’t but appreciate my patient teacher and mentor, Sam Malvea who takes extra hours to look into my paper works and ensure I’m doing well. Uzma Shakir remains a symbol of social justice and having heard her speak to me it was clear that her moving from an activist to a role as the Director of Equity, Diversity and Human Rights in the City of Toronto was to ensure that we continue to build an equitable society. Her message of demographic and socio-economic reality of the City of Toronto to her motion on inclusivity remains profound: "<i>When a society is able to care for the less privileged, the women, children and handicapped in particular, then that society would have achieved its entire growth objective because it would have been successful in also taking care of those who already have privileges…</i>"</div>
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Of people whose culture of excellence transcends international boundaries: Lamido Sanusi, Obiageli Ezekwsili and many others who are taking their job seriously and creating the culture of excellence both in their official, spiritual or secular lives. And thanks to Cher Jones, my personal brand professor who gave me yet another reason to remain on social media.</div>
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<b>Of friends, family and life in general</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myself and Wife's Hand of Love</td></tr>
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Although I was dubbed to be a medical doctor, I am now happy tolling the path of an economist which has given me the opportunity to reason rationally, devote thoughts to developmental issues and a desire to want to contribute my own quota to making things better. Some have always concluded that the bane of economics is unrealistic forecasts, but the beauty of being an economist is this same ability to forecast. It allows us to imaginatively predict scenarios and make deductions and recommendations. And when you have a spiritual edge to being an economist its provides an amazing combination, it’s a God plus factor I can’t emphasize enough. It’s a spiritual experience of knowing the truth. This truth shapes thoughts and opinions exactly as demonstrated in people like Martin Luther King. <span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">I'm may be termed religious, but with respect for those who live their lives for other belief, a higher sacrifice, and for a higher purpose than I can ever do myself, I only hope they will find the truth that I now know in Christ Jesus. </span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">I'm not white, but I do know it is certainly wrong to judge others by the shade of their skin, the slant of their eyes, the waviness of their hair or the accent in their speech. I'm educated, but I do not disavow others for not having the same opportunities, life situation, or privileges as I. I'm not gay, but I do know that common rights guaranteed to citizens by their representative government should be rights inclusive to all citizens, even as we pray for their change. I am rational enough to realize that although I may not be on the wrong end of injustices, I am empathetic to those who are. I'm not poor, but I do know that it is in our common decency to help our neighbours and our friends when they need it more than us. I live as a social being and grateful for all the good people that surrounds me. Most of all I am grateful that I have friends, family, a wife and a mother who loves me dearly and prays for me constantly. Surely, many great things are bound to unfold in the coming days ahead and we will all have course to celebrate together. Lets keep holding on and believing!</span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-40454381990049146522013-10-29T13:25:00.002-07:002022-04-22T06:42:19.714-07:00Education Workers' Strike in Nigeria: Causes and Implication<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Channels.tv</td></tr>
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Over the past few months, the world has witnessed many striking issues ranging from the government shutdown in the United States to the sudden fall in the Indian Rupee, the Kenyan Westgate Mall shooting, the issues in Syria, Egypt, and beyond. But none of these touches me like the issues from Nigeria especially the ongoing Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) strike. Not only because I am a Nigerian, but largely due to the fact that my role as an economist keeps bringing me in contact with country facts that I find difficult to ignore. I decided to write this piece in order to provide a clear-cut knowledge of existing trends on education expenditure and linkage with work disputes/strike actions, unemployment, and economic growth. I draw on several reports and data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), World Bank, <span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.5938px;">United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization </span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: 700; line-height: 15.5938px;">(</span>UNESCO) among others to capture trends and developments surrounding strikes and their implication for the youths and the Nigerian economy as a whole. After a careful synthesis, it became obvious that a better funding mechanism for education in Nigeria is urgently needed for the country to become a serious player in the new global economic, social, and political order.<br />
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<b>A Retrospective look at Education funding in Nigeria</b>
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The general economic downturn of the 1980s resulted in instability and financial inadequacy for the Nigerian educational system. Crisis between 1979-1999 led to several work stoppages. Regular occurrences include unpaid teachers’ salaries, the degeneration of educational facilities and infrastructure at all levels and the attendant common place strikes across all tiers of Nigeria education system. Poor financial investment has generally been seen as the plague of Nigerian education system so much so that budgeting allocation has been very low compared to other sectors.
<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">During the oil crisis in the 80s, the administration and funding of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme were decentralized. At college and university levels, the changes included the termination of the student–teachers’ bursary awards and subsidized feeding for students in higher education institutions. Furthermore, the federal government allocation to education has declined steadily since 1999 and this is particularly important in view of the huge rise in intake at all levels of education – primary, secondary and tertiary. In 1999, the government scrapped the National Primary Education Fund (NPEF) and reconstituted it under another name (The National primary Education Commission). This action was taken in recognition of the states' and local governments’ constitutional responsibility for financing and managing primary education. An alternative source of funding for education explored by the government is the Education Tax Fund (ETF, 1995) which ensured that companies with more than 100 employees contribute 2% of their pre-tax earnings to the fund. Primary education receives 40% of this fund. Secondary education receives 10% and higher education 50%. Primary education has in the past also received from the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) for capital expenditure and provision of instructional materials. In higher institutions, gifts, endowment funds, consultancy services, farms, satellite campuses, pre-degrees, etc are other alternative funding sources.