My good friend, Anne Griffin sent me a link to this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal - A Continent of New Consumers Beckons. She wanted my opinion on the article and if I felt it was an accurate depiction of the continent. I'll start with a caveat - any article that generalizes the experiences of individual African countries and regions for the sake of expediency or due to ignorance of the many fissures (geographic, tribal and social) within the African continent is suspect. However, since that's the context in which the article was written, I crave the reader's indulgence in the generality of my response and analysis of the article. It's a good article, and factual. There's no doubt that the middle class of Africa (as a whole) is beginning to "take off" and exert some influence in the global market, especially where it concerns consumer goods. I believe the mobile phone market in Africa is bigger than that of the Indian subcontinent, for example - or very comparable. Considering where the continent was 10 years ago, that's nothing short of a miracle. Highlighting this surprising statistic is that the poorest of the poor in India or Pakistan hardly posseses a mobile phone, while his/her counterpart in subSaharan Africa has at least one...ironic, but we'll get to that. In addition, there's a high demand for personal totems of status - cars, designer clothing, latest handheld devices, etc as material possessions are often seen as the only indicator of wealth in traditional African societies. The article also highlights some of the issues that can/will prevent explosive growth - corruption, lack of social services, poor (albeit improved from before) government, etc. Therein lies my problem with the otherwise well-documented piece - not enough attention was paid to this non-consumeric aspect. I'm of the school that believes that the African middle-class, despite what African governments and economists would have us believe, is nothing but a phantom idea. There can be no sustainable middle class, nor can it become a major player in the global economy, until some of those base (read, social) issues are addressed. Across the continent (and certainly in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana), there are many people who would rather have enough credit to finance their phone bill than eat 3 square meals a day. This is where the gray area comes in to play - how many people know that the fancy clothes, fancy phone and fancy car are masking someone who can only afford to eat 1 or 2 square meals daily? In the eyes of the world, and because this individual partakes in economic activities, s/he is middle class. It's more complex than that. In basic economics, a middle class inidividual/family is defined as one that after paying for all their needs, has some extra money to take care of a few wants. In terms of disposable income, there isn't much - even among African professionals who are gainfully employed.
The article also seems focused on the urban centers of the countries it mentions, not realizing that the continent only has a 30% (at most) urban population. In addition, even in major cities, only a very small percentage of the population (about 5% in Nigeria; slightly more in countries like Ghana and Kenya; less in Francophone Africa) has a relatively high quality of life (i.e. one that could qualify at least as "lower middle class" in Western countries). Who is measuring the economic indices of the 70% who don't have any functional means of livelihood, given that the main economic thrusts of rural areas - farming, herding, fishing and resource exploitation - are either in decline or don't provide many benefits for their host population? Of course, economies like those of Botswana and South Africa are some exceptions to the rule - and again we run into the problem of generalizing African problems and successes, but even these countries aren't anywhere close to the BRIC nations.
Lastly, the article doesn't mention the gross lack of basic infrastructure, the dying - or dead - manufacturing/agricultural base, the increasingly worse security situation (likely liked to high unemployment) and the over-dependence on diminishing natural resources (with a resultant lack of economic diversification). In other words, the very things that could curb the future growth they are projecting. That being said, it's hard to go against the article seeing as it is a WSJ piece. From the standpoint of attracting investors to the continent and exposing the potential for consumer-based growth, it is on point. I just worry that this sort of focus could result in another spate of unsustainable growth without any solid, conservative foundations to fall back on in lean times (social security, taxation, infrastructure development, healthcare, etc) and let's face it, investors only care about those things when they aren't making money - at which point they split town! The type of investors African countries need are those who are willing to be social, not just financial entrepreneurs. Investors who are willing to refuse giving a bribe at the risk of losing a contract, because they know that they are laying a foundation for the total growth of their countries of interest, not just boosting the foreign exchange kitty for local, state and federal governments to share among themselves. It's why I've often advocated for investors to have historical or direct links to the continent, because only then can true ownership be implemented. If anything, I feel this article is a wake-up call to African and diasporic Africans (both those who left the continent willingly within the last few decades and those who were forced to leave a few centuries ago) to invest in the continent and take ownership of OUR opportunities. Otherwise, the vultures will come in to feed (as they have in the past and as they continue to do) and we'll be singing the same old song when this new - and potentially great - economic wave has passed.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Death of Debate and Discussion
I've decided to put a pause on my usual haranguing of the Nigerian system (and yes, the Black World Order in general) and focus on topical questions - still in my areas of focus such as human/economic development, renewable energy, political/social reform - that can encourage debate and constructive discussion. The one thing that I continually decry in the black community is the slow death of the debate.
This is something I've observed with my friends both in North America and Africa, as well as with the black communities in North America and countries in Africa. Oh, we meet and we talk, but usually we're shouting over one another and most importantly, we aren't listening to other people's points of view and discussing them in a non-threatening while still critical manner. For our societies to take full advantage of the diversity of thought, energy and drive of the young black professional, these are attributes that we must imbibe and display. If nothing else, we can be an example to those generations who've gone ahead of us.
To those who deride debate and discussion as a "waste of time", choosing instead to follow their "action-packed plans", I say to you - action is important and will be part of the overall educational, social and economic emancipation of the black race (be it in Africa, the Caribbean or North America). However, just as the pen is mightier than the sword, so are debate and discussion over rabid action, which is usually designed to do no more than draw attention to a cause. Where debate and discussion fail is when the true aim of a movement is compromised and subsumed for the sake of an individual or group's selfish interest. In the race for economic and social development in Africa, many technocrats abandoned their ideals and people-oriented plans when presented with fat contracts and juicy appointments. In the race for the social and economic advancement of African-Americans, many community leaders abandoned the needs of their constituents for political offers and distinguished posts - most of which came with the price of silence in the face of economic inequality and social injustice. In the Caribbean, the story wasn't much different.
