GUEST POST: WHY REMAIN SAME WHEN REAL CHANGE IS POSSIBLE?

“The fly that does not listen would end up following the corpse to the grave”; this happens to be one of my mum’s numerous favorite quotes and recently I have asked myself whether Nigeria is like this legendary fly that refuses to take heed and is thus faced with imminent destruction.

Sometime last month, I had to go to Abuja from Lagos. This trip was not new to me because my work as a consultant makes me travel around and on short notice too. Consequently, packing was not as difficult as it would have been for some people, yet the envisaged stress of the journey was not something I looked forward to due to the renovation of the Abuja international airport- meaning a journey to Kaduna was necessary.

The delay at the airport in Lagos was tiring and annoying. Again, this was not new to me but I had left my house at 9am in order to catch a 10:25am flight which did not leave until 1pm. We arrived Kaduna within an hour (no traffic in the air, thank God) and the second “waiting” commenced. We had to wait for the bus that was provided to be filled up so we could depart for Abuja.

Now I must commend the Federal government for their effort to ease the stress of the journey. Yes we had a bus, yes we had an escort but sitting for 3 long hours was quite exhausting. Still, we survived. We arrived Abuja airport safely and I then had to locate my hotel. I left my house as early as 9am and only arrived my final destination around 7pm tired and exhausted- the day was practically over.

This experience opened my eyes to something that has bothered me- transportation in Nigeria has become a luxury instead of a simple affair that should happen for everyone without stress. I keep asking myself if we are still at this level and the answer ‘smiles’ back at me.

Following my experience when coming from Kaduna to Abuja, I was dreading the return trip and though already set to join the same bus from the airport in Abuja back to Kaduna, a friend recommended I take the train instead. I went to the train station, registered with my flight ticket and soon boarded the train headed to Kaduna. The time management of the railway team was commendable, the ride was smooth and less stressful; and although my flight was delayed (no surprise there), I arrived home safe and sound.

Few weeks after my experience, I was just about going to bed when I felt this heavy burden. I tried to take my mind off it but I just couldn’t- I had not felt this sad in a while and so I thought that just maybe by sharing this, I’d feel better.

The Abuja airport has just been completed in record time (just about 6 weeks). However, the Port Harcourt ‘international’ airport remains incomplete after several years… WHY?

Imagine if our schools and hospitals were given the same level of attention as the Abuja airport; lives are lost daily at our hospitals due to inadequate facilities (especially in the government hospitals); and brains are drained daily in our schools. While these are equally important, they aren’t given due attention, WHY?

For those of us who have ever been to or reside in Lagos, imagine how the ‘city’ would have been now if the 3^rd Mainland bridge was not constructed when it was constructed. Now visualize how the future of Nigeria would be if we don’t do what needs to be done NOW.

I guess the insincerity of the some elites and those at the helm of affairs is so clear. Maybe, just maybe, if the things that are important to the common man were a necessity to the elites, they would be given same level of attention.

I just wonder where we are really going to as a country (Nigeria). Certain states are trying, no doubt; certain people are working, very true; but Nigeria will remain the same except we all push at once.

So as Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”; I’ve decided to say something, I’ve decided to shout, I’ve decided to write this, I’ve decided to share my thoughts and hopefully, the fire can ignite our hearts to seek for real change, to stand up for and do what is right.

The time is Now! NIGERIA looks up to you!

 

Uche Adiele

“Determined to add value to every interaction and light up my little world”

Our Diversity must not become a Curse.

