[kictanet] Three days in Nigeria

Thu Oct 10 15:55:54 EAT 2013

Daktari,

I'm waiting for your blog and book :)

Josiah

On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 3:35 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> John,
> Thanks.  Achebe is more significant having been the first African to write
> about Africa in English.  We should all remember the icon.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
> > Daktari,
> >
> > This is good prose. You should seriously consider a platform for this
> kind
> > of writing where you weave a narrative with personal observations during
> > formal engagements. A welcome break from your usual policy-style writing.
> > As
> > a parting shot, maybe you should have quoted the more contemporary
> > Chimamanda Adichie instead of Achebe. :)
> >
> > John Masiwe
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: kictanet
> > [mailto:kictanet-bounces+jmasiwe=bluegate.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
> > Behalf Of Bitange Ndemo
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 11:54 PM
> > To: jmasiwe at bluegate.co.ke
> > Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Three days in Nigeria
> >
> > Three days in Nigeria
> > Standing outside Abuja Airport in the soaring temperatures you get amazed
> > on how similar to Kenya Nigeria is.   This is Africa's most populous
> > country.   People idling around and women talking animatedly with their
> > hands akimbo and they are larger than you can see in Kenya.  I had missed
> > the person who was to pick me up.  Oga! Those who walked by me remarked.
> > I assumed it was some greetings to a brother.  Colours of their clothing
> > is
> > similar to ours and perhaps the only difference with Kenya is that more
> > men
> > wore multi-colour kanzus.  Open shoes, Akala type are more prevalent
> here.
> >
> > I walk towards the taxis.  They are gentler than I have read in Nigerian
> > literature.  They were honest too with the fare to the cities.  I had
> > begun
> > to settle down and give Nigeria the benefit of doubt but my mind takes me
> > back to Odili, the narrator in Achebe's 1966 novel, Man of the People.
> > Also
> > not forgetting the many stories told about Nigerians.
> >
> > For a while I savor the beauty of Abuja scenery.  Green everywhere.  It
> > must
> > be within the rain forest.  Land is expanse and untilled.  I turn my
> > attention to my driver Oku Moses.  An affable young man perhaps in his
> > early
> > 30's.  I tell him I am from Kenya and in Abuja for the CTO conference.
>  He
> > smiles broadly and asked me what I thought of Nigeria as if he had read
> my
> > mind.  I said so far so good and immediately I divert his train of
> thought
> > to football.  I tell him Nigeria is the main hindrance to Kenya's quest
> to
> > get to World cup.  We became friends instantly as he opened up to tell me
> > more.
> >
> > You see that road, he says it leads to nowhere.  Corruption is the only
> > problem here he adds as his tone begin to sound angrier.  I calm him down
> > and tell him it happens all over Africa.  The 50 kilometer super highway
> > from the airport to Abuja is as good as it gets, actually better than
> > Nairobi Thika highway.  The Hotel I am headed to, is called Chelsea,
> named
> > after the English league team Chelsea.  Oku is a fan of Arsenal another
> > English league team.  He knows all the players.  He asks which team I
> > support and when I tell him none, he then says that is why you will never
> > go
> > to world cup.
> >
> > At the hotel Oku bids me farewell and hands me his card.  Call me he
> says.
> >  I will show you the best of Nigeria.  It is still hot and my room was
> > steaming with heat.  This three star hotel does not have a centralized AC
> > but I could do with an old cranky stand-alone cooling system.  As I
> > cranked
> > it up, it made more noise that I could not listen to news on TV.
> > Then suddenly the lights went off - blackout!!.  Outside it was raining
> > heavily.  I said Geez this is home but soon some generator boomed just
> > outside my room to bring light.  I wished they had shut it down.
> >
> > Dinner time I joined other colleagues, Sonia, Karin, Robert and John for
> > Dinner.  Me and Sonia were the vegetarians and so requested for pasta,
> the
> > only vegetarian dish on the menu.  Alas! when the food came there was
> > chicken on pasta instead of tomato.   The young waitress tells me she