Far be it from me to suggest that we don't play our roles in nation-building and equipping future generations of people of African descent to take their rightful place in the global polity - I just urge that we continue to debate and discuss the issues that will enable us to achieve the real aims, dreams and hopes of all our kith and kin rather than relying solely on the crumbs handed down from the elite whose interests - at best - are to maintain the status quo.
This is something I've observed with my friends both in North America and Africa, as well as with the black communities in North America and countries in Africa. Oh, we meet and we talk, but usually we're shouting over one another and most importantly, we aren't listening to other people's points of view and discussing them in a non-threatening while still critical manner. For our societies to take full advantage of the diversity of thought, energy and drive of the young black professional, these are attributes that we must imbibe and display. If nothing else, we can be an example to those generations who've gone ahead of us.
To those who deride debate and discussion as a "waste of time", choosing instead to follow their "action-packed plans", I say to you - action is important and will be part of the overall educational, social and economic emancipation of the black race (be it in Africa, the Caribbean or North America). However, just as the pen is mightier than the sword, so are debate and discussion over rabid action, which is usually designed to do no more than draw attention to a cause. Where debate and discussion fail is when the true aim of a movement is compromised and subsumed for the sake of an individual or group's selfish interest. In the race for economic and social development in Africa, many technocrats abandoned their ideals and people-oriented plans when presented with fat contracts and juicy appointments. In the race for the social and economic advancement of African-Americans, many community leaders abandoned the needs of their constituents for political offers and distinguished posts - most of which came with the price of silence in the face of economic inequality and social injustice. In the Caribbean, the story wasn't much different.
Far be it from me to suggest that we don't play our roles in nation-building and equipping future generations of people of African descent to take their rightful place in the global polity - I just urge that we continue to debate and discuss the issues that will enable us to achieve the real aims, dreams and hopes of all our kith and kin rather than relying solely on the crumbs handed down from the elite whose interests - at best - are to maintain the status quo.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Should Singular Black (i.e. African) Achievements Be Celebrated?
This morning I received an e-mail which a close friend forwarded to me. I'm guessing she expected me to react positively and with joy. Unfortunately, I found it hard to - not because I didn't celebrate the achievements of the African-American man described in the e-mail, but because I questioned the raison d'etre of the e-mail. I've replicated the e-mail below along with my response...
E-mail Text
" America's High Tech "Invisible Man"
By Tyrone D. Taborn
You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.
See, Dr. Mark Dean is a Ph.D. from Stanford University . He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. And, Dr. Mark Dean is an African American.
So how is it that we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer without reading or hearing a single word about him? Given all of the pressure mass media are under about negative portrayals of African Americans on television and in print, you would think it would be a slam dunk to highlight someone like Dr. Dean.
Somehow, though, we have managed to miss the shot. History is cruel when it comes to telling the stories of African-Americans. Dr. Dean isn't the first Black inventor to be overlooked Consider John Stanard, inventor of the refrigerator, George Sampson, creator of the clothes dryer, Alexander Miles and his elevator, Lewis Latimer and the electric lamp.
All of these inventors share two things:
One, they changed the landscape of our society; and, two, society relegated them to the footnotes of history. Hopefully, Dr. Mark Dean won't go away as quietly as they did. He certainly shouldn't. Dr. Dean helped start a Digital Revolution that created people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell Computer's Michael Dell. Millions of jobs in information technology can be traced back directly to Dr. Dean. More important, stories like Dr. Mark Dean's should serve as inspiration for African-American children. Already victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, young, Black kids might embrace technology with more enthusiasm if they knew someone like Dr. Dean already was leading the way.
Although technically Dr.. Dean can't be credited with creating the computer -- that is left to Alan Turing, a pioneering 20th-century English mathematician, widely considered to be the father of modern computer science -- Dr. Dean rightly deserves to take a bow for the machine we use today. The computer really wasn't practical for home or small business use until he came along, leading a team that developed the interior architecture (ISA systems bus) that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers.
In other words, because of Dr. Dean, the PC became a part of our daily lives . For most of us, changing the face of society would have been enough. But not for Dr. Dean.. Still in his early forties, he has a lot of inventing left in him. He recently made history again by leading the design team responsible for creating the first 1-gigahertz processor chip.. It's just another huge step in making computers faster and smaller. As the world congratulates itself for the new Digital Age brought on by the personal computer, we need to guarantee that the African-American story is part of the hoopla surrounding the most stunning technological advance the world has ever seen.. We cannot afford to let Dr. Mark Dean become a footnote in history. He is well worth his own history book.
My Response
I think that his achievements are amazing, but...why do we always seek out and over-promote black folks who are doing well? Doesn't this make it more obvious that there are many who aren't?
Instead of wondering why he hasn't been given all the "recognition" we feel he's due, why don't we wonder why there aren't more like him?
:-)
My Friend's Response to Me
:) simple- if we don't then who will? And that directly impacts how many people like him we generate.
Fact: growing up in a society where most people in positions of power and/or success do not look like you limits an individual's idea of what/who they can be.
This is mitigated by strong families & home life. Unfortunately - those are no longer as prevalent for black children. If we don't tell our own stories we allow society to dictate what is told to our children and who their heroes should be.
That in turn impacts the number that can be more like Dr.Dean.
***********************************************************************************
This is a discussion that I think is worth having, especially in the African community in the diaspora (African-Americans, African-Canadians, Caribbean Americans/Canadians, Afro-Britons, etc) because it may very well contain the key to changing (for the better) the way we view education and success. For too long, the "black" community has chosen to use one-off role models to show the way to the youth when all else fails. I don't believe it's working, so a change in how we seek to motivate our future generations may be overdue.
Now, I don't deny the achievements of Mr. Dean and both the author of the piece on Mr. Dean and my friend made some valid points. I took exception to two things in my friend's response:
- the notion that kids growing up need to see someone LIKE THEMSELVES in a position of power or influence or prestige for them to desire it
- papering over the influence of the family and working around that situation instead of through it.
Why? Because I think that's the ultimate cop-out for most black people.
