[kictanet] Three days in Nigeria

Thu Oct 10 17:57:11 EAT 2013

Wow Daktari,
Can't help but admire this break from policy issues. Great piece.
Benard

On 10/10/13 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.
>
>KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and
>bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect
>privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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