Hi people. This write-up is based on my thoughts on how, Nigerians take things we ought not to, a bit too seriously. The purpose of my write-up is to, hopefully, break this religious boundaries placed in our hearts by our parents or the society in general.Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. Religion is the belief in, and worship of, a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or god. Ethnicity is the act of belonging to a social group that has a common cultural tradition. Nowhere does the dictionary definitions of these two words limit us in terms of association. We have taken it beyond these definitions as provided by Wikipedia; some of us use religion and ethnicity as a basis for choosing our friends, employees, business partners and, most importantly, life partners. Some of these decisions have been engrained in our brains from when we were too young to know anything. Just casually talking to people, you hear things like “my father said I cannot marry from this tribe or religion”. Why? We don’t know. Whatever experiences or stories they have heard or gone through should stay with them. We, as a young generation, should be allowed to live and take our own decisions, our parents and elders should not take the front stage in deciding our fate.

They need to understand a few vital things. Your religion or ethnicity does not determine your behavior. Like being a Christian doesn’t mean one isn’t a wife beater or being a Muslim doesn’t mean one is perfect. You being a good or bad person is not dependent on your faith, it’s based on you as an individual. I mean, we have so called pastors doing things we read about that the traditional worshippers we so berate will not even think of trying. The Muslim man might just be a very nice and cheerful giver that would give you peace of mind. But no, we don’t look at those. Your child wants to marry a wife, what bothers you is “will she be able to greet me properly in our language, or cook our food”? Have you tried her own soup? What makes you think you won’t like it? My best soup these days is Oha or white soup (ofe nsala) and those are not Yoruba soups. I see some Igbo men dressing in Yoruba attire and they look good. I think we should make decisions and judgments based on people’s personalities and competencies and not necessarily their religions or ethnicities, and be open to new things. A lot of partnerships, both business and life, have been cut short as a result of people taking the wrong step of cutting them off, based on religious or ethnic sentiments. Some of these decisions are not even taken by that individual but by people who believe they know more and keep causing chaos in the Nigeria of today. Sometimes, when we are asked why, we don’t even know ourselves. That’s because of the ‘you are older than me so you must be correct’ syndrome. In fact, Nigerian attitude is a story for another day.

Do we know what diversity means? Inclusion, the quality of having different forms of ideas, cultures. Different people from distinct backgrounds and religions will have different ways of doing things, different life experiences. This might just be the perfect combination to solve whatever comes their way as a team. Have you taken one minute to think about why top institutions like Harvard and top companies make diversity and inclusion a top priority; why they recruit talent from around the world? It is not rocket science, bringing different people from different places helps build the best products. Well, they only recruit the best anyways. There is a dynamism and excitement that comes with working with different people. I mean, when forming a team, why include somebody that is just like you? What benefit does that serve anyone? Are we not supposed to include people that possess qualities different from ours to form a better team? People that have strengths in areas we are weak in? People that complement ourselves? There is a limit to how far we can go when we limit our associations. These people, when brought together, form bonds and birth great ideas, keeping aside whatever differences they might have. They produce model solutions to the world’s problems, they focus on the big picture, the goal, the reason they are there and not the unnecessary religious and ethnic sentiments.

 

Maybe one of the reasons we are not progressing as a nation is because of these ethnic and religious differences. Think about it. Some of us have had no cause to go out of our ethnic localities. We schooled in Lagos, did our youth Service in Lagos and now, we work in Lagos. You will now become minister for Power for the nation, you have no idea what happens in the North or South-South. If that same fellow were to have gotten married to somebody from that region, he would have a first-hand opinion on what goes on in that region. We would be better leaders, have a better idea of what goes on in Nigeria as a whole and, possibly, be more tolerant of our fellow Nigerians. Most of the religious and ethnic clashes will be avoided. They are a function of battles we fight without knowing why we fight them. What exactly are we fighting for? The ideal thing is to practice your religion and live your life, just don’t disturb others with it. Your way of life will speak for your religion and your personality. If I were to judge Christianity by the way my constantly praying, noisy, self-centered, daily abusive neighbors live their lives, I will go nowhere near the walls of a church. I am a Christian because I believe in Jesus, that doesn’t mean I should admonish my Muslim friend for believing in Mohammed. If we look beyond that stage, we both believe in God and that’s all that matters.

