Opinion

Opinion

Opinion: The Next Generation of Print :By Duygu Sanac Keçeci

Now is an important time for the print industry. It’s a time of change and where new and emerging technologies are influencing its future. The print industry is unique and has developed over many years, transitioning from analogue to digital technologies, but there’s still so much more to come. For it to continue to grow and transform, we need fresh ideas and out-of-the-box thinking. And one way that we can support this growth is to attract the next generation.

Print to you and me is a range of innovative applications that we interact with within our daily lives. However, print to someone who doesn’t know print’s full capabilities or creative potential could be seen as just a book or a poster you put up on your wall. Those outside of our industry don’t realise all that ‘print’ encompasses – everything from a calendar to instruction manuals, or wallpaper to window graphics. In fact, everything you read that is not on a screen (besides a handwritten letter) is printed. But if this is the perception of print, then how do we attract new and young talent to fuel future innovation?

Print is more than just a word

We know that print is rapidly advancing due to new technologies such as automation, augmented reality and robotics, and it’s these additions that present the opportunities for new talent.

In order to attract the future workforce, we need to re-look at the term ‘print’. What does it actually mean? For me, the word limits the scope of what print really is – it’s purely the output of what we do. And it’s impossible to encapsulate what our industry can do with just one word.

The magic of the industry is the end-to-end journey behind it including software, hardware, finishing etc. It should be positioned as a creative technology industry and this is what we need to bring to the fore to attract the next generation.

Young people today are digitally savvy, having grown up with smart technology at their fingertips. Some of them see print as old-fashioned and not ‘sexy’ like digital. So, we need to combine new technologies that they’re au fait with – and perhaps that they wouldn’t necessarily relate to print – in order to appeal to them. We need to speak their language and show them the strong role that print has to play alongside these digital and virtual platforms, and how they can be part of its exciting future in bringing the two more closely together.

Attracting the future print workforce

With a perception outside of the industry that print is dying, why would someone starting their career want to work in, what appears to be, a doomed industry? What they don’t know is that there are so many opportunities for growth – it is not a dying industry, but one that is constantly evolving. And it has huge creative and technology innovation potential.

One of the things I noticed when beginning my career in print, is that it offers such scope for variety, bridging the gap between popular career routes such as technology and marketing. My background is in mechatronics engineering and I’ve been able to transfer these skills and apply them to new digital print technologies such as robotics and automation. Today’s digital printing devices integrate significant levels of automation to control virtually every aspect of production, thus changing the skill sets now required to operate these machines.

As a product manager in cut-sheet toner, I need to understand the technology behind the performance – but I also need to understand how to explain this technology in terms of benefits to the customer – the print service provider – and the customer’s customer – the print buyer. And this is where the skills I have developed through achieving a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree have helped in my conversations with customers to explain how to sell and market the technology and the role that print plays in helping them to grow their business.

There are so many different career avenues within the print industry where skills can be deployed – creativity and design, data analytics, technology, engineering, business development, customer loyalty, marketing strategies – whatever their skills, they could find a match within the print.

We need to explore more engaging ways to relate print to younger generations’ hobbies and interests. Take someone who is interested in sport, for instance. They probably don’t know about all of the huge opportunities for print at just one sports stadium – from tickets to flyers to graphics. If they have a passion for fashion, they could get involved with fabric printing or textile design.

Or perhaps one young individual is considering a career as a data analyst. They could be the brains behind a revolutionary software solution that integrates brand-customer relationship management systems with print.

Love to travel? With a calendar of global print and packaging exhibitions and customers located around the world, there’s plenty of opportunities to explore new cities and countries.

The onus is on us, the print industry and large vendors, like Canon, to get out and in front of the younger generation. Attend trade fairs, work with colleges and universities or why not even send personalised print directly to their doors? We need to be in front of them to show them what print is really capable of; demonstrate how they could be part of this evolving industry and how they can contribute to the future of it.

Innovate with new talent

Time and time again I’m told that I’m still ‘new’ to the print industry, whereas, in any other workplace, three and a half years isn’t considered a short period of time. This demonstrates that it’s rare for people from other industries to start working in print and proves the need for our industry to cast the net wider when looking for new talent.

The advantages of hiring from within our industry are clear – people know the markets, competitors and technology. However, all this knowledge can be learned, we can help teach new recruits. And the good news is that younger generations are quick to adapt, so we need to begin imparting our knowledge to help build the print generation of the future.

We know that it’s a combination of people and technology that bring about change and innovation. Technology is rapidly evolving, so now is the time to integrate new talent with new ideas and perspectives to not only enhance digital print technology but also evolve print’s role in the future.

The benefit for us? They will bring innovation and fresh ideas, which will help us change our ways of working, for the better, and position print as an exciting medium that won’t be disappearing anytime soon. Now, more than ever is time to be a part of this creative technology industry and re-shape its future.

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 Opinion

Opinion: Towards Effective Policing in Nigeria ~ By: Tony Ogunlowo

The Nigerian Police Force is an outdated, inefficient and corruption-ridden institution that lacks the ability to fight crime in the 21st century.

The lawlessness of the Fulani herdsmen has yet again brought into focus the heightened insecurity of living in Nigeria. This has led  to a number of Southern states to consider expelling them from their lands. This is a very tricky situation: the constitution of Nigeria stipulates that anyone has the right to live and work where ever they want to. A breach of this might lead to ugly tit-for-tat situations: you expel them from the South and they respond by expelling your people from the North and before long we’ll be witnessing bloody inter-tribal clashes as last seen in 1966 that lead to the Nigerian- Biafran civil war.

The problem here is not just the Fulani herdsmen, who have been allowed to get up to all sorts over a long period of time, unchecked, but the lack of security operatives to deal with the problem before it got out of hand. Where are the police and the army, ask the people? ( – probably busy shooting innocent protesters or guarding VIPs!)