What about the generations of poor rural kids from countries in Africa (using Nigeria as an example) in the 1930s to 1960s who were motivated to excel academically and became world-renowned engineers, doctors and scientists with qualifications from schools like Oxford and MIT? Others were architects of movements to end colonialism and became the founding fathers of their countries. Growing up, I can guarantee that they didn't even hear about (much less see) people like themselves, i.e. African/black, who were at the heights they eventually reached.
Bottom line - A child's success, especially in academics with the mental rigor involved therein, is MOSTLY about the emphasis placed on education by the people in that child's life - family, teachers, friends, etc.
Showcasing those who have achieved is all well and good and may have a minimal effect, but maybe I didn't like the way it came across in the email (despite all he's done, he hasn't been properly recognized, etc). That "whining" almost obscured the true genius of the man and does him a disservice. I'm sure his intent when coming up with those patents was largely for the intellectual gratification he received and not a yearning over global acclaim. What about his fellow inventors - it's not exactly as if we know all the Caucasian or Asian ones!
If I was a young kid who was inclined NOT to go to school and I read that email, I'd probably come away thinking that it WASN'T worth it to go through all that schooling only to end up without the acclaim I thought I deserved.
As long as we continue to over-celebrate the achievements of intellectuals of African descent, we'll continue to expose the stark reality - that there simply aren't enough of them to go around. Let's refocus our energies on ensuring that our youth have the knowledge and tools to become the intellectuals of tomorrow...and it starts with the family unit - we can't run away from that!
E-mail Text
" America's High Tech "Invisible Man"
By Tyrone D. Taborn
You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.
See, Dr. Mark Dean is a Ph.D. from Stanford University . He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. And, Dr. Mark Dean is an African American.
So how is it that we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer without reading or hearing a single word about him? Given all of the pressure mass media are under about negative portrayals of African Americans on television and in print, you would think it would be a slam dunk to highlight someone like Dr. Dean.
Somehow, though, we have managed to miss the shot. History is cruel when it comes to telling the stories of African-Americans. Dr. Dean isn't the first Black inventor to be overlooked Consider John Stanard, inventor of the refrigerator, George Sampson, creator of the clothes dryer, Alexander Miles and his elevator, Lewis Latimer and the electric lamp.
All of these inventors share two things:
One, they changed the landscape of our society; and, two, society relegated them to the footnotes of history. Hopefully, Dr. Mark Dean won't go away as quietly as they did. He certainly shouldn't. Dr. Dean helped start a Digital Revolution that created people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell Computer's Michael Dell. Millions of jobs in information technology can be traced back directly to Dr. Dean. More important, stories like Dr. Mark Dean's should serve as inspiration for African-American children. Already victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, young, Black kids might embrace technology with more enthusiasm if they knew someone like Dr. Dean already was leading the way.
Although technically Dr.. Dean can't be credited with creating the computer -- that is left to Alan Turing, a pioneering 20th-century English mathematician, widely considered to be the father of modern computer science -- Dr. Dean rightly deserves to take a bow for the machine we use today. The computer really wasn't practical for home or small business use until he came along, leading a team that developed the interior architecture (ISA systems bus) that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers.
In other words, because of Dr. Dean, the PC became a part of our daily lives . For most of us, changing the face of society would have been enough. But not for Dr. Dean.. Still in his early forties, he has a lot of inventing left in him. He recently made history again by leading the design team responsible for creating the first 1-gigahertz processor chip.. It's just another huge step in making computers faster and smaller. As the world congratulates itself for the new Digital Age brought on by the personal computer, we need to guarantee that the African-American story is part of the hoopla surrounding the most stunning technological advance the world has ever seen.. We cannot afford to let Dr. Mark Dean become a footnote in history. He is well worth his own history book.
My Response
I think that his achievements are amazing, but...why do we always seek out and over-promote black folks who are doing well? Doesn't this make it more obvious that there are many who aren't?
Instead of wondering why he hasn't been given all the "recognition" we feel he's due, why don't we wonder why there aren't more like him?
:-)
My Friend's Response to Me
:) simple- if we don't then who will? And that directly impacts how many people like him we generate.
Fact: growing up in a society where most people in positions of power and/or success do not look like you limits an individual's idea of what/who they can be.
This is mitigated by strong families & home life. Unfortunately - those are no longer as prevalent for black children. If we don't tell our own stories we allow society to dictate what is told to our children and who their heroes should be.
That in turn impacts the number that can be more like Dr.Dean.
***********************************************************************************
This is a discussion that I think is worth having, especially in the African community in the diaspora (African-Americans, African-Canadians, Caribbean Americans/Canadians, Afro-Britons, etc) because it may very well contain the key to changing (for the better) the way we view education and success. For too long, the "black" community has chosen to use one-off role models to show the way to the youth when all else fails. I don't believe it's working, so a change in how we seek to motivate our future generations may be overdue.
Now, I don't deny the achievements of Mr. Dean and both the author of the piece on Mr. Dean and my friend made some valid points. I took exception to two things in my friend's response:
- the notion that kids growing up need to see someone LIKE THEMSELVES in a position of power or influence or prestige for them to desire it
- papering over the influence of the family and working around that situation instead of through it.
Why? Because I think that's the ultimate cop-out for most black people.
What about the generations of poor rural kids from countries in Africa (using Nigeria as an example) in the 1930s to 1960s who were motivated to excel academically and became world-renowned engineers, doctors and scientists with qualifications from schools like Oxford and MIT? Others were architects of movements to end colonialism and became the founding fathers of their countries. Growing up, I can guarantee that they didn't even hear about (much less see) people like themselves, i.e. African/black, who were at the heights they eventually reached.
Bottom line - A child's success, especially in academics with the mental rigor involved therein, is MOSTLY about the emphasis placed on education by the people in that child's life - family, teachers, friends, etc.