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite all the alternatives, infrastructure and facilities remain inadequate for coping with a system that is growing at a very rapid pace. As a result of poor financing, the quality of education offered was affected by poor attendance and inadequate preparation by teachers at all levels. The morale of teachers is low due to the basic condition of service and low salaries. A recent World Bank Development report pointed out problems emanating as a result of this which can be called "functional illiteracy": increasing enrolment rate but with a missing quality-application of knowledge-dimension in literacy. In addition, physical facilities need to be upgraded and resources such as libraries, laboratories, modern communication and Information technology equipment have to be provided. The quest for meeting these basic education needs has been the cause of an unending crisis between government, and trade unions such as </span>ASUU, <span style="font-family: inherit;">Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A close look at the distribution of government budgetary allocation to education as a percentage of the total budget shows a level of inconsistency. Instead of maintaining an increasing proportion of the yearly budget, it has been largely fluctuating since the introduction of SAP in 1986. Regardless of incessant strikes and negotiations to stimulate governments to increase the proportion, the proportion has been below 8% apart from 1994 and 2002, which were slightly above 9%. A breakdown of the education allocation to capital and recurrent expenditure is shown in the chart below. Since the oil crisis in the eighties, the proportion of capital budget allocated to education has been consistently lower than the proportion of recurrent expenditure. Over the years, the government capital expenditure allocated to education as a percentage of the total capital budget ranged from as low as 1.71 in 1999 and not up to 9% in all cases. This has retarded progress in building new facilities and meeting growth challenges.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiXAEBxpF6CetKPdK2QicTJyXOCKM3s_aAyeL2LiJU_J8huElYNhAV5z72Otf8ktkG5ZJNveUD7G13wYgBwOGKVP15QVniv2EmP-DZT0OdIBzxUwI_ZxNLy-7Eahm0B8WTYnZEg-YsZld/s320/Slide6.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 1: Capital and Recurrent Expenditure on Education in Nigeria</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiXAEBxpF6CetKPdK2QicTJyXOCKM3s_aAyeL2LiJU_J8huElYNhAV5z72Otf8ktkG5ZJNveUD7G13wYgBwOGKVP15QVniv2EmP-DZT0OdIBzxUwI_ZxNLy-7Eahm0B8WTYnZEg-YsZld/s1600/Slide6.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The estimates of government education expenditure in Nigeria as a share of GDP and of total government expenditure can be compared to the situation in other sub-Saharan African countries. UNESCO’s World Education Report 2000 presents the data for 19 countries across sub-Saharan Africa for 1996. The average share of GDP was 4.7% and government expenditure was 19.6%. In both cases, the measures of educational expenditures for Nigeria (2.3% and 14.3% respectively) are relatively low. Again from the sample of state government education expenditures, plus the Federal and local government expenditures, it is possible to provide an approximate set of shares of expenditure across levels of education for 1998 for the country as a whole. These values are: 35.6% primary, 29.0% secondary and 35.3% for all tertiary institutions, including 19.0% for universities. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The shares across education levels for Nigeria can again be compared to those in other countries. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Across 18 sub-Saharan African countries in 1996, the shares were 48% primary, 31% secondary, and 21% tertiary (UNESCO, 2000). According to CBN (2011), the allocations to primary schooling were significantly </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">lower in Nigeria and those to tertiary education significantly higher. Public investments in social and community services accounted for 10.0% of the total in 2011 and as a ratio of capital spending, expenditure on education declined to 3.9% in 2011 from 9.9% in the preceding year, while that on health rose from 4.0% in 2010 to 4.3% in 2011. At the states level, an analysis of spending on primary welfare sectors indicated that expenditure on education decreased by 17.0 percent from the level in 2010 to N212.6 billion ($</span>1.34billion)<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and accounted for 6.0% of total expenditure (CBN, 2011).</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJoaePN2Ho1hvOkXiKJJ_8WG2O8xlSF9_sXiRENQJeDgRlFRKAfTITLdLrd8eQfwuOHgk68Ru9J2MU68JJ-62-6KdFhlSZMUvU-0vi427IecvFgT14Cw45GDd5ZUmZmbQHVL0yM2-J0ym/s1600/Slide4.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTJoaePN2Ho1hvOkXiKJJ_8WG2O8xlSF9_sXiRENQJeDgRlFRKAfTITLdLrd8eQfwuOHgk68Ru9J2MU68JJ-62-6KdFhlSZMUvU-0vi427IecvFgT14Cw45GDd5ZUmZmbQHVL0yM2-J0ym/w380-h285/Slide4.JPG" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 2: Federal Government Share on Education as a share of Total Federal Expenditure, 1997-2001</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlMSMAk_DlFElYwlhM9oXdQvzWpJONhq1cXFdnbrP8_1yLuhb69B8XDtxGH5SRuhzbJYQm5cuYL5s4JbF-pcc9nlEGxSw_H4WSMuUyc8ZoyGDDEegcz-5QK6c3aZ_KtHR5-6yg4e0XJWQF/s1600/Slide3.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlMSMAk_DlFElYwlhM9oXdQvzWpJONhq1cXFdnbrP8_1yLuhb69B8XDtxGH5SRuhzbJYQm5cuYL5s4JbF-pcc9nlEGxSw_H4WSMuUyc8ZoyGDDEegcz-5QK6c3aZ_KtHR5-6yg4e0XJWQF/w357-h268/Slide3.JPG" width="357" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 3: Federal Government Share by Level of Education, 1996-2000</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Moja (2000) has shown that the building of classrooms has not kept up with the increase in enrolments in all levels of education in Nigeria. Primary schools and secondary schools are worst affected where classes are offered in the open-air leading to class cancellations and a lack of quality instructions. In several secondary schools, as many as four classes, are accommodated in one classroom. These are classrooms that are already jam-packed and in a poor state of repair with licking roofs and broken windows. In tertiary institutions, the picture is not different. It is a common phenomenon for students to sit on bare floor or hang by the window side because lecture rooms cannot accommodate them. In addition, laboratories and equipment are grossly inadequate. The attendant problems in terms of quality of education usually tell on the competence and effectiveness of the products.</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b>Man-days Losses Due To Strike</b><br />
The problem of education funding has been over the years a subject of great concern to all stakeholders in the sector. The magnitude of the problem has consistently led to strikes by NUT, ASUU, NASU, and other bodies coordinating the grievances of the workers. The cornerstone of the struggle is to make the Nigerian state to be responsive to the problems. As shown in Chart 4, the strikes cause the nation serious man-day loss. It ranged from N27,072($172) in 1972 to about N234million($1.49million)in 1994. Apart from 1995 when the loss dropped down to about 2 million, it has been more than 100 million man-days since 1996. The number of declared trade disputes in 2003 declined by 2.0% to 49%, in contrast to an increase of 11.1% in 2002. Of the total trade disputes declared, 42% or 85.7% led to work stoppages involving about 302,006 workers (CBN 2005). The total man-days lost to the work stoppages, including the six months of industrial action embarked upon by ASUU in 2003 were put at over 5.5 million.
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvN9MNSQ4-s4Px7sVFrsReldOEXagAjwxhTvm8VqY7J0imFF6AQ8ROIpVHJYf47qLj-tufLo2px5SQhUbmwbsly8akdsBViX_-HfxbsNHVj2hi0KdKbyJ7XUBM0ogBpnbVtknsTA6nTb1z/s1600/Slide8.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvN9MNSQ4-s4Px7sVFrsReldOEXagAjwxhTvm8VqY7J0imFF6AQ8ROIpVHJYf47qLj-tufLo2px5SQhUbmwbsly8akdsBViX_-HfxbsNHVj2hi0KdKbyJ7XUBM0ogBpnbVtknsTA6nTb1z/w353-h265/Slide8.JPG" width="353" /></a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 4: Man-Day Lost due to industrial Strike Actions and Trade Disputes in Nigeria with 1994 values isolated
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7rzxKUY1CbD5YN73qxmUVIin4nchPxbf7W1LBRvOGqMkaxNRy00dc56vYSwfAI4HO4GmKNA22yroMxOKzR3bPpsP4xzf2ViBYRz6esLx8F1zRjzUteREQmRY0vBdVmTXIzkiOU2eoEcn/s1600/Slide5.