The mischief-makers are not just the Fulani herdsmen but also cultists, Boko Haram, kidnappers and armed robbers killing innocent people on a daily basis with the security services powerless to stop them because they lack the Strategic intelligence to know who’s doing what; lack the ability, will and equipment to mobilize quickly to deal with situations and are further hampered by a slow bureaucratic chain of command that takes its orders from the Head of Police in Abuja.

The Federal Government needs to understand it’s time to dissolve the Nigerian Police Force, as we know it, and let each and every state set up their own police forces to deal with insecurity and crime: an Inspector-General of Police, sitting on his backside, in Abuja can’t know the crime situation in Lagos or Kogi intimately as the indigene police officers and can’t deploy his men effectively. State policing is proven to work well as we see in countries like America. We can see a good example of how effective state policing can be with Amotekun, a security outfit recently set-up by the Western states, ability to mobilize their forces and deal with situations, faster, even before the IG can pick up his phone in Abuja. In Kano, they have the Hisbah, a religious police force that keeps trouble makers at bay by enforcing their Sharia law. ( I may not agree with Sharia law but it works for them)A state governor and his advisors know their state inside out and with their own police force, at their command, can deal with incidents faster and more effectively instead of waiting for the slow chain of command of the IG to act. And if and when they get their own state police forces, they should instil in them discipline and make them aware of the fact they are crime fighters and not bribe collectors ( no more ‘egunje’ or ‘kola’) and cannot act as if they are above the law like the now-defunct SARS. And if there are situations whereby the state police can’t cope the Federal Government can then draft in the army to assist just like the National Guard gets drafted in to help state police in America if things get out of hand.

With anarchy rife and the security forces powerless to bring the situation under control we are witnessing the impending implosion of the country into a cesspit of frequent bloody tribal( – and religious) clashes: Fulani herdsmen killing Southerners will soon lead to Southerners killing any Fulani man they come across and we still have ritual cultists, Boko Haram and others killing everybody. And soon it will be a free-for-all with everybody fighting everybody. It won’t be a civil war because there will be too many different factions fighting each other.

And when recruiting police officers the NPF needs to up its standards: current recruitment practices don’t screen potential candidates well enough; there are no IQ tests and you have barely literate people signing up; they are not psychologically assessed so it’s not uncommon for a psychopath to be given a gun and a uniform. And when it comes to giving out guns not all offices should be allowed one. It takes years to train a firearms officer so they know how and when to shoot: in Nigeria, they probably receive training for a few weeks(- or a few days!) and before you know it they’re out in public shooting anything that moves(bus drivers, yahoo-yahoo boys, market women and innocent bystanders) like they are Rambo! And when the Nigerian police kill anybody indiscriminately( – or extra-judicially!) they are not properly disciplined, no compensation is paid to the victims and the matter is quietly swept under the carpet. The whole world was appalled when white cops were killing black people in America leading to the formation of the BLM Movement and reforms within the police force: in Nigeria, Lai Mohammed will go on T.V and say the ‘well-trained Nigerian police officers only shoot ‘armed’ criminals(  – if they are not armed PR videos and pictures will show ‘planted’ guns – and its always the same gun – or guns – in all the pictures!)

So there you have it: to adequately police a 200-million-plus – a multi-religious-multi-tribal country like Nigeria a new direction needs to be sought to uphold law and order: the old ways and the NPF in its current inception can’t fight itself out of a paper bag let alone fight crime.

Toni tweets from: @Archangel641 or visit http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk

 

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 Opinion

Opinion: Lekki massacre: How did we get here? | By: Niran Adedokun

Once again, leadership failed Nigeria massively this past week. Someone said that if you do not know the purpose of a thing, abuse of that thing is inevitable. A lot of those in leadership positions in Nigeria do not know the purpose of their remit and as a result, they abuse it wantonly.  The abuse of the purpose of leadership, stemming from gross incompetence and lack of know-how about modern governance is why the otherwise peaceful #EndSARS protests initiated by concerned Nigerian youths, have been so badly mismanaged, becoming a disgraceful show where the state turned against her own people.

As of Wednesday morning, tens of people, mostly innocent, have lost their lives from violence, (partly state-sponsored, partly instigated by hoodlums) resulting from #EndSARS.

And as I write, almost 24 hours after military men turned their guns on peaceful protesters, (an unspecified number believed to have been killed and 25 being treated in various hospitals), Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), the man elected by these same youths as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has not said a word as to how regrettable the incident was. That is unpardonable. It’s an indictment of the President and an indication of his inability to comprehend the essence of his high office.

In 2014 or so, Buhari told Nigerians that he had become converted to the principles of democracy. Well, the President just faced the most difficult test of that self-proclaimed conversion and failed woefully! In fact, what Nigerians have witnessed in the past 48 hours brings back memories of the struggle for the restoration of the June 12 election during the Babangida and Abacha military regimes of the 1990s. It’s a shame that anyone who canvassed the votes of Nigerians would allow them go through their most recent experience. It didn’t have to get to this extent if the President had learnt anything from democracy and Nigeria’s recent history.

Democracy is built on the culture of engagement and negotiation. Agents of this regime have continued to regale us with their response to the five demands of the protesters. While one cannot take anything away from the regime’s gesture on these fronts and the steps that have been taken by some state governors, the fact that the protesters refused to be persuaded indicates that there is a justifiable distrust of government and that these seeming knee-jerk responses didn’t and understandably so, convince.

For instance, the decision of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to replace SARS with the Special Weapon and Tactics Team within 72 hours raised legitimate questions about how much rigour went into the formation of the new squad and how much of the ills of the defunct irritant structure might be retained in the new entity.

If your country’s young population refuses to be persuaded by this move, the President should have addressed the issues directly and not through proxies! This is more so because the protesters made it clear that the major disconnect results from a distrust of government. All the President needed to have done was to come off his high horse to calm frayed nerves by making measurable promises that should reassure the youths.   Such relational engagements have proved to be a very effective instrument in the hands of democratic leaders even here in Nigeria when we recall how the late President Umaru Yar’Adua persuaded youths of the Niger Delta to sheathe their swords just a little over a decade back. The failure or refusal of Buhari to seize this unique opportunity left this issue to fester until fifth columnist began to take advantage of it as is wont to happen.