Showcasing those who have achieved is all well and good and may have a minimal effect, but maybe I didn't like the way it came across in the email (despite all he's done, he hasn't been properly recognized, etc). That "whining" almost obscured the true genius of the man and does him a disservice. I'm sure his intent when coming up with those patents was largely for the intellectual gratification he received and not a yearning over global acclaim. What about his fellow inventors - it's not exactly as if we know all the Caucasian or Asian ones!
If I was a young kid who was inclined NOT to go to school and I read that email, I'd probably come away thinking that it WASN'T worth it to go through all that schooling only to end up without the acclaim I thought I deserved.
As long as we continue to over-celebrate the achievements of intellectuals of African descent, we'll continue to expose the stark reality - that there simply aren't enough of them to go around. Let's refocus our energies on ensuring that our youth have the knowledge and tools to become the intellectuals of tomorrow...and it starts with the family unit - we can't run away from that!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Man Died...And so?
Two weeks ago, a man died and there was a minor furor created by the fact that yours sincerely questioned the non-familial people (I think they call themselves ‘citizens’) who mourned that man. That man was the erstwhile President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Far be it for me to be ecstatic about the passing of a human being from one life to another, but far be it from me to not comment on the unabashed outpouring of support and platitudes which in my opinion were factually baseless, ethically repulsive and frankly, inane.
I understand that as Africans, we place a premium on death - it's one of those things that you don't tamper with, inquire about or joke with. Someone who dies is said to have transcended and thus (perhaps) become a higher being or abodes in a higher (or lower, depending on their standing with God, I’d imagine) place. Typically, all sins are forgiven and all minor achievements discussed in exponential terms once someone dies; even if, as in this case, the nation lives with the effects.
However, I say without equivocation that the masses of Nigeria don’t 'mourn' the passing of any member of our so-called elite. For example, do you think the families hundreds of civilians massacred in cold blood by Murtala Mohammed and his troops in Asaba (circa 1967) mourned his assassination or celebrated it? I wager the latter! If you're in doubt, kindly look up the word 'mourn' in Webster or any dictionary of your choice. So at what point do we "mechi onu" (as the Igbos would say), acknowledge the will of God in such matters and let the real mourners mourn?
Now that I've explained my angle, let's get back to the late Mr. Yar'Adua. You have a leader (indeed, a President) who is dead, so you can well imagine the almost instant deification that was bestowed on his persona. He has been presented to the world - even by his most vocal critics – as a nice, incorruptible “servant leader” whose only crime was that he hung around bad company and had a shrew for a wife. Even Wole Soyinka called him "a tragic figure".
Hey, I get it…
…except it isn’t true.
Paraphrasing the Bible, only by telling the truth can we be set free. Nigerians need to start telling themselves and each other the truth – only then can we make progress as a nation. On that basis, let’s examine each of the adjectives used to describe the late man.
Niceness – Being nice goes beyond a smile and an engaging personality. Being nice also relates to how you treat those around you. I’m sorry for being blunt, but handing your “barely out of their teens” daughters to middle aged men as third and fourth wives is a barbaric practice which is not in the best interest of your children. When those men are mates of yours whom you plan on using to build your political dynasty or extract future benefits from; we are left with a cunning, grasping man whose interest is not in his daughters’ welfare, but his own. Doing it three times indicates inhumanity and selfishness of purpose. Was his wife driving the process? Hmm…who knows? Who cares? Doesn’t the Bible says about marriage - “and the two shall become one”?
Incorruptible – I usually laugh out loud at this one. Other than the fact that his election was a sham (and anyone who had any integrity would have demanded a re-run), this is a man whose assets grew from roughly $600,000 in 1999 to about $6 million in 2007. For those who are too dazed to do the math, that’s a growth of 1000% in 8 years for supposed public official (not including stocks, for those who’ll claim the Nigerian Stock Exchange was going crazy). Yes, you read that right. I know some people hearken to the fact that he “declared his assets” as reason to believe in his incorruptibility, but that thinking is so left-field and myopic that it beggars belief, especially when such people are in the supposed fourth estate (media). Let me ask this question – if a man stole a car 5 years ago and confesses to the car owner 5 years later without returning the car, is he still a thief? I’ll leave that as food for thought…
Servant Leader – If I LOL at his incorruptibility, I ROTFLMAO at this one. The great servant leader who always placed the interest of the country before his personal ambition did not
a) choose NOT TO RUN for office when he was hospitalized for weeks in 2007 during his campaign season,
b) choose to RESIGN from office when he knew that his prognosis was grim and that he was in fact, facing a terminal disease,
c) leave standing orders APPOINTING his deputy in his place or provide provision for the appointment of said deputy in the event of a situation such as in November 2009 when he was rushed abroad.
If our dear servant leader truly believed in the policies of his party, his government and in his hand-picked (or foisted by his godfather, what’s the difference?) deputy, he would have done so. Certainly, the interest of the nation called for that – as evidenced by the political turmoil generated while he was away, the lack of credible government responses to crises (Abdulmutallab, anyone?) and the indecision of matters of state that required urgent action (power, infrastructure development, etc).
We have been witnesses to events in the United Kingdom where Gordon Brown chose to step down as Labour Party Leader (and Prime Minister) in order to give his party a shot at forming Her Majesty’s Government. Why? He believes in the capability of those in this party and in the benefits that his party will provide to the people of the UK. That IS servant leadership!
Bad Company/Wretched Wife/All Other Theories Spun by Sycophants – We’ve heard them all, and they are all baseless. Both scripture and secular life give us guidance in explaining this aspect of Yar’Adua, viz. Bible (by their fruits, you will know them), Secular (show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are).
If Yar’Adua was a ‘good’ man who was simply not strong enough to surround himself with men and women who shared his vision and could help him execute it, then he had no business being the President. In which case, why should I mourn his passing any more than I mourn the passing of the thousands of Nigerians who die on a daily basis because they have no access to healthcare, or because of inadequate security, or because they can’t afford to eat?
On the other hand, if he knew what he was doing, then why do we care?