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7rzxKUY1CbD5YN73qxmUVIin4nchPxbf7W1LBRvOGqMkaxNRy00dc56vYSwfAI4HO4GmKNA22yroMxOKzR3bPpsP4xzf2ViBYRz6esLx8F1zRjzUteREQmRY0vBdVmTXIzkiOU2eoEcn/w343-h258/Slide5.JPG" width="343" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 5: Man-Days lost due to industrial strike Actions and Trade Disputes in Nigeria, 1970-2004</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mechanism for Translating Education Allocation to Economic Growth</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Earlier literature indicates that the quality of education in some Nigerian institutions in the 1970s was comparable to the high-quality education offered by top world universities. Sadly, however, the quality of education offered by higher education institutions at the present time has deteriorated substantially. <span style="text-align: justify;">The effect of the poor funding on students, apart from fear of an increase in tuition fees or its introduction in federal universities is that they are mostly ill-equipped for self-employment and or entrepreneurship in a context where limited jobs exist to absorb them in the nation. </span>The poor quality of many Nigerian university graduates has accelerated. As a result, there is high unemployment amongst graduates, especially in fields such as engineering. There is also concern about the lack of recognition of Nigerian degrees by overseas universities. <span style="font-family: inherit;">If education allocations are increased to meet all the basic infrastructural and recurrent needs such as ICT facilities, standard libraries, laboratories, and workshop facilities, and the institutions are made to have an adequate enrolment base that is open to all Nigerian irrespective of ethnic derivation, social status, religion, and political aspiration, teachers shall be highly motivated, conscientious and efficient in the delivery of their services. These will produce able manpower capable of uplifting the cultural, social, scientific, and technological development as well as developing the talents of young </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">citizens. The knowledge produced for industries, agriculture, and scientific and technological development will translate to an increase in national income. Ajetomobi and Ayanwale (2005) concluded that like yam, the size of yam set planted determines the size of yam tuber harvested, increase in government education allocation to 26% as recommended during ASUU-FGN negotiation of 1992 and 2001 tremendous growth in the economy will result. At the moment, u</span>nemployment rates have been steadily increasing and over 1.8million new entrants into the labour force (predominantly youths) are encountering increasing difficulty in finding gainful employment.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLD8xbS0XLPSltUuLUKxSVuBMMD5zmF128wEdMmbooPcg927P6Y0Lzpwh1yBXkZrUr94xz5iooGBaWp4_SjDMaPV4buu_TWRTmzQvexPAZlGSCPvsENi-XRryIHPyNZlLWI7TOtUDx3Rq/s1600/Slide1.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLD8xbS0XLPSltUuLUKxSVuBMMD5zmF128wEdMmbooPcg927P6Y0Lzpwh1yBXkZrUr94xz5iooGBaWp4_SjDMaPV4buu_TWRTmzQvexPAZlGSCPvsENi-XRryIHPyNZlLWI7TOtUDx3Rq/w371-h278/Slide1.JPG" width="371" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 6: Population growth, Economic activity, Labour force, Employed and Newly employed and Unemployed, 2006-2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZ9h8AQGW-S7ZyKEGO4uxZY1Dl23SjFYelBZSZsJMiiJKzhP_W56hklScCHNAvGfWneKodu-HveOj872mwyQIAT4i8BKp0KdPAnDufZMyRlkVeL-f924XHKcLYJowZsrKHRGGN_iM_soc/s1600/Slide2.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZ9h8AQGW-S7ZyKEGO4uxZY1Dl23SjFYelBZSZsJMiiJKzhP_W56hklScCHNAvGfWneKodu-HveOj872mwyQIAT4i8BKp0KdPAnDufZMyRlkVeL-f924XHKcLYJowZsrKHRGGN_iM_soc/w367-h276/Slide2.JPG" width="367" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 7: Unemployment in Nigeria by age group and Rural/Urban Area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkR3npxV7eg80MSNAiIq2nOfPzSHkJTUUwegMyRy_wu16L3fEnZxuW6qAv53qEO9PIkuAfT4198uEhpdnphfRPNwf74PoT_gnr4Xjqkbfycmhg7tkBw48YV-hFA6ENzdExTtvv4Lqk2rw/s1600/Slide7.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkR3npxV7eg80MSNAiIq2nOfPzSHkJTUUwegMyRy_wu16L3fEnZxuW6qAv53qEO9PIkuAfT4198uEhpdnphfRPNwf74PoT_gnr4Xjqkbfycmhg7tkBw48YV-hFA6ENzdExTtvv4Lqk2rw/s320/Slide7.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chart 8: Unemployment is trending upwards in Nigeria, 2000-2009</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The final word is that despite the fact that education emerges as a critical determinant of knowledge spillovers and entrepreneurship across 1500 subnational regions in 110 countries, why has Nigeria failed to fund its education? We can continue the conversation on twitter </span><a class="twitter-mention-button" data-dnt="true" data-related="seunoyeniran" data-size="large" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?screen_name=seunoyeniran">Tweet to @seunoyeniran</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Reference<br />
Ajetomobi J.O* and Ayanwale A.B (2005) Education Allocation, Unemployment and Economic Growth in Nigeria: 1970-2004, World Room at Texas A&M University </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">UNESCO (2000), World Education Report. Paris</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">World Bank (2001), World Development Report 2001. Washington</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">DC</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hinchcliffe, K. (2002). Public Expenditure on Education in Nigeria: Issues, Estimates, and </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some Implications. Abuja, World Bank.</span><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">National
Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force Survey 2009</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><i>Moja, T. (2000). Nigeria Education Sector Analysis: An Analytical Synthesis of Performance </i><i>and Main Issues. Abuja, World Bank.</i></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></i><a href="http://www.nicn.gov.ng/k9.php"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.nicn.gov.ng/k9.php</span></a><a href="http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2002/AREPORT-02-1.PDF"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2002/AREPORT-02-1.PDF</span></a><a href="http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2003/CBN%20ANNUAL%20REPORT%203.PDF"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2003/CBN%20ANNUAL%20REPORT%203.PDF</span></a><a href="http://www.cenbank.org/Out/2012/publications/reports/rsd/arp-2011/Chapter%205%20-%20Fiscal%20Policy%20and%20Government%20Finance.pdf"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.cenbank.org/Out/2012/publications/reports/rsd/arp-2011/Chapter%205%20-%20Fiscal%20Policy%20and%20Government%20Finance.pdf</span></a><a href="http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/EFR/RD/2008/EFR-VOL.44-NO.3-PART%201.PDF"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/EFR/RD/2008/EFR-VOL.44-NO.3-PART%201.PDF</span></a><a href="http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2007/STABULL-2005.PDF"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RD/2007/STABULL-2005.PDF</span></a><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200512310279.html"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://allafrica.com/stories/200512310279.html</span></a><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---integration/documents/publication/wcms_079136.pdf"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---integration/documents/publication/wcms_079136.pdf</span></a><a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/4-75million-man-days-lost-in-6yrs-to-strikes/"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/4-75million-man-days-lost-in-6yrs-to-strikes/</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://worldroom.tamu.edu/Workshops/Africa07/Nigeria/Education,%20Unemployment%20and%20Economic%20growth.pdf">http://worldroom.tamu.edu/Workshops/Africa07/Nigeria/Education,%20Unemployment%20and%20Economic%20growth.pdf</a></span></span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-37860490809888697132013-08-26T13:27:00.001-07:002013-08-28T08:28:32.315-07:00Nigeria Universities 2013 Rankings, ASUU Strike and My Rising Concerns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJAmOGQcqL8ryu44cP083uCFToozPRxe-T_kavBX2GBxWeKXyVX12rfeNNuYuCzUTobQdAghGKVyah-qRW83CM4K_ieK7qjAE27BpuU3A0B2pn7yWuqLeEZ-I3yuB_THOoEZ38EMbKO5V/s1600/ASUU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJAmOGQcqL8ryu44cP083uCFToozPRxe-T_kavBX2GBxWeKXyVX12rfeNNuYuCzUTobQdAghGKVyah-qRW83CM4K_ieK7qjAE27BpuU3A0B2pn7yWuqLeEZ-I3yuB_THOoEZ38EMbKO5V/s1600/ASUU.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: channelstv.com</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A lot has been on my mind since I
read The Herald newspaper of August 11th 2013 where <a href="http://www.theheraldng.com/2013-top-100-universities-in-nigeria-national-universities-commission/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">Nigeria's top 100 Universities</a> were listed. A lot continue
to well up in my mind as I try to keep tab on developing stories on twitter and other social media so much so that I had to break
the tranquillity of my honeymoon to scribble down my thoughts. This
is also coming at a time when the melee between the federal government and body
of university teachers (Academic Staff Union of Universities-ASUU) persist . I am deeply worried for my young ones who are affected. This piece is not only to the
government or ASUU, it is to teachers, lecturers and all those who are
currently insisting on the strike as the way forward. It is a plea for a date
to be announced when schools will resume.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I feel I know a lot about how