Another instance of leadership failure one sees here is the meeting where the 36 governors could not agree on a single way to deal with SARS. While most governors of the states in the South with the possible exception of Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos and Nyesom Wike of Rivers were either equivocal or totally silent about whether SARS should continue or not, governors of the northern states outright rejected any attempt to scrap SARS. That is very unfortunate. It is unfortunate to the extent that it brought about a conflict in the messaging of the management of the situation. While the IGP had already proclaimed the disbanding of SARS, northern governors insisted on its importance and within long, some youths in the north started to toe the line of the governors and threatened #EndSARS protesters. This, to my mind was the beginning of the pockets of violence that have now engulfed the country.

Also Read: Opinion: NDDC: What manner of leaders are these? | By: Niran Adedokun

Now, without prejudice to the right of governors from any part of the country to decide what is good for them, leaders of the country have to make up their minds as to whether they want a united country with common destiny or not. If SARS had become an object of significant contention in any part of the country, true leaders from across the country should work together to see to the dismantling of the structure especially as the Federal Government already had plans for a succeeding unit. Nigerian leaders, even if they desire to split Nigeria, must realise that what affects one part currently affects the other. This demands a sense of universal responsibility.

The failure to understand that leadership and the privilege of power are service to the people is why Nigeria is where it is today. That’s why head of security agencies prioritise loyalty to the President over the country and her people. Of course, this mentality transcends generations of Nigerian leaders, but nothing exemplifies this abuse and misuse of the people’s mandate as Tuesday’s attack on innocent protesters at the Lekki toll gate and a number of other places in and outside Lagos.

While it is true that the #EndSARS protests were exploited by hoodlums to unleash terror on Nigerians, that the planners could have been a bit more circumspect  and that no responsible government would allow such destruction and loss of lives go without check, the deployment of military men who fired live bullets at defenceless Nigerians is evidence of overlord mentality as well as the lack of understanding of the spirit of leadership by those who rule Nigeria. This becomes even more obvious when you consider the fact that rather than head for well-known hotspots within the city to arrest hoodlums, the shooters directed their mindless attack on young men and women who had protested for 12 days without violence, had the presence of mind to hold the national flag and sing the anthem as a sign of their allegiance to the country. So, you leave the miscreants who make life difficult for others and fire live bullets at those who represent the best that future could hold for the country! What warped logic is that? In any case, which country puts the lives of those who constitute her future at such jeopardy when they bear no immediate harm?

And in fact, exhibiting such command and control mentality at this time in the history of the country is an indication of the country’s failure to learn from history. Close to two decades ago, the extrajudicial execution of a man known as Mohammed Yusuf was what ignited the Boko Haram sect that has tormented Nigeria for the better part of the last 15 years. For how long do Nigerian leaders want to put the country on the path of avoidable danger?

Having said all of these however, it should be pointed out that the whirlwind that Nigeria is battling with today is a direct consequence of the wind it has sown over the years. The good, the bad and the ugly that Nigeria has made of its youths have come back to demand recompense for the years of neglect and carelessness. Government should also note that no amount of force against the youth would suppress agitations for the very basic things that make life meaningful for them.

In “We kill militants but in vain,” published in this column in August 2016, I wrote: “And this is one of the points that Nigeria needs to urgently contemplate alongside, if not ahead of, military actions like the one under discussion.  According to a 2012 survey of the National Bureau of Statistics, youths in the 15 to 35 age brackets were nearly 70 million of the 166 million Nigerians then. Fifty-four per cent of this number of youths were unemployed as of August 2014. Hundreds of thousands of more youths would have joined the number in the past 24 months, what does a country expect when the majority of its most productive population have no jobs and practically nothing to hope for? There is also the issue of young school leavers who are unable to gain admission into higher institutions while the nation offers no alternative for them…”

Hope for a bright future is all these youths ask for and any attempt to quench this agitation will only postpone the evil day. Strength and the exuberant display of the same are two of the advantages of youth, and the President and other leaders, must employ the advantage of wisdom that is expected to attend age to positively engage the vigour of the youth for national development.  Otherwise, Nigeria will only be building a militarised population (especially from the army of the untrained), which would do the future of the country no good, that is if we allow any future at all.

Niran Adedokun is a Public Relations practitioner, lawyer and journalist.  He tweets @niranadedokun

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 Opinion

Opinion: Developing entrepreneurship in a digital economy | By: Tonny Tugee

With a shift away from physical commerce, consumers are increasingly taking their daily activities online. This shift has resulted in new opportunities for emerging digital entrepreneurs to reap the dividends from digital and grow in the digital economy.

The digital economy as we know it refers to the economic activities enabled by digital technologies that connect people, businesses, and processes. It’s the hyper-connectiveness of this economy that allows the ecosystem to grow, and redefines how typical businesses are structured. But how exactly? Through the opportunities created by digital tech, including the Internet, the cloud, mobile technology, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

It’s these emerging technologies that are disrupting traditional business models, leading digital transformation, and redefining how businesses interact with customers and how customers receive and experience services and goods. Being able to thrive in a digital economy will be key to ensuring a competitive edge and business sustainability.

The role of connectivity and cloud solutions in the digital economy

There’s no denying that customer expectations are changing around the world, and we’ll be seeing this increasingly in Africa too. Whether your customers are businesses or consumers, they are becoming more reliant on Internet connectivity to make purchases, drive business outcomes, and stay connected with the world around them. At the core of the digital economy is connectivity, and reliable connectivity is a prerequisite for joining the digital economy.

Enabled by connectivity, cloud technologies allow businesses to streamline their processes in cost-effective, reliable ways, and they offer the flexibility required to scale operations and adjust to demand.

For aspiring digital entrepreneurs in particular, connectivity and cloud solutions are critical as they enable them to collaborate and access resources from any location with a secure network – meaning they can work effectively without having to invest in a physical office space. This reduces start-up costs, providing small businesses and start-ups alike the opportunity to compete with larger companies that have bigger budgets, ultimately leveling the playing field. Thus, improving access to connectivity is key to developing the digital economy.

