Business News

Read Tony Elumelu’s letter to the next generation

Published

3 years ago

December 5, 2017

Chris Pemu

Young African,

You are brave, you are resilient. You are savvy, you are entrepreneurial, and unlike the generations that have come before you, you are much hungrier for success. You call your ambition, “your hustle”, and you have several of them because you are tireless and eager to achieve financial independence – no matter how elusive it appears. You are optimistic but you are also anxious. You have seen others toil long and hard for economic security in vain, decades of labour without fruit.

Some of your friends may have discussed emigrating with you – legally or illegally, and some may have lost their young lives crossing the Mediterranean in search of a future overseas where their talents are recognized and rewarded. You may even know a few in Libya, unsuspecting victims to the ugly acts of slave trade. A combination of these factors has left you disillusioned and disconnected. You don’t believe in politics. There is no use in getting involved. You have seldom experienced good governance, so you think, “What’s the point?” But despite the gloom, there actually is indeed a point.

My generation and the ones before may have failed you, and the infrastructure for success glaringly absent – a persistent darkness in place of electricity, a stifling business environment that discourages enterprise and innovation, debilitating bureaucracy, inaccessible public officials who remain oblivious to your needs, an outdated education system in urgent need of reform– and the list goes on, but, if there’s anyone with the power to transform our continent and reshape our economic and social trajectory, it is YOU.

There is formidable power in your intellect and creativity, your talent and ingenuity are rare, and your resolve and determination against all odds, can drive great change. But most importantly, the greatest force is in your numbers. Together, all 600 million of you that are under 30 years old, have the potential to be the most influential bloc on this continent. The indescribable influence that you can collectively wield, I hope that you soon fully understand and hopefully, deploy.

Today, I’d like to discuss the inescapable reality of politics with you. It has been a busy week of traveling from Lagos to Boston, to Los Angeles, and in a few hours to New York, to receive BCIU’s inaugural Dwight Eisenhower Entrepreneurship Award, but I thought to take time out this evening to share a few thoughts with you. I have been inspired to share this with you after listening to my former professor at Harvard, Prof Michael Porter, whose session during our leadership council meeting of the Harvard Kennedy School Center of Public Leadership, was insightful, powerful, and very thought provoking.

His well-articulated argument emphasized that as a people we cannot afford to remain passive about politics. Though his reference region was America, there are strong parallels with our own situation in Africa. The main root cause of our continent’s underlying failure to pull the majority of its citizens from the unyielding clutches of poverty is poor leadership, so then why do we continue to tell ourselves that politics exists in a realm outside our own realities? Why do we refuse to engage in the political process of identifying and supporting visionary candidates, instead we remain at the mercy of political leadership committed to putting private interest ahead of public interest. Leaders who are beholden to the ideology that political parties come before citizens. Leaders who are private gain-seeking actors.

What we desperately need is a continent-wide awakening. We must grow to become active citizens who are committed to getting involved. The system is not self-correcting, there are no market forces at play to ensure that it corrects itself. It will require human actors – me and you – to identify and dismantle the structural impediments that fuel the status quo of bad leadership.

We must address this issue both systemically and systematically. Our democracy has become very disconnected from being democratic, we must bring power back to the people. We must reform the rules of our electoral processes to inject more transparency. We must transform politics from being an industry for a few interests, to being about the people and addressing the public needs.

We must change the oligopoly nature of our politics today to being one for the majority. The barriers to entry are high in politics, and very often, our best brains and talent are discouraged from running for office. We must dismantle these systems that keep away talented, individuals from joining the race.

We must open the door for generations knocking after us. We must take advantage of our demographic dividend, millions of young people who are ready to make a change. We must welcome this new generation of new ideas and we must democratize access to opportunity for all. We must get more women involved in the process because when you empower women you empower communities.

Structural reforms mean that no one individual can make this change alone, but with our collective voices and the realization that this is our time and that no one but us can save our continent, we can achieve change. We can no longer outsource politics or governance to people we do not trust. We must understand the inextricable link between governance, economic growth and national security. To pretend that politics does not influence the entirety of our lives harms us more than it benefits us.

We must change the rules of the game. We must put up a coordinated front to reorient our values and bring power back to the people. Our leaders must be the best amongst us – those with the most transformative ideas and the capacity to deliver. . It should be the best amongst us leading us in government, in the military, in our judiciary and of course the corporate sector. We must instill accountability in our processes, but also hold ourselves accountable. We must play our own role in identifying and empowering those amongst us best placed to make this difference. To abscond from this duty is to be negligent of our responsibility to our continent.