This ‘good fellow’ thing is a function of the individual and not necessarily what they practice or where they come from. I am honestly tired of the ethnic and religious barriers, and I think any forward thinking educated person should too. Let us fight the usual, let us question our elders, let them see reason. Let’s just try. The earlier we realize as a nation that diversity is the way and start to move beyond the little things that don’t really matter, the faster we will go towards achieving our potential as the Giants of Africa.

Power demystified

This piece was co-written with my good friend Olumide AK, who is running a thriving career in the power sector.Basically, we want to help you understand the Nigerian power sector, why we are all in blackouts most times and what we can do as a people and a government to help ourselves. I will try to be as simple as possible. We will hide the engineer in us. We begin.

Nigeria’s potential to become one of the world’s largest economies will remain just a dream without the electricity required to pursue aggressive industrialization, and help revitalization of our local industries. The high cost of goods in Nigeria today is largely dependent on the cost of power. Most companies run their heavy machinery on diesel, whose price has skyrocketed with a corresponding increase in the price of everything – yes, Indomie and gala included.

To understand the major cause of total blackouts in Nigeria, one has to know what *National Electric Grid* means. An electrical grid is an interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. Basically, we generate electricity from the power plants all across the country (hydro-electric, powered by water and gas powered plants) through GENCOs. We then transmit it (which is the job of the transmission company of Nigeria) after which we distribute it to our homes (which is the job of the distribution companies called DISCOs – the ones we go to buy electricity cards from; for those that have prepaid meters and the ones that just give us estimated bills for those that don’t which are sometimes outrageous.

GENERATION-              TRANSMISSION-         DISTRIBUTION 

Electricity generated must be consumed immediately. This statement simply means that these 3 major components must work hand-in-hand. The infrastructure of the three must be developed proportionately. I was privileged to be in a power plant in Delta state. The generation company had its own goals, however, the transmission company was not in line with those aspirations. They had to shed excess energy they produced at a loss, as the transmission company did not have the capacity to receive all the energy produced at that time. The same goes for the distribution companies. Transmission Company of Nigeria can only transmit what the distribution companies can receive. So this brings us to problem one; infrastructure. So, when they say on the news that the national grid is down (the grid is controlled by the national control centre in Oshogbo), it simply means one of these 3 components is not ready for the other, as there must be a balance at all points. There is one extra power player; the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET). Basically, they purchase electricity from the generating companies and sell to the distribution companies.

Problem 2 is with power generation. Most of Nigeria’s power is generated by gas turbine engines, which make use of natural gas. Natural gas is a byproduct of crude oil refining. This is passed through pipelines to the plants to help produce electricity. To the best of my knowledge, 23 out of the 26 power plants in Nigeria depend on gas. Natural gas accounts for more than 80% of Nigeria’s generating fuel needs, and given the present gas-to-power policy, this is likely to become a trend. Our Niger Delta brothers vandalize these pipelines, hence, no gas to produce the electricity we need. Our vulnerability to over dependence on gas has become apparent, hence the blackouts. For the hydroelectric power plants, these depend on the strength of river flows. That is why during the rainy season, we pray for our government as we experience better light since the plants are producing more energy. But since we are yet to enter the rainy season, we apologize for the blackout, rain is coming. These hydro-plants were built since the 80s, we hope that they are being upgraded regularly to perform optimally.

Now, let us compare two countries. The first, South-Africa; with just over 50 million people, having a generating capacity of 50,000MW and average generation of just over 42000MW, and Nigeria; a country of over 150 million people having a generating capacity of just over 11000MW, recording a peak generation of 5074.7MW with actual average generation of 3800MW. All these stories are just to tell you that our demand is way greater than our supply. We need over 17,000MW of electricity and we are currently producing below 5000MW. We are the 7th largest country in the world in terms of population. In terms of power generation? Only God knows. Only about 12.5% of Nigeria’s population have access to power supply. We have been suffering, we are suffering and we will still suffer in the future, unless the government takes drastic measures to make things better.