Emerging digital trends and opportunities

The digital economy enables new business models, but it also gives more traditional companies the opportunity to increase productivity and enhance customer experience through various digital solutions. Social media, mobile computing, data analytics, the cloud, IoT, and cyber solutions can lead to new market opportunities, remote service provision, faster time-to-market, higher revenue streams, and streamlined processes.

We know that customers desire engagements with brands that are seamless, omnichannel, direct, contextual, and above all else, personalised. Something as simple as social media, for instance, can help entrepreneurs connect with their audience base on a personalised level, giving them unprecedented access to consumer feedback. When combined with data analytics tools that help companies predict consumer needs from online activity, this gives businesses a unique opportunity to offer consumers exactly what they want, when they want it.

Entrepreneurs can help change the way products and services are managed, optimised, and deployed, as well as how customers perceive their brands, fostering brand loyalty. If we are to develop digital entrepreneurship, it is critical to ensure that more aspiring entrepreneurs are exposed to emerging tools and trends.

Africa is full of examples of companies that are harnessing the digital economy. Front-runner M-Pesa has made remarkable achievements in the mobile communication industry. Its investment in inclusive infrastructure to help launch a microfinance product and lower consumer barriers to banking entry has been a true win for Kenya, and its people. More recently, Kobo360, a logistics start-up that serves as a marketplace for shippers and transporters, is giving companies access to a flexible fleet of over 17 000 drivers and trucks that operate in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Togo. In South Africa, RapidDeploy uses cloud-based software to help public safety officials to reduce emergency response times.

Thriving in the digital economy

There are various ways for entrepreneurs to join the digital economy, starting with moving past traditional business structures and re-aligning value creation. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean rethinking all aspects of your offering, but rather focusing on switching from physical to digital interactions and operations that will enable new business and service models.

What’s needed is an integration strategy that takes existing physical structures and processes into account and integrates them with digital systems. Omnichannel customer engagement, for example, allows entrepreneurs to visualise the actual lifecycle of its customers and helps identify gaps or weaknesses. It gives entrepreneurs a unique chance to identify opportunities, respond quickly, and thrive in this new economy.

It’s this level of agility that will help entrepreneurs create and deliver services and goods more in tune with their customers’ wants and needs, helping to grow the digital economy, and Kenya’s wider economy along with it.

In this new, highly competitive digital world, entrepreneurs need to assess whether the services they are offering are truly adding value in the most efficient way possible. As the digital economy grows, we will see more entrants using a myriad of digital tools to bring more services and goods to market faster. Staying competitive in this ecosystem requires a combination of connectivity, innovative thinking, and smart partnerships to help differentiate your business. But as international giants, such as Amazon and Alphabet, have shown, for those companies that do get it right, the digital economy offers unprecedented opportunities.

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 Opinion

‘Bad Boy’ Nigeria @ 60 | By: Tony Ogunlowo

Independence Day! It’s Birthday Time as Nigeria turns 60.

The President will  light the candles on the nations cake and cut it (- probably imported from Harrods in London) and there will be a big bash at Aso Rock with past presidents, important dignitaries and foreign ambassadors invited. They will drink, make merry and pose for countless photo sessions.

But is there really anything to celebrate?

No!

The country is in a worse state than it was 60 years ago when the Union Jack came down and Nigeria’s green and white flag went up: a Man doesn’t know where his next loaf of bread is going to come from or whether he’ll even live to see the next day; mass unemployment has created a generation of people who’ll never work for a living; the crime wave is spiraling out of control as is poverty and incessant killings; corruption has taken a front seat and with the current Covid-19 Pandemic nobody can see the fabled light at the end of the tunnel!.

If Nigeria were to be a person it would have nearly lived a full life by now having gone through childhood, puberty, adulthood, middle age and about to enter the blissful age of retirement. That is to say Nigeria should have got over its teething problems by puberty, settled into a steady growth rhythm by adulthood and now at retirement should be a nation everybody should be happy to live in.

But alas, ‘Bad Boy’ Nigeria (- and its inhabitants) has refused to grow up and revels in its alter-ego of a ‘Man-Child’ still acting irresponsibly with no clear sense of direction. Haba! Na only you waka come?

In an attempt to govern ourselves we’ve tried every form of governance known to Man – without success- from military dictatorships to the US- Presidential Style we currently practice. We haven’t tried Socialism or Communism yet because it’s not in our DNA to call one another ‘comrade’, dress and eat like peasants and live in unpalatable hovels. It won’t work unless we adopt the Animal Farm maxim of “ All Animals are Equal but Some are More equal Than Others!”.

Nigeria is probably the only nation in the World that doesn’t have a national airline: Ethiopia we belittle has the best airline in Africa, flying modern aeroplanes that don’t fall out of the sky! What does it take to buy of lease a few planes, slap the national emblem on it and run an airline? In Nigeria that’s a Mission Impossible and recent attempts to revive the national airline have flat lined. That’s probably because they’re still bickering about who’s going to run it: is it going to be Mallam Muslim from the North or Christian Chief from the South? Or how much money they can ‘chop’ from the venture even before it takes off.

We have the largest deposits of crude oil in Africa yet our ancient and crumbling refineries ( – are any of them still working?) can’t pump out cheap petrol and kerosene for the populace to consume: to make matters worse fuel subsidies have been removed and a litre of petrol now costs a fortune. We have to import refined petroleum products – even from countries like Niger who only started commercial oil production in 2011.

Boko Haram and other insurgents are still busy terrorising the land killing and kidnapping hundreds of people at random and sacking villages while the Nigerian Army is powerless to bring their reign of terror to an end. Is it because they are cowering in their barracks or they have no guns to fight?

Still after sixty years building and maintaining simple basic structures such as roads and bridges is alien to our culture. We build them (-if we do!) and forget about them or “Who build that garda?”, as a past military leader once asked. It is the year 2020 and driving from Lagos to Abuja is like a daytrip to Hell! If the pot-holed roads or non-existent roads, rickety bridges and other reckless motorists don’t kill you, you are bound to meet your Waterloo at the hands of marauding robbers, kidnappers – or the police! (SARS are the guilty ones here!).