university systems run and what it takes to be a world renowned university
because I have not only been a part of the team that produced a document for the European Foundation for
Management Development (<a href="https://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis" target="_blank">EFMD) Quality Improvement Systems (EQUIS)</a> responsible
for european universities accreditation, it was during my studentship at the UK
that the university I attend moved to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Triple-accreditation/110889782295352" target="_blank">Triple Crown</a> category, a level designated for top
universities in the world who have met all quality standards in teaching and
learning [only 1 per cent of business schools world-wide have
achieved Triple Crown status by earning Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation, the European Foundation for
Management Development quality mark, EQUIS, and the Association of MBA (AMBA)
accreditation for the school’s MBA programme]. Even though my school in the UK
is not among the top 50 neither is it among the top 100 in the world
according to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/table/2013/jun/03/university-league-table-2014" target="_blank">University League Table</a>, but I've always thought to myself
that if just a school in Nigeria can meet half of these embedded quality
mechanisms in university systems, we could be on our way to becoming one of the
best in the world. It's important to mention here that I'm talking from an
insider perspective.<br />
<br />
I've seen both sides, in Nigeria and abroad. I had my
undergraduate degree in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH)
(No.19 in the current NUC list) before going for my masters abroad. I was a teaching and research assistant in
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) (No. 4 on the current NUC list) with extensive
networks and partners in University of Ibadan (UI) (No. 1 on the current NUC
list) and other top universities in Nigeria; so I'm clearly talking from an
insider perspective. Truth be told, there's is urgent need for quality
improvement mechanism to be embedded in our educational systems. Yes we have
faculty academic board etc, we've never sat to do critical benchmarking and
data collection to identify key areas of educational development. Yes the current ASUU
struggle is about "due allowance" to the
tune of N87billion or N92billion (USD530+million or USD570+million) (we're not sure <a href="http://www.codewit.com/nigeria-news/11054-asuu-faults-okonjo-iweala-over-n92bn-demand-by-union" target="_blank">which amount is correct</a>) but are we sure this is not about some people's
pocket? Especially at a time when the roles of Unions are being contested by
corporations around the world. What is the long term vision for education
in Nigeria? Is there a roadmap? Who are we aspiring to be like in terms of global education
standard? Is there any benchmarking? If UNESCO recommends budgetary allocation of 26% for developing countries and Nigeria is currently on 8%, are we currently working with these international partners to address the issue? Or are we just taking their recommendation without local consideration because experience has shown that policy implementation requires consideration for resultant shocks and effects; a clear example is the oil subsidy clamoured for by World Bank for developing countries. Although the current struggle tries to potray a more critical demand for infrastructure funding for education, how I wish it focuses more on a sustainable long term strategy with both ASUU and the FG drawing a sustainable road map rather than allowance fight alone as it seems now.<br />
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As one writer rightly pointed
out, the worse part of the ongoing impasse is the fact that the strike call-off
date is out of scope with both sides not giving affected students a clear view
of what to do; whether to prepare for a quick call off or go on to take up
"vocational trainings in tailoring, hairdressing, auxiliary nursing,
electronic repairs, shoe making, carpentry etcetera". What has happened to
dialogue and peaceful resolution? No other issue require a no-strike action as
negociation and discussion continues like the current one because young people
are involved, the future generations should be our concerns and not really the
huge amount of money for "infrastructure" that is currently being
clamoured for. I am worried and so are my fellows in the diaspora.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The backlash of these strikes are
already becoming obvious. Every strike means that more young people are on the
street doing nothing. As their graduating age goes over the edge so also rises
the loss in the quality of these young people. And then they move on to the
labour market and they're eventually told they're overaged. These graduates
have no choice but to look for dubious ways to change their age bracket to what
the banks want as most of them clearly indicate the age of potential employers
now. We are talking about skill acquisition and the resultant effect on the
Nigerian economy; about the future of the nation and our collective progress.
Its so sad how we handle this issues. Nigeria is the most populous black
nation, the largest country in Africa and obviously the country with the
largest youths and young adult. The country is once again reminded of the
tremendous potentials to record quick growth by adequately and gainfully
utilizing this strength it has, failure to do so is already spelling disaster
for the country in various parts. we only hope something is done urgently to
reverse these tide; of violence, delinquency, strive and struggle among these
young people. One author describing the situation as "<a href="http://nigeriamasterweb.com/Masterweb/newsreel-august-25-2013-nigerian-universities-and-bastardization-academic-procedures" target="_blank">Bastardisation of Academic Procedure</a>" recalls the consequences of this type of strike action: <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Due to frequent strikes, some idle students gets involved in vices ranging from rape to murder, cultism, drunkenness, drugs,robbery, fraud and when academic activities finally resumes, these behaviorally downgraded students pollutes the already tensed academic environment with their new found vice, fostering cultism and criminal activities on campuses....While the vice ridden campuses constitutes academic nuisance, the activities of lecturers who constantly harass female students with sexual advances is another form of academic bastardization."</blockquote>
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Fastforward to Universities here
in Canada, their key objective is to prepare students for the labour market;
most schools here are not only maintaining this traditional stand, improvement
mechanisms have been put in place right from the on-start allowing for
up-scaling and upgrading when the time is due in future. Going back to what I
learnt from my work experience as a member of learning and teaching assessment
committee (LTAC) and the Quality Committee (QC) in UK it is important to note
that first there must be a critical benchmarking against global best practice.
Its just like saying we're going to destination B from destination A. We need
to evaluate and know the cost of getting to where we're going. What does B have
that we need to have or develop. Its not about being a copycat, its about
knowing and building the critical requirement for the long term. I will be
frank with you, overseas schools know their competition and work very hard to
meet and surpass their standards.<br />
<br />
I remember in one board meeting at my UK University
where I sat as a faculty student representative; we practically scrutinize data
and analysis from potential competitors both locally and internationally and we
developed strategy to retain the best students in the school. At another
meeting we were analysing a report that students put forward for opportunities
for complaints to be made against lecturers they feel is standing against their
progress. Feedback and student participation should be entrenched at every
level of the learning experience. If we go by the good old saying that if
student have not learnt then the teachers have not taught, it will help us get
the point in perspective.<br />
<br />
Quality controls involves all of these and
more. Teachers are responsible for moulding lives, they're like role models
these student see. Especially those in the university, it's a critical time for
adolescents (the millenials as they're now called) and every little encounters
teachers have should be considered pristine in moulding the future of Nigeria.
