Why Nigeria Still Has Seed of Greatness – Ayo Arowolo

The other day, I was in a friend’s office just on a usual casual visit. But without prior warning, he initiated a conversation: “What is your take on the situation of things in Nigeria, oga journalist? I simply told my friend, a Barrister, to expect a miracle soon. My friend: “Which miracle? Sometimes, I find it curious the way you reason. As far as I am concerned, this country is accursed. I believe God deliberately pushed some demon-possessed individuals to inflict punishment on us. So where is the cause for optimism? If you were to be sincere with yourself, the only conclusion you can reach is that our generation has missed it and sadly we cannot hope that our children can change anything.”

When my friend noticed that I was quiet, he asked: “Won’t you say anything, Pastor!” I just simply encouraged my friend not to lose hope. I referred him to some passages in the Bible where some seemingly hopeless situations were reversed.

But truly, what is the problem with Nigeria? Does it mean this country is truly accursed swinging like a circus going nowhere as my friend has suggested. Something deep inside still convinced me the case is not closed yet.

A couple of days ago, my good friend, Femi Awoyemi, MD of Proshare, forwarded to me some articles which he felt I could interrogate when I shared with him my encounter with my lawyer friend. Reading through two of those articles further convinced me if we are able to connect the missing dots, that Nigeria can still come out of its predicament.

The first article was by Yasser Al-Saleh, a faculty member at the MBRSG (formerly the Dubai School of Government) titled “The secret of Dubai Success’. In the article the author explained how Dubai used what it dubbed the ABS model consisting of Attraction, Branding and State-led development to turn the country into a center of commerce, investment and high culture within a very short period of time. The other article is by Dr. Temitope Oshikoya, titled: Nigeria and Lessons of Ethiopia’s Development Model. The author was quoting from a recent report by McKinsey titled “Lions on the Move II: Realizing the Potential of Africa’s Economies.”

In the report which he brilliantly summarised and interpreted Dr. Oshikoya explained how the leaders of Ethiopia, a former war-torn country, employed the same model of state-led development to transform the country into a vibrant economy outperforming Nigeria and many other countries in terms of key economic indicators.

Figures quoted by Dr. Oshikoya indicated that while Ethiopia’s GDP’ growth rate averaged 10 percent (2011-2015), Nigeria’s number within the same period stood at 6.5 per cent. Ethiopia’s Gross National saving was put at 19 per cent while that of Nigeria was put at 12 percent. Ethiopia’s public savings rate is 5% compared to -0.7% for Nigeria, while its tax revenue is 13% of GDP compared to 4% for Nigeria.

So What Is Wrong With Nigeria?

For the past two years or so I have been interviewing highly successful individuals (24 so far) picking their minds on what they think is the issue with Nigeria and what can be done to fix it. Let me share just a few of them. Matthew Ashimolowo, Senior Pastor of KICC believes the greatest problem Nigeria has is that since independence, we have not been blessed with national leaders as stated in the missile above.

Keith Richard, former Chairman of Promasidor thinks “one of the troubles here is everyone wants to be eating the cake before it is baked. Let them grow the size of the economy before they start fighting themselves over who takes what”.
Sunny Ojeagbase, Publisher of Complete Football thinks that Nigeria’s main problem is that our leaders are not able to focus on few critical areas of priorities and pursue them until they achieve results.

Sam Adeyemi, Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Center says the problem is lack of an embracing and compelling vision that accommodates everybody’s interest.
So what then can be done to make things happen?

The Way Out

I would anchor my first suggestion on the story of a young man called Joseph in the Judo-Christian Bible and my key proposition is that the solution to Nigeria’s problem should be inside-out, rather than outside in. Most of the persons I spoke with believe that Nigeria has a seed of greatness inside it and all we need is to activate that seed. I believe if the President can create time to read The Message version of the Bible he would find the necessary wisdom required to fix Nigeria’s problem inside that story. It is about a young man, a Hebrew, who was sold by his brothers (I believe by divine design), as a slave to a top official of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. By a combination of circumstances very difficult to explain, Joseph was thrown into jail by his master. But after spending some two years in the prison, the king of Egypt had a dream that none of his officials and seers could interpret. Somehow, a fellow prisoner recommended Joseph to Pharaoh and he was able to solve the king’s problem. I want to quote directly from The Message translation to show how events unfolded once Joseph showed up with the solution to the King’s problem. Pharaoh said to his officials: “Isn’t this the man we need? Are we going to find anyone else who has God’s spirit in him like this?” God has given you the inside story-no one is as qualified as you in experience and wisdom. From now, you are in charge of my affairs; all my people would report to you… I am pharaoh, but no one in Egypt will make a single move without your stamp of Approval”.