The minority ruling elite are well-heeled (- and corrupt!); well educated (- well most of them!) ; live in palatable mansions; drive the latest cars (- and may have a private plane or two!); send their kids abroad to proper schools; order cooked pizza from London while the rest of the country wallows in poverty and uncertainty. “Let them eat cake”, they tell the rest of the country – and mean it!

With nothing else to do many are jumping on planes to go abroad – many vowing never to come back home again. Abroad the pastures are greener, the opportunities are unlimited, proper healthcare, police you don’t have to bribe and the chance to live at least a decent life – something you can’t do in Naija (- unless you are ‘connected’) A nation is losing its top brains to institutions and organisations abroad  and the government is doing nothing to stem the flow: there are no incentives to stay other than you’ll earn less than what a cleaner or nurse earns in the U.K (- that’s if you get paid at all!) and you’re not killed by ritualists or cultists or kidnapped by herdsmen! And those who don’t jump ship have to face the humiliating task of finding any kind of job. How many Ph.D. holders work for Dangote driving trucks?

Faced with hopelessness many are forgetting that “Get Rich quick or die trying” is meant to be lyrics in a rap song and not a mantra a great many Nigerians live and swear by: so kidnapping, armed robbery, embezzlement or sacrificing your granny or brother for a money ritual are not honest ways to make a fast buck.

So after 60 years of independence Nigeria has managed to wangle its way into the infamous club of failed nations, hardly something worth celebrating: it’ll be like a younger me coming home from school with ‘Fail’ on my report card and thinking my parents will throw a party to celebrate.

Grow up Nigeria@60!

Tony Ogunlowo is on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk

 

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 Health, Opinion

Opinion: COVID-19 and HIV: so far it seems the outcome is not what was feared| By: Morgan Morris

Based on official figures – which may be somewhat under reported – COVID-19 has not been as devastating in South Africa as initially feared.
 
Back in March and April this year case numbers on the continent were still modest. But predictions and projections were sombre. There seemed to be consensus that African countries had weak public health systems and few testing facilities, and containment and social distancing were going to be problematic in poor communities.
 
More specifically, local and international organisations pointed to the fact that these areas typically have the highest incidence of immuno-compromised individuals. Experts feared that the tens of millions with HIV and tuberculosis would be disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
 
That did not bode well for South Africa, where well over seven million people are believed to have HIV. The immune systems of these individuals are notoriously weak, often unable to fight infections. Fears were that COVID-19 would be devastating to this community.
 
Those dire forecasts have, so far, not been realised. Around half of the COVID-19 cases on the continent were from South Africa. The country’s COVID-19 cases were around 653,400 as of mid-September. Some 15,705 people are estimated to have died from COVID-19; a tragic number, but not nearly as many as predicted by some. Early predictions were that symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in South Africa could surpass a million by July with 30,000 deaths by November 2020.
 
These comparatively “low” numbers have come as a surprise. Many possible explanations for this modest-by-comparison outbreak are being floated.
 
Some insights into previous outbreaks of human coronaviruses may be useful in this regard. My laboratory recently reviewed what is known at this stage – and what is still unknown – about co-infections of HIV and coronaviruses.
 
Human coronaviruses
There are currently seven known human coronaviruses.
 
Of these, the four most common and still circulating are reported to cause about 10%-30% of all common colds globally. Fortunately, research shows that they cause no more than mild to moderate cold symptoms. In rare cases, these human coronaviruses can cause more serious respiratory disease in children, the elderly, the immuno-compromised such as people with HIV and people with underlying illness. But, as far as we know, deaths as a result of infections from the “common” human coronaviruses are quite rare.
 
Then there are three more pathogenic or life-threatening coronaviruses. The first among these to appear among humans is the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which killed around 10% of the just-over 8,000 people who were infected.
 
The next was the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which causes the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that killed an estimated 34% of about 2,494 people known to have been infected.
 
And now there’s the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus behind COVID-19.
 
We have learned that there are a number of factors linked to severe disease and death from SARS-CoV-2. These include advanced age; being a male; and the presence of other pre-existing medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and kidney disease. This doesn’t mean that the young and women are immune to the disease. They can catch the virus, and pass it on to others.
 
Of particular interest in South Africa is the risk of COVID-19 and HIV co-infections.
 
The HIV and CoV interactions
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lack of published academic work on HIV and coronavirus co-infections. This is, in part, why the spectre of COVID-19 running amok in countries with large numbers of people living with HIV – like South Africa – raised anxiety levels. Particularly because, as early as the late 1980s, coronaviruses had been shown to be agents of opportunistic infections in immunocompromised hosts, and were linked to diarrhoeal disease among AIDS patients.
 
But otherwise, there were few known associations between HIV and coronaviruses. I know of only one reported case of an HIV-positive person infected with SARS during the 2003 outbreak. This person recovered fully from SARS.
 
During the same period, another study reported on a connection between HIV and SARS. In this case, 19 HIV-positive patients shared a hospital ward with 95 patients confirmed positive for SARS. Somehow, none of the HIV-positive patients became infected with the SARS-CoV. Six of the 28 medical personnel who worked in the ward were infected. At the time, researchers began speculating that antiretroviral treatment was offering patients with HIV some protection against the SARS-CoV. But, since SARS-CoV disappeared so quickly from the human population, this was not positively established.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled the study of HIV-coronavirus co-infections.
 
My laboratory recently published an overview of studies that looked at COVID-19 infections among more than 11,000 HIV-positive individuals. The risk associated with coinfections is still a matter of debate. But the estimated COVID-19 prevalence reported in various studies does not suggest increased rates of hospitalisation or mortality in HIV-positive patient populations. Clinical characteristics and disease outcomes were comparable to those described for the general population with COVID-19.
 
The reasons for these infection and mortality rates are still unclear. But scientists have come up with several interesting hypotheses.
 