I strongly believe that Nigeria is at a threshold and I and my team through our
OYESS Initiative will continue to do our best to strengthen education and
learning. We're currently working with a Nigeria university in overhauling
their library and learning material base and trusting that this will inform the
quality of work in the faculty both among student and teachers. We are
assessing current technology available and how they can upgrade little by
little and with available resources so as to meet global standards. It started
with the faculty leaders deciding what they want and where they're going to. I wish every teacher/lecturer see this 7minutes TED video below of Rita Pierson: "Every Kid Needs a Champion" so they can appreciate their roles in shaping the future of young people.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="550"></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
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My stand will continue to remain
a very unpopular one in the current saga, especially to many of those at the
vanguard of these strike action. And this stand is that going on strike, like
previous times, will not lead to sustainable solution to improving the quality
of tertiary education in Nigeria. Strike action is usually an option when it
comes to labour considerations, efficient bargaining systems and wage to
welfare ratio analysis but as far as education in Nigeria is concerned, things
have gone precariously bad that we can't afford to continue to move motions in
similar ways as before. In fact, UNILORIN (<a href="http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/08/23/uniilorin-lecturers-divided-over-decision-to-join-asuu-strike/" target="_blank">which is not part of the current</a>) strike has its ASUU chairman insists that UNILORIN is not part of the ongoing strike because it '"was in a bid to ensure the
educational stability of the institution...strike actions
has brought about a lot of backwardness to the educational development in the
country while" urging the national leadership of ASUU to come out with other
means of fighting for the cause of members instead of incessant strike actions.'<br />
<br />
We really need to look into the issue of Unions as Morgan Spurlock
is already doing with his <a href="http://insideman.blogs.cnn.com/category/unions/" target="_blank">CNN
Inside Man</a> programme. My heart goes to the Nigerian students in general but in particular, the students I had the opportunity to teach and encourage to go all the way irrespective of the increasing challenges they face on their pathway. Many of then don't
know what to do at this present time and wondering when the strike will be called off since it started in July 2nd. My heart also goes to the many parents who have to worry about the future of their children.<br />
<br />
References:<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"ASUU strike as it turns students to artisans - DailyPost Nigeria - DailyPost Nigeria." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">DailyPost Nigeria - Latest Nigerian News | Nigerian Newspapers</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: dailypost.com.ng="" ugochukwu-ugwuanyi-asuu-strike-as-it-turns-students-to-artisans="" wt="3"></http:></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #bfd9ea; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">" University guide 2014: University league table | Education | theguardian.com ." </span><i style="background-color: #bfd9ea; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Latest news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com | The Guardian </i><span style="background-color: #bfd9ea; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: education="" jun="" table="" university-league-table-2014="" www.theguardian.com="">.</http:></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #bfd9ea; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion | Video on TED.com." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">TED: Ideas worth spreading</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <</span><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion.html</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"2013 Top 100 Universities In Nigeria - National Universities Commission - The Herald - The Herald." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Herald - News, Opinion and Analysis for the Knowledge Economy</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: top-100-universities-in-nigeria-national-universities-commission="" utm_source="dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" www.theheraldng.com=""></http:></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"ASUU, others protest against poor education funding — The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper."</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper — Breaking News, information and opinion in Nigeria</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: asuu-others-protest-against-poor-education-funding="" metro="" www.punchng.com="">.</http:></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"ASUP, NANS, COEASU, ASUU Shut Lagos Traffic Down with Massive Street Protest - The Herald - The Herald." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">The Herald - News, Opinion and Analysis for the Knowledge Economy</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: asup-nans-coeasu-asuu-shut-lagos-traffic-down-with-massive-street-protest="" utm_source="dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" www.theheraldng.com="">.</http:></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Inside Man - CNN.com Blogs. (n.d.).</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Inside Man - CNN.com Blogs</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. Retrieved August 26, 2013, from http://insideman.blogs.cnn.com/</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">ASUU Strike: Questioning The Sincerity of ASUU | Masterweb Reports . (n.d.). </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Nigeria Masterweb( Webguide to Nigeria, News, Employment, & More )</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. Retrieved August 26, 2013, from http://nigeriamasterweb.com/Masterweb/newsreel-august-26-2013-asuu-strike-questioning-sincerity-asuu</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Akinboade, Laide, and 24 August 2013. "allAfrica.com: Nigeria: NASS, FG Urge ASUU to Call Off Strike." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">allAfrica.com: Home</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: allafrica.com="" span="" stories=""></http:></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"ASUU faults Okonjo-Iweala over N92bn demand by union - Nigeria News - Codewit World News." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Breaking News Updates & Nigeria Headlines - Codewit World News</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">"NewsReel August 25, 2013 - Nigerian Universities and the Bastardization of Academic Procedures | Masterweb Reports ." </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">Nigeria Masterweb( Webguide to Nigeria, News, Employment, & More )</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http: asterweb="" newsreel-august-25-2013-nigerian-universities-and-bastardization-academic-procedures="" nigeriamasterweb.com=""></http:></span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-383753781721913742013-07-31T19:46:00.000-07:002013-10-29T14:30:54.050-07:00Youths Education, welfare and Personal Development: Empirical Evidences from Nigerian University<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-45445411538485037892013-05-11T03:16:00.000-07:002013-05-12T06:43:29.750-07:00Leading From Within - Video on integral leadership for sustainable development in West Africa-Nigeria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;">As I continue taking on more research works, and my quest to proffer sustainable options for economic development in emerging economies, West Africa and Nigeria in particular, I stumbled on this</span><a href="http://www.onesky.ca/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;" target="_blank">One Sky</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;"> video via </span><a href="http://www.idrc.ca/en/programs/canadian_partnerships/pages/small-grants-one-sky.aspx" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;" target="_blank">IDRC</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;"> partnership programmes. Its a video that looks at leadership for sustainable development from a very different but significant point of view i.e. <b>integral leadership</b>. It found very insightful and I'm sure you will too! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;">T</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;">his 27min video explores One Sky's integral leadership program in South-South Nigeria, entitled </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Leading From Within</b></em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px; text-align: justify;">. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Thirty participants explore issues like HIV/AIDS, climate change, rainforest conservation, governance, widow's rights and youth empowerment in the context of leadership development. The three-year program, involving 30 participants and a dozen facilitators from several different countries, was designed with an integral approach in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, coaching, and program design. The program resulted in seven Breakthrough Initiatives and the formation of the African Integral Development Network. The video may be of particular interest to development practitioners interested in integral theory and psycho-social models of leadership development, however it does not require prior knowledge of the integral model. Includes scenes of village life in Nigeria, including ceremonies with chiefs and traditional songs with women, and also gives the viewer a felt-sense of how the Nigerian leaders in One Sky's program are making sustainable changes throughout the South-East corner of this country. Note to educators: this would be an excellent resource for university, college or even high school students"</span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-81541442686099579492012-12-01T10:48:00.002-08:002012-12-01T10:48:57.924-08:00The Expanding Economic Pie & Grinding Poverty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdBXGyQsfgnEuSJQ47gBA-2_8JmAZmF34sdGCO6WZVu73XxlFQ5FigGMOo7ee2BH7TW3I8ufqqou2tOZ2ml2VDCNBNyHfS6T7RcDyaVv5vvbKE6K5FaT0yrQG5pxFfXVb-Gss70mRYTVB/s1600/IMG_7195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdBXGyQsfgnEuSJQ47gBA-2_8JmAZmF34sdGCO6WZVu73XxlFQ5FigGMOo7ee2BH7TW3I8ufqqou2tOZ2ml2VDCNBNyHfS6T7RcDyaVv5vvbKE6K5FaT0yrQG5pxFfXVb-Gss70mRYTVB/s400/IMG_7195.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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A review of data from the past 200 years indicates not only a huge increase in the world's population, but an even more significant increase in real incomes. This is illustrated using the data series developed by the late Angus Maddison of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that included historic estimates of economic performance by geographical area (nations and other reported geographies) from 1500 to 2000. The Maddison data is expressed in international dollars adjusted for purchasing power, so that the impact of inflation and differing prices is factored out, to the extent feasible. Caution is required, however, because there are difficulties with longer term purchasing power and inflation time-series, not least because technological advances make it nearly impossible to accurately account for the changed standard of living. For example, there were no telephones of any sort in 1820, yet today, <a href="http://www.ncc.gov.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=125:art-statistics-subscriber-data&catid=65:cat-web-statistics&Itemid=73">low-income Nigeria has 143 million mobile phones</a>, nearly 90 for every 100 persons.</div>