The government needs to do more in terms of infrastructure, the gap is way too wide. We hear they have been pumping money into infrastructure but we are not seeing the results. Corruption and mismanagement of funds come into play again. We need to get better as a nation in terms of those. Corruption is taking us to the drains. Power is vital to the economy; it helps reduce the cost of production for industries, we will spend less on fuel, and basically, Nigerians can be happy again. There are other sources of power the government can look into, different parts of the country can depend on varying sources.

The core north at the moment does not generate even 1MW of electricity. I went for NYSC orientation camp in Katsina, and I wonder why we don’t have Solar panels over there. I mean, the sun can fry egg. As early as 7am, you are sweating under the blazing heat. All states in the north can attempt to harness solar energy. They also have strong winds in those regions to harness wind energy. Enugu is called the coal city, there are coal powered plants; why can’t we power Enugu and its neighboring states with coal and let the rest of us think of how to sort ourselves out? This is where green energy experts will raise their heads. I am sure we can find ways to regulate the emission and reduce the impact on the environment. We can think of biomass; Nigeria has a population of 193.4million people and generates waste on a daily basis. Biomass power plants are especially useful for waste that is not biodegradable, which makes up most of the waste in landfills. It serves areas with high population density that generates the most waste, by transforming the waste generated into energy used to power homes and businesses. Yes, Lagos is screaming at me! Lagos can use this method and let the rest of Nigeria manage the rest of the power we generate. All these states with millions of people from the last election figures; Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Bornu can also tap into this source of electricity. Before you say “why waste?”, hear this. Even the Unites states uses Biomass. It helps add 11,000MW of electricity to their grid – that is double our current total electricity generation capacity. I just think we need innovative solutions, or rather, simple solutions to help ourselves. Diversifying sources of energy will help us not be overly dependent on gas powered plants that can be sabotaged by our Niger Delta friends.

This is the major one. Yes, us, all of us Nigerians. There is the value component. Most of the equipment used in the power sector are expensive and imported. These generating, transmission and distribution companies take loans to help improve their operations and better our lives. The generating companies cannot grow and cannot pay debts. Many of these loans were taken in foreign currency. See what has happened to our exchange rate! The DISCOs have to do better, install more prepaid meters but can they try to figure out a way to collect debts? We as a people can also contribute in our own little way. Most importantly, pay for your “light”. Not to the men that come to disconnect your light with a ladder, that you tip for reconnection. That money is for their pockets. Pay at the PHCN office, collect a receipt. I know some people will connect their bulbs and low appliances to the meter but tap the one for their freezers and air conditioners. You are basically stealing energy from Nigeria. Stop bypassing meters, stop connecting directly to the power supply without being registered, stop stealing transformers and cables, stop vandalizing equipment. You will spend whatever money you think you are saving buying fuel. We are our own worst enemies. We are all suffering for the stupidity of a few. Some of us will put on appliances in the house anyhow. Help Nigeria save energy, help us. Electric cookers to cook beans? Not wise. Use gas, firewood or stove. Water heater on all day? Are you heating the house? Switch on when in use and switch off when you are done. Buy light-saving bulbs and light-saving electronics, you will save money and save energy. Stop wasting energy. Once the allocation to the distribution company for that day is over, you have to use your generator or candle. Remember, energy cannot be stored. God bless Nigeria.

 

 

We can do more.