One is that antiretroviral treatments have anti-CoV properties and offer some level of protection against COVID-19 infection. Another is that the weakened immune system of people with HIV stops it from “overreacting” to the presence of the coronavirus. In this way it averts the elevated inflammation that is being associated with COVID-19. A related argument has been made that because the helper T-cells have been deactivated in HIV-positive patients, the response of the immune system is tempered, again limiting the risks of excessive inflammation.
 
A more intriguing hypothesis suggests that the original HIV infection changes the host cells so they no longer offer a favourable environment for other viruses. This phenomenon is called “viral interference”. And it’s been argued that some cold-causing viruses have stopped at least one flu pandemic in Europe in its tracks in 2009.
 
Moving forward
Concern over HIV-positive patients is understandable. But current data from the COVID-19 pandemic – and past experiences with SARS and MERS – suggest that they do not form an at-risk group. This raises the question of whether HIV serves as an immunological shield against more severe forms of the new disease.
What has been quite apparent from the start is that old age and co-morbidities such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes are more telling considerations in both general infections and HIV/SARS-CoV-2 co-infections.
 
Based on what we now know, should a second or even a third wave of COVID-19 be forthcoming, state and health officials should consider a more strategic and targeted approach to containment.


Morgan Morris, a freelance writer for the WHO, amongst others, and filmmaker based in Cape Town, contributed to this article.
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 Opinion

Opinion: Issues in ensuring COVID-19 vaccine compliance | By: Derek Yach

An effective COVID-19 vaccine could help us emerge from isolation and end the social distancing required during this pandemic; but it will only work if people are willing to be vaccinated.

We conducted a survey in June of 2020 that addressed whether people’s willingness to use a COVID-19 vaccine and adopt other preventive healthcare measures was associated with trust.  The survey was conducted in nine countries: China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A thousand individuals were surveyed in each country, and the responses were weighted to the most recent census data.

While an average of 86% of the respondents had increased the number of times they washed their hands in April and May of 2020, an average of 21% said that they would not get vaccinated. These figures were highest in Sweden (31%) and South Africa (30.6%), but were not much better in the United States (28%) and Italy (23%) (Figure A). Unfortunately, many of these levels barely reach the cusp of vaccine coverage needed to achieve population-wide herd immunity against COVID-19

Sources show that the public is most concerned with vaccine effectiveness and the risk of vaccine side effects. Worry about side effects has historically had a big influence on vaccine acceptance. In the UK, concern about reported neurological complications from common childhood vaccines lowered the vaccination rate from 81% in 1974 to 31% in 1980, leading to a resurgence of pertussis that resulted in over 100,000 cases . In 2018, 20% of respondents to the Wellcome Global Monitor survey in the UK said they believed that the risk of vaccine side effects was fairly high or very high

Interestingly, our survey showed that respondents who said they would get vaccinated had more education than those who said they would not get vaccinated. These results were highest in the U.S. and Sweden (Figure B). This may mean that people with more education have more information, but this correlation will need to be further explored before it can be explained.

Dr. Bruce Gellin, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the National Vaccine Program in the Department of Health and Human Services, has said that the foundation that underpins vaccination acceptance is trust [9]. Our survey explored respondents’ trust of both their national government and the medical profession (Figures C and D). With the exception of China, India, and Indonesia, most respondents had relatively low levels of trust in their national government, but most of the respondents said they trusted the medical profession. Trust in both entities, but especially in the medical profession, was generally higher among those who said they would get vaccinated. These findings emphasize the importance of having medical professionals lead messaging about vaccine safety, effectiveness, and benefits.

A recent piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association [12] on flu vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic stated that strong, unified messaging is essential to vaccine compliance. The article cites the CDC’s call to action that urges physicians to make every effort to get their patients vaccinated and acknowledges that physicians and healthcare professionals are the most trusted source for accurate information on vaccine risks. The role of medical professions in preventing larger public health crises that could overwhelm the world’s healthcare resources cannot be overestimated.

We suggest that healthcare professionals partner with their national governments and international healthcare experts, such as the World Health Organization, to create consistent, accurate messages about the benefits of vaccination for COVID-19. These messages should use simple language that people with no more than an elementary education can understand; acknowledge peoples’ fears about vaccine side effects and cite accurate, verifiable data on side effect risks; and state whatever data is available on vaccine effectiveness. This will ensure that the greatest number of people will get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is ready leading to a potential end to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

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Opinion: Post COVID-19: Rebuilding Africa and strengthening its resilience against future economic shocks |By: Charles Leyeka Lufumpa

After demonstrating its resilience during the Ebola outbreak and the global financial crisis, Africa is once again facing a severe test of its strength and agility because of the coronavirus pandemic. The good news is that the continent has entered this crisis in reasonably good shape following decades of progression in health, education and economic outcomes.

As of early 2020, macroeconomic fundamentals in Africa were improving, with investments, rather than consumption, accounting for more than half of the region’s growth. Inflation was falling and the continent was making impressive strides towards accomplishing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Africa must build on the momentum and strive to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from reversing the gains of the past 20 years.

Admittedly, that’s easier said than done: despite their best efforts, many countries still struggle with fragile health systems, high debt levels, weak external balances, as well as high rates of poverty and unemployment. The African Development Bank now projects that Africa will fall into a recession in 2020 with economic growth contracting by at least 1.7 per cent. In a worst-case-scenario, this figure could turn out as high as 3.4 per cent.

Cumulative losses in gross domestic product (GDP) across the continent could range between $173.1 billion and $236.7 billion in 2020 and 2021. The coronavirus pandemic threatens to increase the debt burden of African countries from 60 per cent to 70 per cent of gross domestic product, heightening the likelihood of a sovereign debt crisis. The additional financing required to cushion the consequences of the crisis could be in excess of $150 billion.

In a part of the world where 85 per cent of the population earn their living in the informal sector, unemployment as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic could push an additional 28 to 49 million people into extreme poverty. Moreover, if we fail to take adequate action, the impact of the crisis on food insecurity and malnutrition may be even worse than anticipated.

What can be done to support African economies?