When we have a leader who is committed to dispensing justice fairly to all and sundry, who is committed to electoral reform to ensure that every vote is counted, who drives aggressive legislation aimed at eliminating corruption in government and business (because then it’ll trickle down to the masses), who is committed to infrastructural and intellectual development so that Nigeria can be equipped to take its rightful place in the comity of nations and who is willing above all, to place the interest of the people above his/her selfish interest; if that leader is called out from this world one day, I and the people will truly mourn.
What are we left with? The man died…and so?
Far be it for me to be ecstatic about the passing of a human being from one life to another, but far be it from me to not comment on the unabashed outpouring of support and platitudes which in my opinion were factually baseless, ethically repulsive and frankly, inane.
I understand that as Africans, we place a premium on death - it's one of those things that you don't tamper with, inquire about or joke with. Someone who dies is said to have transcended and thus (perhaps) become a higher being or abodes in a higher (or lower, depending on their standing with God, I’d imagine) place. Typically, all sins are forgiven and all minor achievements discussed in exponential terms once someone dies; even if, as in this case, the nation lives with the effects.
However, I say without equivocation that the masses of Nigeria don’t 'mourn' the passing of any member of our so-called elite. For example, do you think the families hundreds of civilians massacred in cold blood by Murtala Mohammed and his troops in Asaba (circa 1967) mourned his assassination or celebrated it? I wager the latter! If you're in doubt, kindly look up the word 'mourn' in Webster or any dictionary of your choice. So at what point do we "mechi onu" (as the Igbos would say), acknowledge the will of God in such matters and let the real mourners mourn?
Now that I've explained my angle, let's get back to the late Mr. Yar'Adua. You have a leader (indeed, a President) who is dead, so you can well imagine the almost instant deification that was bestowed on his persona. He has been presented to the world - even by his most vocal critics – as a nice, incorruptible “servant leader” whose only crime was that he hung around bad company and had a shrew for a wife. Even Wole Soyinka called him "a tragic figure".
Hey, I get it…
…except it isn’t true.
Paraphrasing the Bible, only by telling the truth can we be set free. Nigerians need to start telling themselves and each other the truth – only then can we make progress as a nation. On that basis, let’s examine each of the adjectives used to describe the late man.
Niceness – Being nice goes beyond a smile and an engaging personality. Being nice also relates to how you treat those around you. I’m sorry for being blunt, but handing your “barely out of their teens” daughters to middle aged men as third and fourth wives is a barbaric practice which is not in the best interest of your children. When those men are mates of yours whom you plan on using to build your political dynasty or extract future benefits from; we are left with a cunning, grasping man whose interest is not in his daughters’ welfare, but his own. Doing it three times indicates inhumanity and selfishness of purpose. Was his wife driving the process? Hmm…who knows? Who cares? Doesn’t the Bible says about marriage - “and the two shall become one”?
Incorruptible – I usually laugh out loud at this one. Other than the fact that his election was a sham (and anyone who had any integrity would have demanded a re-run), this is a man whose assets grew from roughly $600,000 in 1999 to about $6 million in 2007. For those who are too dazed to do the math, that’s a growth of 1000% in 8 years for supposed public official (not including stocks, for those who’ll claim the Nigerian Stock Exchange was going crazy). Yes, you read that right. I know some people hearken to the fact that he “declared his assets” as reason to believe in his incorruptibility, but that thinking is so left-field and myopic that it beggars belief, especially when such people are in the supposed fourth estate (media). Let me ask this question – if a man stole a car 5 years ago and confesses to the car owner 5 years later without returning the car, is he still a thief? I’ll leave that as food for thought…
Servant Leader – If I LOL at his incorruptibility, I ROTFLMAO at this one. The great servant leader who always placed the interest of the country before his personal ambition did not
a) choose NOT TO RUN for office when he was hospitalized for weeks in 2007 during his campaign season,
b) choose to RESIGN from office when he knew that his prognosis was grim and that he was in fact, facing a terminal disease,
c) leave standing orders APPOINTING his deputy in his place or provide provision for the appointment of said deputy in the event of a situation such as in November 2009 when he was rushed abroad.
If our dear servant leader truly believed in the policies of his party, his government and in his hand-picked (or foisted by his godfather, what’s the difference?) deputy, he would have done so. Certainly, the interest of the nation called for that – as evidenced by the political turmoil generated while he was away, the lack of credible government responses to crises (Abdulmutallab, anyone?) and the indecision of matters of state that required urgent action (power, infrastructure development, etc).
We have been witnesses to events in the United Kingdom where Gordon Brown chose to step down as Labour Party Leader (and Prime Minister) in order to give his party a shot at forming Her Majesty’s Government. Why? He believes in the capability of those in this party and in the benefits that his party will provide to the people of the UK. That IS servant leadership!
Bad Company/Wretched Wife/All Other Theories Spun by Sycophants – We’ve heard them all, and they are all baseless. Both scripture and secular life give us guidance in explaining this aspect of Yar’Adua, viz. Bible (by their fruits, you will know them), Secular (show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are).
If Yar’Adua was a ‘good’ man who was simply not strong enough to surround himself with men and women who shared his vision and could help him execute it, then he had no business being the President. In which case, why should I mourn his passing any more than I mourn the passing of the thousands of Nigerians who die on a daily basis because they have no access to healthcare, or because of inadequate security, or because they can’t afford to eat?
On the other hand, if he knew what he was doing, then why do we care?
When we have a leader who is committed to dispensing justice fairly to all and sundry, who is committed to electoral reform to ensure that every vote is counted, who drives aggressive legislation aimed at eliminating corruption in government and business (because then it’ll trickle down to the masses), who is committed to infrastructural and intellectual development so that Nigeria can be equipped to take its rightful place in the comity of nations and who is willing above all, to place the interest of the people above his/her selfish interest; if that leader is called out from this world one day, I and the people will truly mourn.
What are we left with? The man died…and so?
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
One door closes, another opens...
My 2-year project is finally over...well, mostly. Transition reports have to be prepared, closeouts of documents remain and thank-yous have to be sent.