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I extended the Maddison data for another 10 years, to 2010, using the database of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and converted all data to 2010 inflation adjusted international dollars.</div>
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<strong>Fast Population Growth and Faster Economic Growth</strong></div>
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Between 1820 and 2010, the world population grew from 1.0 billion to 6.8 billion as indicated in the databases. This 550% increase, however, pales by comparison to the increase in the world real gross domestic product (GDP), which grew nearly 13 times as fast as the population (Figure 1). The relationship between rising urbanization and increasing wealth is evident in comparing Figure 1 to <a href="http://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-halfurban-2.png">Figure 2</a> from the recent feature <em><a href="http://www.newgeography.com/content/003249-what-a-half-urban-world">What is A Half-Urban World</a>. </em> Between 1820 and 1900, the real economic growth rate was 1.5 times of that of population growth. This improved to 2.2 times between 1900 and 1950. In each of these succeeding decades, the economic growth rate relative to population growth was even greater, except in the decade of the 1980s when economic growth was 1.9 times population growth. Despite the economic difficulties, particularly in Japan and the West, 2000 to 2010 showed the largest rate of economic growth compared to population growth, at 3.0.</div>
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<img height="304" src="http://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-pie-1.png" width="400" /></div>
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<strong>GDP Per Capita (Purchasing Power)</strong></div>
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The real GDP per capita data strongly indicates the expanding economic pie. In 1820, the world GDP per capita was approximately $1100, expressed in 2010$, adjusted for purchasing power. By 1900, this had nearly doubled to $2100. The largest gains came after 1950 when the GDP per capita reached $3500. Since that time the GDP per capita has risen to $12,200 (Figure 2).</div>
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<img height="299" src="http://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-pie-2.png" width="400" /></div>
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<strong>A History of Poverty</strong></div>
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Even so, the history of economics is a history of poverty. University of Rochester (NY) Economist <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118134633403829656.html">stated the case this way</a>:</div>
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<em>Modern humans first emerged about 100,000 years ago. For the next 99,800 years or so, nothing happened. Well, not quite nothing. There were wars, political intrigue, the invention of agriculture – but none of that stuff had much effect on the quality of people’s lives. Almost everyone lived on the modern equivalent of $400 to $600 a year, just above the subsistence level.</em></div>
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The $1100 GDP per capita from 1820 would rank among the poorest areas in the world today. The world's richest area at that time was the Netherlands, which had a GDP per capita of $3100. This is more than Nigeria today, with its 143 million mobile phones and nearly as high as the GDP per capita of India.</div>
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<strong>Distribution of Income</strong></div>
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Today, the large majority of the world's population lives in lower income areas. </div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">16% of the population lives in areas with a GDP per capita of less than $2500. The largest of these are Bangladesh and Tanzania.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">29% of the world's population is in areas with a GDP per capita of $2500 to $5000. The largest are India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and the Philippines.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">26% live in low middle income areas with a GDP per capita of between $5000 and $10,000, such as China and Ukraine. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">14% live higher middle income areas (a per capita GDP of $10,000 to $20,000). The largest such areas are Brazil, Mexico and Russia.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">10% of the population lives in relatively well off areas (a GDP per capita of $20,000 to $40,000) including France, the United Kingdom, Korea and Japan. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Only 5% of the world's population enjoys a GDP per capita exceeding $40,000, the largest of which are the United States, Germany, Canada and Australia. (Figure 3).</span></li>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><img height="314" src="http://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-pie-3.png" width="400" /></div>
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<strong>The Richest Areas</strong></div>
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The very richest countries in the world on a per capita basis are generally small. Oil rich Qatar has the highest GDP per capita at nearly $100,000 annually. Europe's Luxemburg is the second most affluent, followed by the city-state of Singapore. Resource rich Brunei-Darassalam is the world's fifth richest area. The United States ranks sixth and is by far the largest of the richest areas. More than 55% of the world's population in areas with more than $40,000 GDP per capita lives in the United States. The balance of the richest 10 is completed by the United Arab Emirates, another oil rich Gulf state, the world's other large city-state, Hong Kong, as well as the Netherlands and Switzerland in Europe (Figure 4).</div>
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Generally, IMF data indicates that the largest high-income world economies have experienced real GDP per capita growth of from 40% to 80% since 1980. The UK has grown the most among the examples, while Italy has grown the least (Figure 5). Germany's lower growth rate is, at least in part, due to the complexity of combining virtually bankrupt East Germany with far healthier West Germany in the early 1990s. The US has been hobbled by its housing bubble-induced economic bust, which hurt other economies as well. Canada's recent stronger growth could presage an improved ranking in the years to come. Other areas, such Italy, Spain, Japan and France could experience slower growth in the future, due to the seemingly intractable fiscal difficulties and, in some cases, demographic stagnation or even decline.</div>
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<strong>Who’s Growing Rich Fastest?</strong></div>
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A number of countries have experienced spectacular growth in their GDP per capita over the past three decades, according to the IMF data (Figure 6). Oil rich Equatorial Guinea experienced the greatest growth, reaching a GDP per capita more than 16 times the 1980s figure. Equatorial Guinea is small, with a population of only 700,000 people (similar to the size of metropolitan areas such as Colorado Springs, Colorado, Hamilton, Ontario or Florence, Italy).</div>
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The broadest and most significant progress has been made by China. According to the IMF data, in 1980 China had the second lowest GDP per capita of any reporting area, ranking above only Mozambique. This was approximately the same time that the economic reforms began, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. By 2010, China's GDP per capita had reached more than 12 times the 1980 figure. China's gross GDP-PPP grew more than that of any other area. Once on the low end of the poverty league table China now has entered the middle rank in terms of wealth.</div>
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Other areas have also done well, especially in Asia. The largest of these include Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. One African area is included among the fastest growing per capita economies, Botswana (Figure 6). Each of these areas grew from four to five times in GDP per capita from 1980.</div>
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<strong>The Poorest Areas</strong></div>
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All 10 of the world's poorest areas are located in Africa. The poorest is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a GDP per capita of less than $400. Torn by <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/24/congo-leaders-advance.html">civil war</a> its GDP per capita would rank it among the poorest areas even in the 1820 listing. The four next poorest areas have also faced severe domestic disruptions, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Eritrea (Figure 7). </div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><img height="299" src="http://www.newgeography.com/files/cox-pie-7.png" width="400" /></div>
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<strong>Some Areas Getting Poorer</strong></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7952158034303461154" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>The severity of the world's poverty is indicated by the fact that 26 of the 138 areas for which there is data experienced declines in their GDPs per capita from 1980. The population of these declining areas was about 300 million, or approximately four percent of the world’s total. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the world's poorest area, experienced a 60% decline in real GDP per capita, which was the largest decline. </div>
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<strong>Conclusion</strong></div>