It won’t be easy, but nothing good comes easy. A famous man once said you should learn to categorize all your problems in three sections: Easy, Impossible and HARD but doable. When it’s easy, you should give it to someone else to handle. When it’s impossible, you shouldn’t bother with it. But when it’s hard but doable, you should go straight to work to make it happen.

My fellow Africans, I appeal to you that though this task seems hard, it is entirely doable and we must begin this journey. Let us rise to this challenge and begin to elect leaders who we trust in and are confident will help us realize the social and economic hopes of our continent.

Related Topics:Deepdive Poverty in Africa Tony Elumelu Tony Elumelu's Letter

Chris Pemu

Christopher B. Pemu has a degree in Political Science from the University of Lagos. He joined Nairametrics in 2014 as News Editor and later as Managing Editor. He currently serves as the General Manager of Nairametrics. He takes pleasure in traveling, enjoys world politics and in sport, he loves watching football and tennis.

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Coronavirus

COVID-19 Update in Nigeria

On the 4th of July 2020, 603 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria bringing the total confirmed cases recorded in the country to 28,167.

Published

4 hours ago

July 5, 2020

Samuel Oyekanmi

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria touched a new milestone as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 28,167 confirmed cases.

On the 4th of July 2020, 603 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 3,355 samples across the country.

To date, 28,167 cases have been confirmed, 11,462 cases have been discharged and 632 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 148,188 tests have been carried out as of July 4th, 2020 compared to 144,833 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 4th July 2020

Total Number of Cases – 28,167
Total Number Discharged – 11,462
Total Deaths – 634
Total Tests Carried out – 148,188

According to the NCDC, the 603 new cases were reported from 19 states- Lagos (135), Edo (87), Abuja (73), Rivers (67), Delta (62), Ogun (47), Kaduna (20), Plateau (19), Osun (17), Ondo (16), Enugu and Oyo (15), Borno (13), Niger (6), Nasarawa (4), Kebbi (3), Kano (2), Sokoto and Abia (1) case each

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 11,045, followed by Abuja (2,153), Oyo (1,466), Edo (1,353), Kano (1,264), Delta (1,227) Rivers (1,181), Ogun (974), Kaduna (855), Katsina (579), Borno (528), Bauchi (516), Gombe (513), Ebonyi (438), Plateau (421), Ondo (410), Abia (383), Enugu (372), Imo (352), Jigawa (318).

Kwara state has recorded 269 cases, Bayelsa (234), Nasarawa (225), Osun (165), Sokoto (153), Niger (122), Akwa Ibom (104), Benue (97), Adamawa (89), Kebbi (84), Zamfara (76), Anambra (73), Yobe (61), Ekiti (43), Taraba (19), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases.

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020.