The National Society of Black Engineers just concluded it's 36th Annual - and first International - Convention in Toronto, ON last weekend. Yours truly was the Vice-Chair of the planning team for this event and it was both a relief and a drag to have it all end. Overall feedback of the event was excellent, justifying the decision to devote a significant portion of my life over the last 2 years to this project.
I remember when it started...it was just after the 34th Convention in Orlando that I got a call from Ainsley Stewart, a former National Chair of NSBE. I was at a point in my NSBE life where I was disillusioned with the direction of the organization and was looking to permanently "retire". Only a few months before that, I had resigned my position as NSBE International Chair, because I didn't feel that the Executive Board and its staff in Alexandria, VA was committed to the international expansion and/or had the desire to make NSBE a truly international organization.
Mr. Stewart - himself no stranger to the shenanigans surrounding NSBE politics - was considering running for the position of Planning Committee Chair and wanted me to be his tour guide on a one-day trip to Toronto that he planned for the middle of April, 2008. During his trip, we shared some stories and understood that we had similar concerns about the direction of NSBE as well as sharing a desire to make the first International Convention a resounding success. Naturally, I didn't hesitate when he asked me to be his Vice-Chair, and the rest is history.
There were challenges along the way - we had to recruit a team of highly talented team players, yet folks who were independent enough to challenge the status quo; we had to prove that the challenges posed by a visit to Toronto could be easily overcome - in effect, we were doing the research that could torpedo our plans; we had to fight a movement that didn't want to see the Convention in Toronto; and finally, we had to challenge a world economy that collapsed in the fall of 2008, taking with it many of our corporate sponsors and benefactors.
Through it all, the team held tight and made this Convention a success - over 8000 people registered for this event, companies DID hire at the Convention, we had some dynamic speakers, General Sessions were probably the best that I can remember - and the membership enjoyed the feel and vibe of one of the greatest cities on earth.
The experiences garnered from this project were many and I look forward to using them as a springboard for all the other plans and programs I undertake. From people-management to conflict-resolution, budget adjustments to time-management; the lessons were many, sometimes painful but always rewarding.
As a result of this Convention Planning (where I received and sent over 13000 emails in the space of 2 years), I know I can juggle multiple committments at once - after all, I still had my fulltime job (moving into 2 roles and gaining a promotion in that time) and a personal life. I'm excited about going forward and establishing myself in the areas I'm dedicated to - political reform in Nigeria, leadership development in North American inner cities, sustainable development in Africa - and most of all, as the theme of the Convention indicated, I'm ready to engineer a global impact.
The National Society of Black Engineers just concluded it's 36th Annual - and first International - Convention in Toronto, ON last weekend. Yours truly was the Vice-Chair of the planning team for this event and it was both a relief and a drag to have it all end. Overall feedback of the event was excellent, justifying the decision to devote a significant portion of my life over the last 2 years to this project.
I remember when it started...it was just after the 34th Convention in Orlando that I got a call from Ainsley Stewart, a former National Chair of NSBE. I was at a point in my NSBE life where I was disillusioned with the direction of the organization and was looking to permanently "retire". Only a few months before that, I had resigned my position as NSBE International Chair, because I didn't feel that the Executive Board and its staff in Alexandria, VA was committed to the international expansion and/or had the desire to make NSBE a truly international organization.
Mr. Stewart - himself no stranger to the shenanigans surrounding NSBE politics - was considering running for the position of Planning Committee Chair and wanted me to be his tour guide on a one-day trip to Toronto that he planned for the middle of April, 2008. During his trip, we shared some stories and understood that we had similar concerns about the direction of NSBE as well as sharing a desire to make the first International Convention a resounding success. Naturally, I didn't hesitate when he asked me to be his Vice-Chair, and the rest is history.
There were challenges along the way - we had to recruit a team of highly talented team players, yet folks who were independent enough to challenge the status quo; we had to prove that the challenges posed by a visit to Toronto could be easily overcome - in effect, we were doing the research that could torpedo our plans; we had to fight a movement that didn't want to see the Convention in Toronto; and finally, we had to challenge a world economy that collapsed in the fall of 2008, taking with it many of our corporate sponsors and benefactors.
Through it all, the team held tight and made this Convention a success - over 8000 people registered for this event, companies DID hire at the Convention, we had some dynamic speakers, General Sessions were probably the best that I can remember - and the membership enjoyed the feel and vibe of one of the greatest cities on earth.
The experiences garnered from this project were many and I look forward to using them as a springboard for all the other plans and programs I undertake. From people-management to conflict-resolution, budget adjustments to time-management; the lessons were many, sometimes painful but always rewarding.
As a result of this Convention Planning (where I received and sent over 13000 emails in the space of 2 years), I know I can juggle multiple committments at once - after all, I still had my fulltime job (moving into 2 roles and gaining a promotion in that time) and a personal life. I'm excited about going forward and establishing myself in the areas I'm dedicated to - political reform in Nigeria, leadership development in North American inner cities, sustainable development in Africa - and most of all, as the theme of the Convention indicated, I'm ready to engineer a global impact.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Opportunity makes all the difference
There was a question I pondered last week. It's one that has been asked often and by many, but I've never really been impressed with the answers. Not so much because they were wrong per se, but because they didn't produce an "ah ha" moment...they weren't entirely logical.
The question is - why aren't enough kids of African descent in North America excelling academically?
For a long time, some of us have opined that the only way for black kids to excel would be for them to stop viewing athletes and entertainers as role models, and rather look up to teachers, professionals and political leaders. I'm not necessarily moving away from this point of view, but I've started seeing things in a different light.
Why?
Because to answer my question, I HAD to look at the world of athletes and entertainers, particularly the former. I did this in a different way, though...
Tiger Woods.
The Williams' sisters.
Lewis Hamilton.
Donovan McNabb.
