Wake UP! Lazy (Intellectual) Africans

So I picked this up this afternoon... It's an inspiring read, trust me...

They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished. In this demesne, as they call it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the day.

“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”

Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.

“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.

I told him mine with a precautious smile.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“Zambia.”

“Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.”

“Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.”

“But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your president.”

My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.

“I spent three years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”

“Are you still with the IMF?” I asked.

“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”

“No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”

He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”
Quett Masire’s name popped up.

“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”

At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.

“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down.

From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.

“That’s white man’s country,” he said. “We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”
I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”

He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.”

The smile vanished from my face.

“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and me?”

“There’s no difference.”

“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they were all done it was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the same.”

I gladly nodded.

“And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.”

For a moment I was wordless.

“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”

I was thinking.

He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”

I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.

“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested.

He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian intellectuals? Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?”

I held my breath.

“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”

He looked me in the eye.

“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”

I was deflated.

“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”
He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem pole.”

He tempered his voice. “Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”

At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Walter reached for my hand.

“I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was written by a friend.”

He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”

Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.

Walter is right. It is true that since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 13 million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative rituals.

But the intelligentsia is not solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie, rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KK, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.

I believe King Cobra’s reset has been cast in the same faculties as those of his predecessors. If today I told him that we can build our own car, he would throw me out.
“Naupena? Fuma apa.” (Are you mad? Get out of here)

Knowing well that King Cobra will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps, razor blades, and harvesters. Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior.

A fundamental transformation of our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by Walter. Take a moment and think about our country. Our journey from 1964 has been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political culture. It’s time for Zambian intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved ones.

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History.

The time has come for us intellectuals and would-be intellectuals to become innovative or continue to live in perpetual inferiority and mediocrity. Nigeria and indeed the rest of Africa and the world is there for the taking. ARISE 

Football411 Online Launched

On Monday 23rd July 2012, the website www.football411.net went live officially. The long-time dream of entrepreneur Lanre Banjoko finally came to fruition with the website launch and he was overjoyed at the thought of the accomplishment.

Football411 Online is aimed at being the number one spot for all things football in Africa and the world at large. Bringing football news, editorials, interviews, fixture reviews, match reports, exclusives, transfer rumours and news and lots more from the dynamic and interesting world of football too its readers, the website hopes to become the leading source of football information within the country within the next 8 weeks.

Asked how this was going to be possible, the CEO, Lanre Banjoko leaked the fact that the website already has around a couple dozen football writers and analysts dedicated to the same dream. "We have also kicked off a massive sensitization and publicity programme so as to enlighten the football enthusiasts" he added.

Lanre Banjoko is also the CEO of DownTown Entertainment.

Football411 Online Website

Fuel subsidy removal and its social discontent in Nigeria

When in 1973, the Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon set up the Petroleum Equalization Fund, the objective was to ensure stability and uniformity in the prices of petroleum products that is consumed in the country, regardless of the cost differential in transportation of the product from the refineries to the various depots and thereon to the filling stations.

This was to be a short gap method since we had no functional rail way and efficient inland water transport system in the country.

There were such point to point cost called bridging cost and other charges that were added before the price got to the final consumer.

Drivers and unions

The easy money and mark ups that were added to those who were involved became so attractive that the business men involved in haulage of the product as well as the drivers and unions in this sector became so powerful that they could hold the nation to ransom at will.

They frustrated every attempt to develop or revive the rail transport or develop the inland water transport system. Nigerians never paid attention to the activities of the PEF and it was business as usual for all those that were connected with the movement of petroleum products within the country.

This was the  era of the oil boom and the country was awash with petrodollar. This was the genesis of local subsidy on petroleum products in Nigeria. Prof. Pat Utomi whose father worked with British Petroleum then told Vanguard Features,VF, that, “as a child, I could recall that there was no uniformity in the prices of fuel in the country.”

Subsidies were some form of government intervention to absorb social costs for governance, or cushion the effect of its inability or inefficiencies of its agencies to perform their roles to the citizens. Subsidies were also attempt by the state to protect the weak and vulnerable from the buffeting dynamics of free market.

Dysfunctional capacity

The dysfunctional capacity of the state and the apparatus of the state to maximise its capacity to perform its role or minimise leakages associated with such state interventions creates the impression that subsidy is anti social and economic progress.

But the author of the book entitled: The Global Economic recession and the Human Condition: The African Perspective, According to Uchenna  Chinaka, “the concept of subsidy is not unique to Nigeria, because farmers in Europe and America enjoy subsidies to date.

Big corporate organisations in America and Europe were given massive bailouts in 2008/2009 by the leaders of G-20 who feared that allowing such companies to go under was going to worsen their economic recovery plan.”

Subsidy was an essential component of the economic theory of John Maynard Keynes which was a product of the post first World War recovery thinking of the need for the visible hand of government to regulate the forces of supply and demand from allocation of resources in the classical sense as propounded by the likes of Adam Smith and classical economists.