Date	Confirmed case	New cases	Total deaths	New deaths	Total recovery	Active cases	Critical cases
July 4, 2020	28167	603	634	6	11462	16071	7
July 3, 2020	27564	454	628	12	11069	15867	7
July 2, 2020	27110	626	616	13	10801	15693	7
July 1, 2020	26484	790	603	13	10152	15729	7
June 30, 2020	25694	561	590	17	9746	15358	7
June 29, 2020	25133	566	573	8	9402	15158	7
June 28, 2020	24867	490	565	7	9007	14995	7
June 27, 2020	24077	779	558	4	8625	14894	7
June 26, 2020	23298	684	554	5	8253	14491	7
June 25, 2020	22614	594	549	7	7822	14243	7
June 24, 2020	22020	649	542	9	7613	13865	7
June 23, 2020	21371	452	533	8	7338	13500	7
June 22, 2020	20919	675	525	7	7109	13285	7
June 21, 2020	20242	436	518	12	6879	12847	7
June 20, 2020	19808	661	506	19	6718	12584	7
June 19, 2020	19147	667	487	12	6581	12079	7
June 18, 2020	18480	745	475	6	6307	11698	7
June 17, 2020	17735	587	469	14	5967	11299	7
June 16, 2020	17148	490	455	31	5623	11070	7
June 15, 2020	16658	573	424	4	5349	10885	7
June 14, 2020	16085	403	420	13	5220	10445	7
June 13, 2020	15682	501	407	8	5101	10174	7
June 12, 2020	15181	627	399	12	4891	9891	7
June 11, 2020	14554	681	387	5	4494	9673	7
June 10, 2020	13873	409	382	17	4351	9140	7
June 9, 2020	13464	663	365	4	4206	8893	7
June 8, 2020	12801	315	361	7	4040	8400	7
June 7, 2020	12486	260	354	12	3959	8173	7
June 6, 2020	12233	389	342	9	3826	8065	7
June 5, 2020	11844	328	333	10	3696	7815	7
June 4, 2020	11516	350	323	8	3535	7646	7
June 3, 2020	11166	348	315	1	3329	7522	7
June 2, 2020	10819	241	314	15	3239	7266	7
June 1, 2020	10578	416	299	12	3122	7157	9
May 31, 2020	10162	307	287	14	3007	6868	7
May 30, 2020	9855	553	273	12	2856	6726	7
May 29, 2020	9302	387	261	2	2697	6344	7
May 28, 2020	8915	182	259	5	2592	6064	7
May 27, 2020	8733	389	254	5	2501	5978	7
May 26, 2020	8344	276	249	16	2385	5710	7
May 25, 2020	8068	229	233	7	2311	5524	7
May 24, 2020	7839	313	226	5	2263	5360	7
May 23, 2020	7526	265	221	0	2174	5131	7
May 22, 2020	7261	245	221	10	2007	5033	7
May 21, 2020	7016	339	211	11	1907	4898	7
May 20, 2020	6677	284	200	8	1840	4637	7
May 19, 2020	6401	226	192	1	1734	4475	7
May 18, 2020	6175	216	191	9	1644	4340	7
May 17, 2020	5959	388	182	6	1594	4183	7
May 16, 2020	5621	176	176	5	1472	3973	7
May 15, 2020	5445	288	171	3	1320	3954	4
May 14, 2020	5162	193	168	3	1180	3815	4
May 13, 2020	4971	184	164	6	1070	3737	4
May 12, 2020	4787	146	158	6	959	3670	4
May 11, 2020	4641	242	152	10	902	3589	4
May 10, 2020	4399	248	142	17	778	3479	4
May 9, 2020	4151	239	127	11	745	3278	4
May 8, 2020	3912	386	118	10	679	3115	4
May 7, 2020	3526	381	108	4	601	2818	4
May 6, 2020	3145	195	104	5	534	2507	1
May 5, 2020	2950	148	99	5	481	2370	4
May 4, 2020	2802	245	94	6	417	2291	2
May 3, 2020	2558	170	88	2	400	2070	2
May 2, 2020	2388	220	86	17	351	1952	2
May 1, 2020	2170	238	69	10	351	1751	2
April 30, 2020	1932	204	59	7	317	1556	2
April 29, 2020	1728	196	52	7	307	1369	2
April 28, 2020	1532	195	45	4	255	1232	2
April 27, 2020	1337	64	41	0	255	994	2
April 26, 2020	1273	91	41	5	239	994	2
April 25, 2020	1182	87	36	3	222	925	2
April 24, 2020	1095	114	33	1	208	855	2
April 23, 2020	981	108	32	3	197	753	2
April 22, 2020	873	91	29	3	197	648	2
April 21, 2020	782	117	26	3	197	560	2
April 20, 2020	665	38	23	1	188	466	2
April 19, 2020	627	86	22	2	170	436	2
April 18, 2020	541	48	20	2	166	356	2
April 17, 2020	493	51	18	4	159	317	2
April 16, 2020	442	35	13	1	152	277	2
April 15, 2020	407	34	12	1	128	267	2
April 14, 2020	373	30	11	1	99	263	2
April 13, 2020	343	20	10	0	91	242	2
April 12, 2020	323	5	10	0	85	228	2
April 11, 2020	318	13	10	3	70	238	2
April 10, 2020	305	17	7	0	58	240	2
April 9, 2020	288	14	7	1	51	230	2
April 8, 2020	274	22	6	0	44	226	2
April 7, 2020	254	16	6	1	44	204	2
April 6, 2020	238	6	5	0	35	198	2
April 5, 2020	232	18	5	1	33	194	2
April 4, 2020	214	5	4	0	25	185	0
April 3, 2020	209	25	4	2	25	180	0
April 2, 2020	184	10	2	0	20	162	0
April 1, 2020	174	35	2	0	9	163	0
March 31, 2020	139	8	2	0	9	128	0
March 30, 2020	131	20	2	1	8	121	0
March 29, 2020	111	22	1	0	3	107	0
March 28, 2020	89	19	1	0	3	85	0
March 27, 2020	70	5	1	0	3	66	0
March 26, 2020	65	14	1	0	2	62	0
March 25, 2020	51	7	1	0	2	48	0
March 24, 2020	44	4	1	0	2	41	0
March 23, 2020	40	10	1	1	2	37	0
March 22, 2020	30	8	0	0	2	28	0
March 21, 2020	22	10	0	0	1	21	0
March 20, 2020	12	4	0	0	1	11	0
March 19, 2020	8	0	0	0	1	7	0
March 18, 2020	8	5	0	0	1	7	0
March 17, 2020	3	1	0	0	0	3	0
March 16, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 15, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 14, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 13, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 12, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 11, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 10, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 9, 2020	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
March 8, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 7, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 6, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 5, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 4, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 3, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 2, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 1, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 29, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 28, 2020	1	1	0	0	0	1	0