To counter the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, Africa needs robust policy responses from every country on the continent, paired with strong support from Africa’s development partners. In the short term, African countries should prioritise healthcare spending for the provision of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) and materials, acceleration of local production of medical supplies including PPE and vaccine and drug discovery.

Targeted cash transfers and subsidies for vulnerable households as well as subsidies and tax relief for businesses should be high on the agenda. Central banks must inject liquidity into the economy, turning to unconventional policy tools such as quantitative easing if necessary. In the longer term, countries should seize the imperative of building resilience to future crises. As good times return and economies get back on track, it should become a priority to build domestic and external buffers against any potential exogenous shocks.

More money should be earmarked for scientific, economic and social research. Countries should pursue global and continental partnerships to prepare for eventualities. Private sector growth and revamping education and labour markets for the future of work are also key.

The role of development partners

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, multilateral development institutions took immediate action to help Africa’s poorest countries navigate the crisis and help them on the road to recovery. The African Development Bank is playing its part through its USD 10 billion COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF). The CRF offers immediate relief to African countries to address the crisis by providing additional resources for public health interventions, social protection programs and liquidity and budget support to affected sectors of their economies.

Civil society and think tanks have a useful role to play by helping to build trust, solidarity and uptake of COVID-19 prevention and containment measures. They can also help to ensure that COVID-19 interventions are carried out equitably and that governments are held accountable for their policies and actions.

The African Development Bank stands ready to work with other multilateral financial institutions and wealthier nations to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on African countries. For example, we welcome partnerships to establish dedicated donor-financed COVID-19 trust funds. We also urge G20 nations to consider debt forgiveness for low-income countries.

Reasons to remain optimistic

The continent’s youthful and innovative population, its growing middle class, its value addition to the abundant natural resources and its ever-improving governance systems give us plenty of reason to be confident that Africa will overcome the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.

This year marks the first time the continent has entered a recession in more than half a century. Over the past two decades, Africa has boasted some of the highest growth rates in the world, setting the region up as the next investment frontier in a post–COVID-19 world.

The level of cooperation in Africa has been encouraging. But beyond the crisis, we need to continue working together to help rebuild our economies and prepare them for the future. Africa will emerge from this episode stronger and more resilient than ever before.

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 Opinion

It’s Time to Take it to The Next Level ~By Tony Ogunlowo

This it! The Whole world is going crazy and you need to prepare yourself to go through incredible tough times for a long time to come! You need to be more tougher than ever to see these troubled times through ( See my previous article ‘When the going gets Too tough’). The whole wide world is fast becoming a tougher place to live in and you need to wise-up and man-up to keep up the pace.

In my article ‘2019: Time to disrupt the system!’I warned that there would come a time when the governments of the world won’t be able to care or cater for all their citizens. That time is now! The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how clueless our leaders are when it comes to dealing with an international crisis. When this clears up its going to be every man for himself. Already the lockdown we have experienced has shown us how fragile our lives are: if you don’t have, you won’t have! The Rich with their vast resources will see this through whilst the Poor, with nothing, will perish! Mass unemployment that will result from this pandemic as a result of many small businesses going bust and bigger firms making people redundant will mean many people living from pay check to pay check will end up with nothing! Many countries will go deeper into deep depression as their economies won’t be able to cope with the fallout and richer countries will have to dig deeper into their reserves to keep themselves going.

Whether this is a cull of the human race, the forced implementation of the UN Agenda 21 or the emergence of a New World Order we are yet to see. But one thing is for sure, nothing will ever be the same again.

With very tough times looming for the individual it means if you can’t swim against the tide you will drown! Life now is going to be the survival of the fittest – and shrewdest!

To ride the storm out you need to take yourself to the next level and to do that you need what I call ‘PINTS’ (N.B – not pints of beer!)

‘PINTS’  is my acronyms for:

P – Power.

IN – Intelligence.

T –  Technology.

S –  Simplicity.

So you’re mentally disciplined and can stay focused and you’re patient and resilient ( from my article ‘When the going gets too tough’) and now it’s time to condition yourself even further to be the best of the best of the best till you end up being in a league of your own

Now to break down my acronyms ‘P.I.N.T.S’ :

1, POWER can mean any kind of ‘power’ but for the purpose of this article I’ll narrow it down to physical, mental and spiritual.

When push comes to shove if you’re only used to working 9 hours a day you might have to work longer and harder. The human body can take it and you can do it! It’s a simple question of pushing yourself to do more, as required. Working longer days, weeks or even months shouldn’t be a problem but an obstacle to overcome. Or as Tech Giant Elon Musk once famously put it ‘…nobody ever changed the world [working] on 40 hours a week..’. If you can push yourself to go an extra mile, you can push yourself to go 5 more miles or even more. What does it take to achieve the impossible? You do the impossible! It can be done. You can do it. I’ve done it!

And that brings us to the second ‘power’ – mental. If the resources are there and you don’t have the will to do it you are finished! A lot of people lack the positive mental attitude to keep going let alone the motivation to push themselves to do more. A lady once told me she couldn’t lose weight because she didn’t have the willpower to stop eating. In replying her I asked her if she would take another bite of food if I put a gun to her head. Her answer was ‘No’! Don’t wait for somebody to put a gun to your head – do it yourself! Be more positive and work on your mental abilities developing an ‘I CAN DO’ attitude because you can do it. You just have to believe more in yourself.

Now we move on to ‘spiritual’ power : a man who has no supreme being he believes in is a man with no hope. Ever since the beginning  of Time mankind has always believed in the existence of one God or another; a spiritual supreme being we can pray to in times of  trouble, uncertainty and calamity. And in return we are granted miracles( – not the fake miracles concocted by most ‘pastors’!) to help us when we least expect them. So keep up with the prayers and don’t forget your intuition. By using your intuition a lot more you’ll learn how to tap into a higher state of consciousness that’ll provide new information, an endless supply of new ideas and solutions to existing problems.