> > decided on chicken since there were no tomatoes.   After a few exchanges
> > she seems to remember something and says I can make it vegetarian.  Wala!
> > like magic she comes back with pasta alone.  I said thank you but as I
> > start
> > to eat, I discover or rather the waitress had forgotten that the base was
> > chicken and she had only removed the toppings of chicken.  She meant well
> > and wanted to do well but she missed the point.
> >
> > As I watched Nigerian channels that evening, I say to myself, Nigeria is
> > Kenya and Kenya is Nigeria.  We were colonized by the British.  We
> > attained
> > independence at about the same time in the 1960s.  We have new
> > constitutions
> > with devolved powers.  Just like Kenya, Nigeria continues to experience
> > longstanding ethnic and religious tensions.  Although in Kenya's 2008 as
> > in
> > Nigeria's 2003 and 2007 presidential elections were marred by significant
> > irregularities and violence, but both countries are experiencing relative
> > peace interrupted by the Al-Shabab and Boka Haram respectively.
> >
> > On Nigerian TV as in Kenya politicians complain that they need more power
> > to
> > states and counties.  They seem not to understand that they are the ones
> > with the power to change legislation and so when they complain, the
> masses
> > have no representation.  They also need more money yet they are the ones
> > who
> > appropriate resources.  They complain about soaring crime yet they are
> the
> > ones who have the mandate to bring better security legislation.
> > On the roads, motor bikes ride on the assumption that every motorist
> > should
> > watch on them.  Careless and dangerous like in Kenya.  If you admire the
> > cleanliness of Abuja while driving, you will for sure hit one of them.
> > Public places including hotels are guarded by armed policemen.
> >
> > In my speech at the conference I said I was glad to visit Nigeria, land
> of
> > Okonkwo from Umuofia (one of a fictional group of nine villages in
> > Nigeria, inhabited by the Igbo people).   Only a handful of the people in
> > the audience who knew that I was referring to Achebe's 1958 novel, Things
> > Fall Apart.  Later Funke, a prominent Nigerian businesswoman and friend
> > tells me that intellectualism died in Nigeria.  There was a time in
> > Nigeria
> > prominent writers were the role model of society.  These were the people
> > who
> > put our oral history on paper but we decided to chase them away.  It is
> > sad
> > that Achebe had to die in foreign land alone without his people.  I tell
> > Funke, it is so strikingly similar to Kenya that our prominent writers
> are
> > getting old and wasted away in foreign lands.
> >
> > Haruna is driving me back to the airport.  He like Oku is polite but with
> > much better intellect than an ordinary driver.  His grasp of African
> > matters
> > is excellent.  Out of the blue he tells me, you worked with government.
>  I
> > tell him yes and I quickly ask him why.  No I just wanted to know, he
> > says.
> > Then he tells me that he is driving a car (VX Land
> > Cruiser) that he will never afford to buy in his entire life. I note the
> > ambition in him and tell him that if you know then you are capable of
> > buying
> > the car.  I am not in government, he says.  I tell him you do not need to
> > be
> > in government to buy the car.  You see I was in government but I still
> > cannot drive such a thing.  He looks at me then he says, it is by choice
> > on
> > your part.  I tipped him $20 and bade him farewell.  He was stunned.
> >
> > I leave Nigeria with many fond memories.  It was three days but enough to
> > grasp the dreams of other people.  Their desires.  Their hopes.  We are
> > all
> > the same and hopefully one day we shall change the stigma of corruption
> by
> > improving the fortunes of our Africa.  God bless Africa.
> >
> >
> > Ndemo.
> >
> >
> > University of Nairobi
> > Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
> >
> >
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> University of Nairobi
> Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
>
>
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
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> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
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-- 
Josiah Mugambi
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