Economy & Politics

Over 20% of N-Power beneficiaries are now business owners – FG

The Minister emphasized the President’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

Published

7 hours ago

July 4, 2020

Chike Olisah

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has said that about 109,823 beneficiaries of the N-Power programme now have their own businesses.

This represents about 22% of the 500,000 Nigerians that have benefited from this programme since its inception.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Minister’s Special Assistant on Strategic Communications, Mrs Halima Oyelade on Saturday, July 4, 2020. She said that the beneficiaries of Batch A and B of N-Power have established businesses in their communities.

The Minister in the statement said, “Statistics like this gives me joy and once again, I want to say congratulations; I look forward to hearing amazing testimonies and meeting beneficiaries of this programme who will be doing great things in the future”.

She emphasized President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years by creating opportunities that would improve the productivity of Nigerian youths for entrepreneurship or employment.

Going further the minister said, “Thus, the need to find ways to engage them is of utmost importance. However, the commencement of the enrolment of Batch C was predicated on the need to give more Nigerian youths the opportunity to benefit. This is because, keeping only 500,000 beneficiaries for four years defeats the purpose of Mr President’s vision, hence the need to scale up and was in no way meant to be punitive.”

While acknowledging the beneficiaries’ contributions, Farouq said, ‘’You are our model N-Power beneficiaries. Please avail yourselves of all opportunities provided by government like interest-free loans and leverage on those opportunities while using N-Power as a stepping stone”.

The minister said the ministry is working at resolving some of the challenges facing the programme which include delays in the payment of stipends, beneficiaries not showing up at their places of primary assignments and people accessing the programme while gainfully employed elsewhere.

The minister also assured beneficiaries that outstanding payments would be made and transition plans were ongoing and would be duly communicated to them on their platform.

Some of the beneficiaries of the programme gave good testimonies about the impact of the programme in their lives and all expressed their gratitude to the Federal Government for the opportunity.

Nairametrics has reported the opening of application portal for batch C of the programme with effect from 11.45 pm on June 26, 2020. There have been over 3 million applicants that have shown interest in batch C of the programme in about a week.

Corporate Press Releases

Meristem features Nike Okundaye in Campaign titled “The Journey”, highlights the importance for partners

Meristem taps into Okundaye’s creative energy, highlighting the shared story of growth and collaboration.

Published

9 hours ago

July 4, 2020

NM Press

It has been a long journey for financial services provider, Meristem Nigeria, having started out as a boutique stockbroking firm over 16 years ago and morphing into a capital market conglomerate offering an array of diversified service and product offerings. The tale is similar for the art and culture doyen, Nike Okundaye-Davies whose humble beginning in traditional weaving and dying practice annealed her to the art world and art lovers.

At a graceful age of 70, she has achieved over 102 solo art exhibitions, 36 group art exhibitions, a permanent display of two of her works in the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, a Harvard recognition and many other global acclaims. With four (4) art galleries spread across the country, and the Lagos center being the biggest art gallery in West Africa, she once told a Forbes journalist that her dreams are driven by careful financial planning as she reinvests at least two-thirds of her income in her business and art centers.

Meristem taps into her creative energy in this campaign, highlighting the shared story of growth and collaboration for both institutions, and the need to onboard the right partners to achieve long term financial goals and investment security.

Meristem, a capital market conglomerate and diversified financial services provider offering stockbroking, wealth management, asset management, trustee services and financial advisory. Over the past 16 years, Meristem has been consistent in value creation and innovation within the capital market space. The Nigerian stock exchange awarded Meristem as the best digital broker of the year. In 2018 also, Meristem became the first Nigerian asset management firm to attain compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) by the CFA Institute. In 2017, Meristem handled the single largest trade in the history of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.