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While the economic pie has expanded much faster than its population, there is still plenty of poverty in the world. It is no surprise that the developing world focused the attention of the recent 2012 Rio +20 conference on poverty, with a declaration that <em><a href="http://www.uncsd2012.org/content/documents/727The%20Future%20We%20Want%2019%20June%201230pm.pdf">eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today.</a></em></div>
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<em>Photo: Ojota, Lagos, Nigeria (by Seun Oyeniran)</em></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Reposted with permission. Originally posted on <span style="text-align: left;">http://www.newgeography.com </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">by </span><a href="http://www.newgeography.com/users/wendell-cox" style="background-color: white; text-align: left; text-decoration: initial;" title="View user profile.">Wendell Cox</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"> 11/29/2012</span></span></i><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wendell Cox is a Visiting Professor, Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris and the author of “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0595399487?ie=UTF8&tag=newgeogrcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0595399487">War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life</a>.”</span></em><br />
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-4165825778468953612012-11-13T09:25:00.001-08:002013-05-12T07:01:26.900-07:00Global Gender Gap Index<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Global Gender Gap Report 2012</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> benchmarks national gender gaps of 135 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. The Global Gender Gap Index was developed in 2006, partially to address the need for a consistent and comprehensive measure of gender equality that can track a country’s progress over time. The index points to potential role models by revealing those countries that – within their region or income group – are leaders in dividing resources more equitably between women and men than other countries, regardless of the overall level of resources available.</span></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DIv63UbYFUk" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" width="550"></iframe><br />
<i style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">The Global Gender Gap Report 2012</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"> emphasizes persisting gender gap divides across and within regions. Based on the seven years of data available for the 111 countries that have been part of the report since its inception, it finds that the majority of countries covered have made slow progress on closing gender gaps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year’s findings show that Iceland tops the overall rankings in The Global Gender Gap Index for the fourth consecutive year. Finland ranks in second position, overtaking Norway (third). Sweden remains in fourth position. Northern European countries dominate the top 10 with Ireland in the fifth position, Denmark (seventh) and Switzerland (10th). New Zealand (sixth), Philippines (eighth) and Nicaragua (ninth) complete the top 10.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The index continues to track the strong correlation between a country’s gender gap and its national competitiveness. Because women account for one-half of a country’s potential talent base, a nation’s competitiveness in the long term depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its women. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Download the full Global Gender Gap Report (PDF) <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2012.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> or Country Gender Gap Highlights <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR12/MainChapter_GGGR12.pdf" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The full web page to this blogpost can also be found <a href="http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-gender-gap?utm_source=gendermap&utm_medium=map&utm_campaign=Gender%2BMap" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7952158034303461154.post-83547374624509970772012-11-07T00:00:00.000-08:002012-11-06T22:05:04.581-08:00My Country, My Heart and My Prayers on My Birthday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seun Oyeniran</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Its been about 11months since I wrote on this blog and its about the same time since I deactivated my Facebook page. Facebook is extremely useful to me so I miss being there a lot and I miss writing on my blog too. However the 11months break was useful because it provided me ample opportunity to look into various other issue beckoning for my attention especially since I returned to Nigeria after my MSc degree in UK (so I didn't regret the social media break at all and I may go on a few more breaks before coming on back finally soon ;). </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today is my birthday and I'm reviewing and evaluating how I've spent my 28years in life. Reviewing, yes, but thinking more - becoming more less asleep - and out of my very busy schedule I decide to make some time to scribble out these few lines; first to connect back with all of you my friends; to tell you that I'm well; and to share my heart on various issues that remain pressing since I returned back to my dear country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Among the thousand and one issues ravaging my mind right now, my dear country, Nigeria, happens to be top on the list. Not only because I am a Nigerian, but because from my little travel across continents, I have come to see and appreciate how beautiful Nigeria is. Through these same trips, my heart has also been remarkably </span>enlightened<span style="font-family: inherit;"> by the challenges we continue to face as a Nation. This is the core of my burden. I increasingly find it hard to understand how Nigeria's issues have become so terrible. I keep wondering how a country termed by a </span><a href="http://www.wingia.com/en/news/WIN-Gallup-International-%E2%80%98Religiosity-and-Atheism-Index%E2%80%99-reveals-atheists-are-a-small-minority-in-the-early-years-of-21st-century/14/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">WIN-Gallup poll</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> as the second most religious country in the World with 93% of the people tagging themselves as believers (second to Ghana at 96%) continue to rank high in corruption and her people continue to witnesses increasing poverty levels like that which has never been seen before. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVEw9juHgLLBdE2vTI2q47xnN7hwxUzzWWiUsn7WzrtO8_SVKDiJmmAgTe_rL0av3Q2SCojjCfHgJBfJt6W6Em-sFICOqFUmwRSmFYhx4nSGhuhBtmkEorf45HxwblrM_nBgUH1OgPyZb/s1600/Nigeria's+Corruption+Profile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVEw9juHgLLBdE2vTI2q47xnN7hwxUzzWWiUsn7WzrtO8_SVKDiJmmAgTe_rL0av3Q2SCojjCfHgJBfJt6W6Em-sFICOqFUmwRSmFYhx4nSGhuhBtmkEorf45HxwblrM_nBgUH1OgPyZb/s400/Nigeria's+Corruption+Profile.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Source: </i>http://www.transparency.org/country#NGA</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My heart is worried that while many countries transformed the lots of their people, lifting them out of penury through the discovery of oil, this same process has resulted in worse condition for our people. </span>Gelb (1988) in Ismail (2010) IMF working paper WP/10/103 finds that Ecuador, Iran, Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago went through the Dutch disease, mainly due to a decline in Agriculture, over the first and second oil booms of 1972–81, while Algeria, Indonesia and Venezuela went through a strengthening of their non-oil tradables. Oil will continue to be a problem for Nigeria because the volatility of the supply-price nexus of the commodity in the international market that will continue to result in volatility and instability as Nigeria's economic indices and revenue generation is strongly connected to the export of oil. The need to focus not only on agriculture (through the agricultural transformation agenda), but also on other sectors such as manufacturing and services is now more important in a modern economy where every country has to maximize its comparative advantage in our globalizing world. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Even the reforms that worked for countries like China has hit gridlock in Nigeria; our corrupt and ignorant nature being one of the major hinderances. While the Investment Climate and Enterprise Survey carried out by World Bank puts Nigeria in an in-between condition of hope with many underlying issues to be addressed and several reports testifying Nigeria's growth (in fact IMF 2011 Regional Annex estimates 7.4% growth for 2010), yet youth unemployment and lack of jobs sinks down this hope as it public and private sectors are greeted by a demographic progression that continues to elude the knowledge frame of those in positions of authority. Lack of key knowledge of Nigeria's demographic dynamics continue to manifest itself across various policy making institutions across the nation. For example, it has already been established that the causes of instability in certain states such as Nigeria is youth 'bulginess'. A British Council Next Generation report captures this quiet clearly pointing out the downside of not reaping the </span>demographic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> dividend. </span>The World Bank, in its "Doing Business Survey" that aims specifically to measure and track changes in regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a business identified that for starting a business, Nigeria ranked 119 (out of 185); dealing with construction permits, 88; getting electricity, 178; registering property, 182; getting credit, 23; protecting investor, 70; paying taxes, 155; trading across borders, 154; enforcing contracts, 98; and resolving insolvency, 105. Access to finance and infrastructure, especially power continue to cripple young, fledgling businesses and entrepreneurial capacities of Nigerian people.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYOIYsWF2o-NmGtCnWR3WE5gRsmuVZZZfDZ6CWTq_4fSQMkL4RTVG_oEew9UiU4LS97nFM2kqGtZFBn_Ql02fEzHVS8dntNg2TFLWvfmHvTrUtGy31BB2lESvvNHW8h8yh8MJTitDQe8d/s1600/Nigeria%2527s+Profile+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYOIYsWF2o-NmGtCnWR3WE5gRsmuVZZZfDZ6CWTq_4fSQMkL4RTVG_oEew9UiU4LS97nFM2kqGtZFBn_Ql02fEzHVS8dntNg2TFLWvfmHvTrUtGy31BB2lESvvNHW8h8yh8MJTitDQe8d/s320/Nigeria%2527s+Profile+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The ongoing issues in the Niger Delta are equally complex. The problems are clearly too big to handle by one company alone, or even by a consortium of companies. The environmental issues should be addressed with structured programmes implemented to eliminate the major gas flaring that has been part of the history of oil development in the delta region. Among other things, the success of the massive investments in gas liquefaction projects - the largest investments in Africa needs to be sustained. But the problems of revenue allocation and distribution, questions of law and order, the construction of infrastructure and the tensions between different ethnic groups in relation to electoral and local government areas need proper regional planning and local and national government intervention; probably through the NDDC.</div>