Okay so we were on our way to an offshore facility in Warri and a few things caught my eyes. This writeup is based on a short trip o, so don’t come at me gun blazing, I didn’t live in the creeks for months to know the true nature of things. Just sharing a bit from the little I observed from my ship ride. Err I am also not an oil worker thanks.
So we had a soldier on board who knew the area like the back of his hand. He helps secure the FPSO (Floating, production, storage and offloading) vessel, so he makes this trip frequently. Village after village he gave a brief on what he knows about that community. He also shared a brief on his time doing peacekeeping in Liberia and what he thinks the government needs to do to stop Bokoharam, but that is not why we are here lol. 
One common sight was children on canoes happily fishing. I mean 7-12 year old children, on a hot Tuesday morning just before 12 noon.
So I began to think, what do these children do all day? Do they ever go to school? Using binoculars to look through their shanties, I guess not. These community children probably just live through each day. Without western education they are easily cajoled into becoming militants I guess, with the promise of a better life other than daily fishing. That’s if an oil firm has not spilled into the waters and polluted it all, thus ending their only source of livelihood.
So we all sit in Lagos and Abuja, talk about how the Niger Delta Avengers are destroying the country, how they are sabotaging the progress of the nation, but I ask what are we doing for them?. (Please this is not me endorsing their activities o). They have blown up our gas pipelines and there is no light in the country, we call them stupid and irrational but they are just bringing us to their own normal life level. I looked through most of these communities with a pair of binoculars and I saw nothing. No electric poles, no schools, no hospitals, of course there were very small churches, nothing else. I honestly saw one school somewhere but it looked nothing like our fine Lagos schools. These people have nothing. Oil has become a burden to them.
I read somewhere that one state government in the north started giving free meals in schools and the attendance levels rose drastically. Can we have more incentives like this? Can all governments think through the peculiar situation of their own communities and states, proffer solutions to making things better for the populace. Can we the citizens make our government more liable for their actions, can we register to vote and protect our vote so we elect the right people? Can our governors remember that they are called to serve and not to oppress and amass wealth? Can we remind our governors when they go wrong and not just blatantly support an individual because we are members of their political party or getting juicy contracts from them? Can we call our leaders to question at times, people that resign because of mere allegations in saner climes, do not have two heads. Can our pastors tell our leaders the truth and not give them front row seats in our churches and celebrate them? Can we put in as much effort, passion and rigour into work as we do for religious activities? Can all of us be more accountable? 
I think our government need to do more, we as a people need to do more, to help Nigeria and the Nigerian child. Nigeria can be a much better place. 
Have a lovely productive week people. 

Failing Forward my version

Okay so experienced failure for the first time in 25 years. It was indeed sweet I mean like ice cream. Maybe I have become too complacent over the years, maybe I didn’t try hard enough, maybe I haven’t been tested rigorously enough or maybe I am doing too much with my life at the same time. Whatever the case is, it is a time to reflect on my life and become better at whatever I am doing. So I decided to read on failure and then saw some awesome things I will share with us.
We fret at failure, we try to avoid it, the fear of failure often times stops us from reaching our potential. I read somewhere it is better to fly high and just miss a very big target than fly low and hit a very low target completely. 
The simple truth is, no great success was achieved without failure. Failure is a necessary stepping stone to achieving our dreams. The difference between long term success and failure is the reaction to it.
Many of the success stories we read about started from failure or being rejected which forced them to work hard to realize their potentials. 
Henry Ford, Soichiro Honda, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan all failed or were not good enough at some point in their lives. These examples cut across all spheres of life; business men, scientists, public figures, musicians and athletes. We remember them because they bounced back and made their mark on history.
I read some quotes off Forbes on failure which I believe will be helpful:
1. What is the point in being alive if you don’t at least try something remarkable?….John Green.

2. If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original…Ken Robinson.

3. Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid by only saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing… Denis Waitley.

4. You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space…Johnny Cash.

5. It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts…Zig Ziglar.
Success is relative don’t let the fear of failure deter you from making your dreams become a reality. If you have a brilliant idea just try it out you just might be the solution to the problem the world has been waiting for.
It is not always reaching the destination that defines the man(or woman), but the journey taken to get there. The biggest successes have gone through the biggest failures. What makes (or breaks) a person is how they react to the obstacles in their lives and what they do (or not do) to overcome these setbacks.
The moral of this write up, don’t be afraid to fail. When you do reflect on your actions and bounce back stronger.
Adedotun Somoye 2017.