Lessons for Mr. President

One, by divine arrangement, God has blessed Mr. President with his own Joseph in the person of Professor Yemi Osinbajo. During his period of medical vacation, this Joseph demonstrated beyond reasonable doubts that he has the spirit of excellence in him and he can be trusted not to turn the table against his boss. What makes this scenario even more interesting is that if the president can trust his Joseph well enough, there are so many other small Josephs (corporate and individuals) in Nigeria he can recruit on behalf of the president to fix things in the country.

It was obvious that in asking Joseph to take over, King Pharaoh was looking for a person with track record of performance, regardless of academic qualifications. There was no record that Joseph was a professor of economics or administration. To make it interesting, he was not even an Egyptian. But in all the two places he had worked including the prison, Joseph demonstrated beyond reasonable doubts that he was a solution-oriented individual. His previous bosses simply handed over the affairs of their enterprises to him to take over.

There are many Josephs in the country, many individuals and corporate organisations with results, that the president can recruit to work with his main Joseph. In 2015, on my way to the US I was opportune to be sitting beside one of the pilots to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. We started talking and the summary of what he said is that by the time Aliko is through with his projects, the Dangote group would be in a position to lend forex to the Nigerian government. The Dangote group is everywhere. Who says the group cannot become another Samsung which according to recent data was responsible for over 20 per cent of South Korean’s GDP. Dangote is a Joseph.

For more than two decades, my good friend, Tony Elumelu, has proved his mettle as a turn-around manager having successfully resurrected Crystal Bank , turning it into a vibrant bank (STB) that eventually acquired UBA. And now through the Elemelu Foundation, Tony is providing succours for budding entrepreneurs across Africa. He is another Joseph

Another small Joseph is Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede. Aig and his partner Herbert Wigwe could be described as turn-around specialists. They took the banking industry by surprise when they created a complex transaction which made their bank, Access Bank, acquire a far bigger bank-Intercontinental Bank Plc. But Aig is into something much bigger. Last year he launched his new baby The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) which is designed to bridge the knowledge gap in the civil service.

Another Joseph, in corporate mould, is the Nigerian Breweries Plc, the pioneer and largest brewing company in Nigeria, which in recent time has taken the backward integration route and not a few experts have lauded the initiative which they agree will take Nigeria out of the current economic wood. NB Plc has specifically reaffirmed its commitment and in the process, created a total of 250,000 new jobs which has also led to the successful introduction of two innovative hybrid sorghum seeds to Nigerian farmers.

Speaking to Financial Journalists recently, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde explained that the initiative is part of the company’s “winning with Nigeria” project and in line with the current economic diversification process.

Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman of the company, Chief Kola Jamodu, stated that, “These investments, totalling over N11 billion stand out as a testimony to our corporate philosophy of Winning with Nigeria and they reflect our company’s bold confidence in Nigeria as an investment destination.”

With these Josephs at work, the president could conveniently step into the balcony as a coach where he can watch and motivate his team into performance. I was not really a fan of the president, until I went in company of my colleagues to interview him in his residence in Abuja during the campaign period. I was won over by his simplicity, humility and see- through honesty. He can stand on this brand while he allows his main Joseph and other Josephs to interpret and execute his plans. It is not a weakness that the president is low on the economy. The key point is that he has men who can make things happen, and the glory goes to him as the president.

Secondly, the president needs to properly empower his ministers and create rooms for them to express themselves. I am close to friends of some of the ministers and the feelers I get all the time is that they feel frustrated and do not feel released to make significant contribution in their areas of passions. To quote Stephen Covey, the president needs to understand that his main job as the coach and leader of the team is to find his voice and also inspire his ministers to find theirs.

Nigeria is at the threshold of history. Whatever the president decides to do or not to in the next two years would significantly shape the direction of things. We are watching!

• Ayo Arowolo is Editor at Large/Chief of Staff to Chairman, THISDAY & Arise TV