What do each of these athletes have in common? Not just are they supremely talented and successful, they've been able to succeed in sports that have traditionally been the domain of white athletes. Of course, the sports/positions they excel in - golf, tennis, race-car driving, passing quarterback - are ones that have been classified as those requiring either an above-average IQ or an upper-middle class upbringing. I hope I'm not shattering anyone's illusions when I remark that these two traits are seldom associated with black atheletes whether true or false. In fact, a middle- to upper-middle class black kid is far more likely to choose the academic path than his/her white peer, but I digress...
While we celebrate the achievements of these athletes and proudly crow about them "breaking the stereotypes" and "proving that we can do anything anyone else can", we forget one fundamental truth - it's not the skill of these atheletes that enabled them to go where no one has gone. It's not because they were more intellectually gifted than other black athletes - as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, nor is it because their parents were rich and provided them with a higher-class upbringing.
NO.
All that separates these athletes from those that didn't make, all that separates them from other athletes who've been stereotyped as having more brawn and "athleticism" (I'm not a fan of that word), all that separates them from you and me (yes!) is opportunity. Now, you're probably saying to yourself - what else is new?
Well, get this - how did Jackie Robinson break into the big leagues? Opportunity, not talent - he wasn't the most talented player in the Negro Leagues.
How did you go to university and grad school? Opportunity more than talent. There are many more talented people than yourself who didn't get that opportunity - no matter how smart you are. However, your parents were enlightened and knew the value of education...or if you're of Nigerian descent, society simply demanded it :-)
What am I getting at?
The success of an individual is almost always down to opportunity and the grasping of said opportunity. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an excellent book - Outliers - which explained more specific cases, but the underlying theme was the same. While I wonder why he didn't extend his microscope to understanding more multicultural examples of this phenomenon, I highly recommend his book.
What would Serena and Venus be if they hadn't lived close to tennis courts in Compton?
What would Tiger be like if his Dad didn't have a passion for golf? (cue the lewd jokes...)
What would Lewis Hamilton be if he hadn't used his arrogance and gift of gab to convince Ron Dennis to take him on as an apprentice driver at the age of 12?
What would Donovan McNabb's football career had looked like if he hadn't gone to Syracuse and their pass-happy offense? Likely another black, running (read - athletic, rather than smart) quarterback...
It's all about opportunity, not some innate proclivity for violence, entertainment and playfulness - and we NEED to let the kids know this. Too many times, we approach them as if we are treating hopeless cases, even in the instances where we think we're trying to help. We classify them by simplistic statistics like "high-school graduation rates", rather than encouraging them to reach for the clouds and achieve their potential. We tackle the problem of low SAT scores without understanding the family conditions that led to those scores - the broken homes, the abusive parents, the lack of education on the part of said parents - and therefore ensuring that even if this kid is successful on the basis of our metrics, he or she may never contribute positively to society because they are damaged on the inside.
The truth is that if almost any kid was raised in the family I was raised in, they'd be productive members of society, performing well above average and even more. You had to read in my family, you had to do homework, you had to be in the top 5% or 10% of your class at a minimum - parental displeasure was evident if you didn't!
Let's give kids the opportunity to be successful and in doing so, let's improve the collective worth of the black community in North America, because if there's one thing that's clear - it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with the circumstances they find themselves in.
How do you do this?
- Mentor kids - but when you do, sound like you expect them to excel
- Challenge teachers who call kids "special needs"
- Let them look up to sports stars for inspiration - but direct them to focus on the hard work and dedication of those athletes
- instill "black" or "African" pride in kids. Self-esteem is essential to confidence and excellence
- stop talking about the "problems" and focus on the "opportunities"
Simplistic, perhaps - but a heck of a lot more logical than all the other explanations defenders of the status-quo - including members of the black community - would have us swallow.
The question is - why aren't enough kids of African descent in North America excelling academically?
For a long time, some of us have opined that the only way for black kids to excel would be for them to stop viewing athletes and entertainers as role models, and rather look up to teachers, professionals and political leaders. I'm not necessarily moving away from this point of view, but I've started seeing things in a different light.
Why?
Because to answer my question, I HAD to look at the world of athletes and entertainers, particularly the former. I did this in a different way, though...
Tiger Woods.
The Williams' sisters.
Lewis Hamilton.
Donovan McNabb.
What do each of these athletes have in common? Not just are they supremely talented and successful, they've been able to succeed in sports that have traditionally been the domain of white athletes. Of course, the sports/positions they excel in - golf, tennis, race-car driving, passing quarterback - are ones that have been classified as those requiring either an above-average IQ or an upper-middle class upbringing. I hope I'm not shattering anyone's illusions when I remark that these two traits are seldom associated with black atheletes whether true or false. In fact, a middle- to upper-middle class black kid is far more likely to choose the academic path than his/her white peer, but I digress...
While we celebrate the achievements of these athletes and proudly crow about them "breaking the stereotypes" and "proving that we can do anything anyone else can", we forget one fundamental truth - it's not the skill of these atheletes that enabled them to go where no one has gone. It's not because they were more intellectually gifted than other black athletes - as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, nor is it because their parents were rich and provided them with a higher-class upbringing.
NO.
All that separates these athletes from those that didn't make, all that separates them from other athletes who've been stereotyped as having more brawn and "athleticism" (I'm not a fan of that word), all that separates them from you and me (yes!) is opportunity. Now, you're probably saying to yourself - what else is new?
Well, get this - how did Jackie Robinson break into the big leagues? Opportunity, not talent - he wasn't the most talented player in the Negro Leagues.
How did you go to university and grad school? Opportunity more than talent. There are many more talented people than yourself who didn't get that opportunity - no matter how smart you are. However, your parents were enlightened and knew the value of education...or if you're of Nigerian descent, society simply demanded it :-)
What am I getting at?
The success of an individual is almost always down to opportunity and the grasping of said opportunity. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an excellent book - Outliers - which explained more specific cases, but the underlying theme was the same. While I wonder why he didn't extend his microscope to understanding more multicultural examples of this phenomenon, I highly recommend his book.
What would Serena and Venus be if they hadn't lived close to tennis courts in Compton?
What would Tiger be like if his Dad didn't have a passion for golf? (cue the lewd jokes...)