2, INTELLIGENCE – Only the smartest are going to be the ones who’ll prosper in the coming years. They’ll be the ones who’ll see the new opportunities, the gaps in the market etc. not everyone is born clever so now is the time to align yourself with those who are – thinkers, innovators, mentors – and learn to see things differently. Even the late Steven Jobs  wasn’t that clever: he surrounded himself with people more clever and intelligent than himself to make his dream ideas a reality. In our new emerging world contactless cards are going to replace cash, social media video networking will increase and most people are going to be relegated to working from home. Even in times of recession and uncertainty people are making fortunes. They are the smart intelligent ones who can see a brand new opportunity a mile away – be one of them!

3, TECHNOLGY – if you’re a technophobe and still stuck in the 20th Century its time to get your skills up to date. The future is ONLINE and whether you like it or not, or you are a conspiracy theorist, 5G is coming. I’m not going to go into the dangers of 5G Technology ( because I don’t know of any) but to say that 25 years ago it was rumoured then that if you used the then analogue mobile phone too much you’ll get cancer: a rumour that was debunked at the time. 5G is just a natural progression from the 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G digital technology we’ve been using for the past 20 years. We need new technology to be able to do the things we weren’t able to do 20 or 30 years ago. For those in doubt it’s called ‘progress’ so it’s time to get your skills up to date – or be left behind. If you and your business ( any kind of business) are not online you’re screwed!

4,SIMPLICITY – It’s time to keep your life simple and spend less for you never know how soon you are going to need your savings. With all the uncertainty going on you may not have a job next week, next month or even next year and the only thing you’ll have will be your savings. So it’s time to tighten your belts and forget about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ . Spend less and save more. Keep it simple: buy what you need and not what you want. The extra cash saved might well save your life when you don’t have an income. A Yoruba man will tell you to leave something on your plate when you eat because if you scoff everything there’ll be no leftovers to eat when you are hungry.

So now while the world doesn’t know what  it’s doing its time for you, the individual, to go to Plan B – a plan designed to see you through the worst of times and you can do this if you take yourself – and your skills – to the next level. When this all clears up its going to be a jungle out there and only the smartest will survive or as Albert Einstein once said, “ in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”.

And my personal motto for these very difficult times is simply “ I came. I saw. I conquered!”. I won’t go quietly into the night !

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat ~ May Fortune favour the Bold!

Tony is on   Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk

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 Opinion

Opinion: After COVID-19, will Africa Catch Up, Stand Still or Fall Further Behind? | By: Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka

At one time or another, nations and individuals confront crisis points – moments of existential challenge that also open up new possibilities. African countries, at just such a crisis point as a result of the novel coronavirus, face three possible outcomes post-pandemic: play catch-up, stand still or fall even further behind the industrialized world [1].

With this crisis comes an economic disruption of unprecedented proportion. To avoid falling further behind, Africans must narrow the scientific and technology gap and leverage our comparative advantages. It is time for Africa to adopt radical technological and policy innovations. The global economy is increasingly driven by science-based and patent-intensive systems. Through investments in molecular technology, AI and other technologies the 4th industrial Revolution is ushering in, they can overcome existing barriers to entry.

Catching Up

India offers an example of how to catch up. There, two key developments in the sixties and seventies sharply altered the country’s trajectory.

In 1965, following past famines crises, India imported 250 tons of high-yielding Mexican dwarf wheat seed varieties for wide-scale testing on farms. Early positive results led to the importation of a further 18,000 tons. Along with the use of irrigation and other innovations adopted by farmers, Indian agriculture was transformed.

Within five years, India produced enough grains to support its population and, even following a drought in 1979, had no need to import grain. Overall, the country’s wheat and rice production tripled between 1961 and 1980. Radical policy response to famine-induced crisis birthed the Green Revolution.

India’s pharmaceutical sector also experienced a crisis-inflection point in 1972, when the government passed the Patents Act, which enabled domestic firms to replicate drugs that had been patented by multinational corporations. Local companies have since dominated the global market through reverse-engineering leading to generic medicines that are far more affordable than patented ones. Radical policy response to crisis-induced shortage of medicines transformed Indian Pharma.

Falling Behind

Africa processes a very small proportion of its agricultural produce. We continue to export raw commodities like cocoa, timber and cotton that others process and re-sell to Africa at a much higher valuation. Our continent also has sufficient sunlight, wind and hydropower, technologies that can power Africa sustainably, and other regions besides.

Critically, Africa also has a median age of 19, far younger than that of any continent, a potential demographic dividend of young innovation-driven workers and a relatively small proportion of elderly workers. This human capital will foster Africa’s forging ahead.

If we fail to harness new technologies and leverage our strengths to create abundant high paying manufacturing and service jobs to compete within global supply chains, then we risk falling even farther behind on socioeconomic terms.

Forging ahead

To forge ahead, Africa will first have to return swiftly to economic growth. Beyond that, diversifying our economies will be critical, particularly for those countries that are dependent on one or two mineral resources or commodities. Above all, African companies must deepen capacities for competitive advantage to master new technologies in emerging sectors.

African innovators need a robust innovation framework and a better enabling environment to master the so-called industrial biology embedded in the 4th Industrial Revolution. For instance, firms in Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and some other African countries have developed COVID-19 test kits but face a difficult path to commercialization.

China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is once more illustrative of a dynamic industrial policy. It is targeting ambitious increases in domestic firms’ share of the global medical supplies market. The government has provided cheap land for factories subsidized loans, helps them to secure a supply chain of raw materials, and to stimulate domestic demand by incentivizing hospitals and companies to use their products.

And there are powerful examples right here on the continent. South Africa successfully financed the production of The National Ventilator Project to address COVID-19, developing prototypes, securing component supply chains, and a manufacturing facility. The project owes its success in part to strong government support and broad coordination among economic and technological agencies. As with South Africa, the rest of the continent would benefit from strong innovation systems that are part of national budgeting and planning frameworks.

African businesses have a critical role to play, but so do African leaders, who must strike a delicate balance between state intervention and open markets. African governments are best placed to identify market failures and opportunities, and devise policies and regulations that benefit Africa’s private sector and its people.

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