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How much can I say about the many burning issues in my heart as I continue to watch with utter dismay as our country continue to witness more bomb blasts. A situation that seems like an insurgency in 2009 in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri with rudimentary bombs and drive-by shootings; men on motorbikes targeted police and clergy has rapidly evolved, with suicide-bombing hitting among other notable places, the UN headquarters in Abuja, the capital, last August, killing 25 people. Suicide-bombings, barely known in west Africa until last year, are now the most potent weapon in many militia's arsenal. Same time last year November 2011 more <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21558593" target="_blank">than 100 people were killed in such bombings</a> as well as in gun attacks. The effect of the <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/08/nigeria/print" target="_blank">insecurity in the country is becoming increasingly pronounced so much so that, even Transcorp Hilton</a>, where in recent years getting a bed there has often been difficult at almost any price because doing business in Africa's most populous country was impossible without setting foot in one of the seven restaurants and bars nestled away in the hotel's two decade-old, concrete hull is witnessing major occupancy decline as as foreign companies have taken their business to Lagos, the commercial capital, and kidnap-prone Port Harcourt in the south. International airlines, who were long among the Hilton's best clients, no longer dare to keep crews in Abuja; British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France now either fly there and back with two crews on board, or have their flight attendants stay in Lagos or Accra, Ghana's capital.</div>
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But I know deep within me that a change will come, time will turn for Nigeria. Our MIFFS (<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21561878/print" target="_blank">middle-income fragile or failed states) profile</a> will change. We will continue to keep close watch with how the $75 per barrel benchmarks feeds into the entire budgetary and allocation system. We will keep our contacts on how the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) launched in May this year will impact the lives of all Nigerians. We will progressively monitor the SURE-P policy and match their comments and reports with impacts on education and infrastructure and the lives of ordinary people. We will keep up with evidence based policy initiatives through our research and work very hard to see to their appropriate implementation. We will keep our gaze on the demographic transition our country is witnessing and keep hoping it tilts to produce dividends rather than disaster. We need to move away from ethnic lines and connect with one another in sincere honest ways. Development indicators must start to favour us as a nation. And should I break this down further by adding that we need to develop a learning culture, rather than a copying culture. Our growth will remain unsustainable as long as we fail to understand what the key ingredients of nation building is all about. The patience to learn processes and procedures and the intent to follow due process should improve. We need to develop the capacity to be slow to talk but more to listen and learn. We need to check how things are been done and develop the capacity to learn. Someone recently retorted: "what do we have to learn about the hurricane Sandy and the elections both taking place in the US?" A question I think requires a urgent response. Economic theories and principle may work elsewhere but we need to understand our Nigerian context and develop strategies to implement growth initiatives that will bring about emancipation for all Nigerian people.</div>
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The family units in Nigeria must continue to work harder because it still remains the fundamental institution where values are imparted. And I strongly believe this unit is still the only tool for transforming our nation as more empirical evidences are emerging that shows us that we can tackle both the economic outcomes of the young people as well as reduce poverty tremendously if we continue to sustain good family life (Aleshina and Giuliano, 2010; Krishnan, 1996; Lam and Schoeni, 1993). <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2012/08/fertility-decline-demographic-dividend-poverty-and-inequality" target="_blank">The Economist recently reported</a> that Quamrul Ashraf, David Weil and Joshua Wilde estimated that a decrease in Nigeria’s fertility rate by one child per woman would boost GDP per head by 13% over 20 years, with almost all the gains coming from the “dependency effect” of there being fewer children to look after.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHS4srpz2eMrOjF91-5M_rrLiSx-XTd4sAi2WIedoISV27u2NSlYR64hP8APBczy6kpRGPyaVaWL9ogyRmFrTH6x3lRu285yTIWb-Teg2EdkYSx7WSh2vzKmSNCu1jV-3Y-qafEXksPO8p/s1600/IMG_8064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHS4srpz2eMrOjF91-5M_rrLiSx-XTd4sAi2WIedoISV27u2NSlYR64hP8APBczy6kpRGPyaVaWL9ogyRmFrTH6x3lRu285yTIWb-Teg2EdkYSx7WSh2vzKmSNCu1jV-3Y-qafEXksPO8p/s320/IMG_8064.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I see Hope in these Primary School Students<br />
I'm Currently working on a Library Project for them</td></tr>
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We must continue to show indomitable courage and resilience despite our many challenges. We must continue to seek knowledge. Our reading culture also needs to improve. I particularly recommend these two books I just finished reading: <i><a href="http://sonofhamas.com/" target="_blank">Son of Hamas</a> </i>and <a href="http://www.johnperkins.org/books/" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Confession of an Economic Hitman</a>; which both shed light on fundamental issues affecting our nation but with deep spiritual inclination. Our Church model needs an overhaul, we are doing more gathering and less of shinning as our master commands us. Yes Nigeria is the second most religious, but its more than religion. We must shine; in the dark places, not in the already 'lighted' places. We must pray, not for our needs alone, but for a healing for our nation. As I continue to discuss with top academics and scholars about our many issues in Nigeria, trying to gather points of solution and to chart a way forward for our country, many of them propose bloodshed and killings. But I refuse to agree with them. I have come today to re-affirm that prayers can work and it will work for Nigeria. Its a call to prayer and it starts with me, you and everyone of us. Its a sober time for us all that requires our heart to be open to our creator.</div>
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I can't end without saying how grateful I am to God the Father, Jesus his son and the Holy Spirit my teacher, comforter and closest companion. And to my very own, Channon, I love you so very much. Very many thanks to family, friends and associates and networks. I'm now even more convinced that God has a lot to do with us than ever before. Lets keep on with the master.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">References</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">AfDB
, OECD , UNDP and UNECA (2012) : "African
Economic Outlook 2012: Promoting Youth Employment", African Economic
Outlook.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Where will the world’s poor live? Global poverty projections for 2020 and 2030 (http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/InFocus26-Final2.pdf) ". Institute of Development Studies "Where do the world’s poor live? A new update (http://www.ids.ac.uk/idspublication/where-do-the-world-s-poor-live-a-new-update) ". By Andrew Sumner. Institute of Development Studies</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Horizon 2025 (http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/7723.pdf) ". By Homi Kharas and Andrew Rogerson. Overseas Development Institute </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">British Council and Harvard School of Public Health Nigeria </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Next Generation </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Report</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: x-small;">Alesina A. and P. Giuliano (2010), The power
of the family<i>, </i></span><i style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">J Econ
Growth</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: x-small;"> 15:93–125</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Krishnan,
Pramila (1996) : "Family Background, Education and Employment
in Urban Ethiopia", Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 58,
167-183.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lam, D. and Schoeni, R. F. (1993). 'Effects
of Family Background on Earnings and Returns to Schooling: Evidence from
Brazil', Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 101, No. 4, pp. 711-37.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">WIN-Gallup International, Global Index Of Religiosity And Atheism (2012), available <</span><a href="http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf" style="font-size: small;">http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf</a><span style="font-size: x-small;">></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">, accessed 6/11/2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Alan Gelb and associates, Oil Windfalls: Blessing or Curse? (Oxford University Press, for the World Bank, New York, etc.. 1988) pp. 357.</span></div>
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<span id="PublicationAuthorsRepeat" style="font-size: x-small;">Bello, Steven Tairu </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span id="PublicationYearsRepeat" style="font-size: x-small;">(2005) : </span><span id="PublicationTitlesRepeat" style="font-size: x-small;">"A Comparative Analysis of Chinese-Nigerian Economic Reforms and Development Experiences"</span><span id="JournalNameRepeat" style="font-size: x-small;">, <i>China and World Economy</i></span><span id="PublicationVolumeNumberRepeat" style="font-size: x-small;">, 13</span><span id="PublicationPagesRepeat" style="font-size: x-small;">, 114-121</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Downie, R., and Cooke J.G., (2011),’ Assessing Risk and Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Africa Programme (June)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">World Development Report 2013</span></div>
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Seun Oyeniranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16545468707848347926noreply@blogger.com2