What would Lewis Hamilton be if he hadn't used his arrogance and gift of gab to convince Ron Dennis to take him on as an apprentice driver at the age of 12?
What would Donovan McNabb's football career had looked like if he hadn't gone to Syracuse and their pass-happy offense? Likely another black, running (read - athletic, rather than smart) quarterback...
It's all about opportunity, not some innate proclivity for violence, entertainment and playfulness - and we NEED to let the kids know this. Too many times, we approach them as if we are treating hopeless cases, even in the instances where we think we're trying to help. We classify them by simplistic statistics like "high-school graduation rates", rather than encouraging them to reach for the clouds and achieve their potential. We tackle the problem of low SAT scores without understanding the family conditions that led to those scores - the broken homes, the abusive parents, the lack of education on the part of said parents - and therefore ensuring that even if this kid is successful on the basis of our metrics, he or she may never contribute positively to society because they are damaged on the inside.
The truth is that if almost any kid was raised in the family I was raised in, they'd be productive members of society, performing well above average and even more. You had to read in my family, you had to do homework, you had to be in the top 5% or 10% of your class at a minimum - parental displeasure was evident if you didn't!
Let's give kids the opportunity to be successful and in doing so, let's improve the collective worth of the black community in North America, because if there's one thing that's clear - it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with the circumstances they find themselves in.
How do you do this?
- Mentor kids - but when you do, sound like you expect them to excel
- Challenge teachers who call kids "special needs"
- Let them look up to sports stars for inspiration - but direct them to focus on the hard work and dedication of those athletes
- instill "black" or "African" pride in kids. Self-esteem is essential to confidence and excellence
- stop talking about the "problems" and focus on the "opportunities"
Simplistic, perhaps - but a heck of a lot more logical than all the other explanations defenders of the status-quo - including members of the black community - would have us swallow.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
What keeps you up at night?
I love the question posed in my title.
Why?
I really don't know.
It's one that I started hearing with regularity when I started working for Petro-Canada (now re-christened Suncor after our merger with the "old" Suncor). The head of Petro-Canada's downstream business was fond of talking about opportunity development areas as items that "kept him up at night". I thought that was such a great way to explain what others might term "pains in the a*s" or "who is bringing us down so we can fire them?". It made issues seem not quite trivial, but certainly worthy of being resolved through brainstorming and perhaps a good night's sleep!
So what keeps me up at night?
I think the fear of not being relevant when my life's work is done is what does it for me. This isn't to say that I'm so caught up in my own importance - or lack thereof - that I will ignore any other success I'm part of (if not entirely responsible for), nor does it mean that I won't be happy until I'm as famous as Barack or William Gates...no. However, I have set out certain targets that I would love to accomplish between now and the time I'm 35 and others yet that culminate in my 40th year on this earth. None of the goals are necessarily earth-shattering, but I believe they are relevat, not only to my ego, but also to ultimate good of this world - in particular the African continent and peoples of African descent. I realize this does appear to defeat my ego-less pretentions, but rest assured, my intentions are purely altruistic/nationalistic.
By the time I'm 35, I would like to:
- work for myself
- be considered materially successful
- achieve my dream of social entrepreneurship in Africa and perhaps the Caribbean as well
- be able to point to concrete, life-saving (or improving) projects that I've been part of
By the time I'm 40, I would like to:
- work because I want to, i.e. financial independence
- do some missionary work every year, if I'm so led
- expand from where I was at 35, vis-a-vis infrastructure development in developing nations
Of course, there are other personal goals which I won't necessarily elaborate on now :-)
I realize that as time goes on, other things - family, kids, health, mortality and the other realities of life are more likely to keep me up at night, I recognize that a time will come when the small pleasures - walking, talking, eating, sleeping - will matter as much as the big dreams...but I'm happy that I'm still at the stage where big dreams are possible, and I look forward to working to make mine come true. In the meantime, I'll keep working on dreaming up the breakthrough :-)
What keeps you up at night?
Why?
I really don't know.
It's one that I started hearing with regularity when I started working for Petro-Canada (now re-christened Suncor after our merger with the "old" Suncor). The head of Petro-Canada's downstream business was fond of talking about opportunity development areas as items that "kept him up at night". I thought that was such a great way to explain what others might term "pains in the a*s" or "who is bringing us down so we can fire them?". It made issues seem not quite trivial, but certainly worthy of being resolved through brainstorming and perhaps a good night's sleep!
So what keeps me up at night?
I think the fear of not being relevant when my life's work is done is what does it for me. This isn't to say that I'm so caught up in my own importance - or lack thereof - that I will ignore any other success I'm part of (if not entirely responsible for), nor does it mean that I won't be happy until I'm as famous as Barack or William Gates...no. However, I have set out certain targets that I would love to accomplish between now and the time I'm 35 and others yet that culminate in my 40th year on this earth. None of the goals are necessarily earth-shattering, but I believe they are relevat, not only to my ego, but also to ultimate good of this world - in particular the African continent and peoples of African descent. I realize this does appear to defeat my ego-less pretentions, but rest assured, my intentions are purely altruistic/nationalistic.
By the time I'm 35, I would like to:
- work for myself
- be considered materially successful
- achieve my dream of social entrepreneurship in Africa and perhaps the Caribbean as well
- be able to point to concrete, life-saving (or improving) projects that I've been part of
By the time I'm 40, I would like to:
- work because I want to, i.e. financial independence
- do some missionary work every year, if I'm so led
- expand from where I was at 35, vis-a-vis infrastructure development in developing nations
Of course, there are other personal goals which I won't necessarily elaborate on now :-)
I realize that as time goes on, other things - family, kids, health, mortality and the other realities of life are more likely to keep me up at night, I recognize that a time will come when the small pleasures - walking, talking, eating, sleeping - will matter as much as the big dreams...but I'm happy that I'm still at the stage where big dreams are possible, and I look forward to working to make mine come true. In the meantime, I'll keep working on dreaming up the breakthrough :-)
What keeps you up at night?
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