Things fall apart: With the global recession of the 1980s and emergence of Neo-Liberal policies in Europe and America,  repudiated the idea of having the hand of government in economic because it bred corruption and inefficiencies but aboveall,distorts the operations of the market forces which rewards resourcefulness, ingenuity  and enterprise and suffers no fools.

Notable among the changes in economic direction came from what is referred to as the Washington consensus where government was counseled to withdraw their hands from socio – economic issues. Under the Washington consensus, national governments were to become small and less intrusive in economic matters.

As a matter of fact, governments were expected to withdraw from intervening in economic matters but rather create the enabling environment that will encourage the private sector to play leading role in the economic regeneration of their countries, governments were to be pro-business while labour unions are weakened.

Governments were to commercialise social services and privatise ailing public enterprises, liberalise economic activities and encourage competition. The new thrust of economic direction was to see the abolition of all kinds of social and economic subsidies which creates distortion in a free market environment.

Recalling that the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida in the 80s, compounded the economic woes of the nation, Nigeria began to witness gradual loss of sovereignty in its capacity to think and act freely on its economic destiny because it became heavily indebted to the western nations who used the instrumentality of the Breton woods institutions, the World Bank and IMF to push forward economic policies that were inimical to human conditions in Africa and developing countries whose earning powers was affected by the collapse of the commodity prices.

By 1987 when the World Bank and IMF found a listening eye in the regime of Military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida, the issue of removal of subsidies in Nigeria’s import substation industries, removal of subsidies on all products that enjoyed such regime was endangered.

The federal government also began to commercialise energy and power sector the telecom sector. All of these came with huge social cost in terms of loss of jobs loss of earning power through devaluation of the national currency, and all other social discontents that arose through loss of capacity to earn.

Deregulation debate: This background is important to understand the anger and social discontent associated with the regime of removal of subsidy on petroleum product. Since 1987 the argument about deregulating the downstream sector of the petroleum industry has been enmeshed in deceits and subterfuge by the ruling elites According to Professor Pat. Utomi, “what Nigerians have witnessed in the downstream sector of the economy has been anything but deregulation of the sector or removal of the local subsidy as enthroned by the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, but a periodic petrol tax and manipulation of the prices of petroleum products by the ruling elite that have found a way of taxing Nigerians to be able to sustain their own luxury and comfort.

Between 1978 to 2012, the country, has witnessed periodic price increases in petroleum products in the name of removal of subsidies and deregulation of the down stream sector.

Just like other economic policies that have emanated from the World Bank and the IMF, the current policy seems to have originated out of the pressures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which do not take to heart the interests of the Underdeveloped or Developing World when prescribing ‘bitter economic piles’ to debtor nations The position of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) coincided with stern warnings from the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who said it was a bitter pill from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) being forced down the throat of Nigerians.

The governor, who delivered a paper titled, “Democracy and Burden of Development”,  at the 2011 annual public lecture of the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel (FCC) of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bayelsa State chapter, said, “the adoption of economic policies of international monetary bodies, including currency devaluation, removal of price controls and fuel subsidy, cuts in public spending on social
programmes would inhibit human and capital development of Nigerians.”

Adverse consequences

With the exception of those in government, virtually all segment of the Nigerian society that have seen the failure of SAP and its adverse consequences on Nigerians and trhe economy, have kicked against the idea of continued adoption of World Bank/ IMF panaceas as the only solutions to our economic problem.

Chinaka said “if the IMF and the World Bank were that efficient as we thought why have they failed to cure Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal. Why is the Occupy movement directing its anger against capitalism?

They have come with heavy influence of the Breton woods institutions. But Prof. Pat Utomi said there was nothing wrong in listening to the policy prescriptions of IMF and World banks but it was left for the leadership to broaden the base of its consultation and inclusiveness in use of the local experts as was the case with Malaysia and Indonesia when they were confronted with difficult choices to make for their economic developments just like Nigeria.

The leadership of the trade unions in the country have continued to insist that the unending fuel price increases have always exacerbated social discontent resulting from Inflation also leads to erosion in the real value of incomes.

High rate unemployment which would increase because the businesses, which would find it difficult to meet their energy cost, would fold up leading to sacking of workers, about 46 million people (60% of the labor force which are currently unemployed. and weak economy and high level of corruption, which the Minister for Petroleum Mrs Deziani Madueke claimed that the civilian administration lacks the will power to contain, grinding poverty and other related crimes.

Citizens dividends

Studies have shown that since 2003, the federal government has “invested N1.02 trillion in the Poverty Eradication Fund (PEF) between 1999 and 2002,” yet the country according to the United Nations Human development index is ranked 126th   among thepoorest country in the world.

Prof Pat Utomi argues like other notable economists that if the government has been mailing out coupons of the proceeds from the sale of petroleum as is the case with Norway, Alsaka in US and Albarta in Canada, Nigerians would have been better of Statistics shown that if Nigeria has a population of 200million and the sum of N1.trillion is shared among them they would receive nothing less than N50, 000, 000 and poverty would be reduced.