Launching 234Next-Dele
Dele Olojede writes about 234Next's daunting task in the FT:
It is especially daunting to attempt what we are trying to pull off in a country whose electricity grid has totally collapsed, whose ruling elites are almost uniformly corrupt and heedless, whose citizens have often appeared to accept that it is their cursed fate to live in such wretchedness, and whose government, with some happy exceptions, is clueless and dysfunctional.
More here.
Good Society and its Discontents
In a recent speech pulitzer prize winner Dele Olojede stated "...Many Nigerians today continue to deny the obvious—that a potentially wide-ranging transformation is under way, needing only their buy-in for the process to gain momentum. It is undeniable that the Obasanjo government is toying with the idea of a radical transformation. Without a doubt this is the best macro-economic environment we’ve ever had, in which the process has begun to disentangle the government from the economy and, perhaps in time, return it to its best role as a regulatory agency. We can all plainly see the value of deregulation in the telecom sector. And now for the first time in a long time banks will return to being banks. An attempt is being made, unevenly and often unpredictably, to fight corruption. The deal to wipe off Nigeria’s debilitating debt, and spare our children from the pain of our profligacy, is perhaps this government’s most important achievement. But even that, in our poisonous environment, is dismissed by some as insignificant. On account of our long disappointment with politics and government, could it be that we no longer have the capacity to recognize the possibility of progress?..."
Seeking A Few Good Men & Women
Dele Olojede's Timbuktu Media seeks a few Good Men & Women:
We are looking for a few good men and women to join us in a national project. We seek to create a space where honest conversation can take place about the direction of our country(Nigeria). We are building a new kind of media company; one that values ethics, integrity and service.
We seek the kind of people who are ambitious enough and confident enough to help contribute to this transformative project.
The Faith Industry
In a keynote speech covered earlier Dele Olojede stated "...The fastest growing industry in Nigeria today—faster growing than even the telecom sector, and perhaps just as profitable—is the faith industry, which feeds off the misery of the people and appeals to their worst instincts and propensity to superstition, illogic and unreason...This unquestioning faith has adopted and perverted one of the tools of modern management, which is the concept of outsourcing non-core competencies to others. In this case, our prophets simply ask us to outsource everything to God...I do not by this mean to single out Christians at all; I think the same is largely true,perhaps even more so, in the other major religions. But our country right now is in a desperate state, a time that calls for clear thinking and rationality, not magical solutions and a reliance on divine intervention. Life is grim and hard, and it should not be obscured by the sentimental philosophy of the pulpit, where everything is outsourced to God and people are encouraged to believe that the just and the good will somehow result from some deity reaching down through the clouds to sweep all our sorrows away..."
covered also on NaijaBlog
"Let There be Light"
Dele Olojede makes a clarion call for Freedom of Information in Nigeria:
We have usually preferred to conduct our affairs in the open, in broad daylight. Every significant marker of our existence—births, weddings, deaths—all unfold with extravagant openness, leaving only those which are meant to frighten, or which are forbidden, for the dark.Except of course, in our modern politics.
Here, we exist almost entirely in an area of darkness, where any demand to share information is treated with great suspicion, and our political class regards itself largely as unaccountable to the public.The conduct of our affairs, in the political sphere, can most usefully be likened to a feeding frenzy, where all tiers of government have effectively fallen under the sway of unrestrained men [and the occasional woman.]The public business goes on largely behind closed doors, and the sharing of the most elementary information is viewed with horror...[continue reading]
via NaijaBlog
Nigeria's Fragile Future
While our democracy remains rickety and our ruling elites remain unable to distinguish between public funds and private purposes, we take these baby steps as a sign that we will eventually get it right.Mr. Jonathan, with nearly 60 percent of the votes declared in his favor, appears to have persuaded at least a plurality of Nigerians, as well as most external election monitors, that his victory is legitimate.But Mr. Jonathan does have a big problem: a lack of support in the country’s north. Whether he is able to manage it will determine if Nigeria succeeds in becoming Africa’s economic and political heart, as its size and resources would suggest. Indeed, the rest of Africa will probably never fulfill its potential with a dysfunctional Nigeria. Nor can the United States, which gets more than 10 percent of its oil imports from Nigeria, afford disarray here at a time of upheaval in the Middle East.More here
Launching 234Next-Dele
Dele Olojede writes about 234Next's daunting task in the FT:
It is especially daunting to attempt what we are trying to pull off in a country whose electricity grid has totally collapsed, whose ruling elites are almost uniformly corrupt and heedless, whose citizens have often appeared to accept that it is their cursed fate to live in such wretchedness, and whose government, with some happy exceptions, is clueless and dysfunctional.
More here.