When will Africa Develop?

The fundamental proof of development and social advancement is not found in ubiquitous infrastructure projects, neither is it primarily evidenced by an upward trend in GDP. The litmus test for accurately evaluating and qualifying the developmental state of a nation is conducted by evaluating the prevailing mindsets and worldviews of the people. Since the law of averages must apply in this context, a nation cannot be said to have attained “developed” status simply because it has managed to produce exceptions and outliers i.e. a few stars here and there.

Walter Rodney explained that Development in human society is a many-sided process. At the level of the individual, it implies increased skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material well-being. Some of these are virtually moral categories and are difficult to evaluate. However, what is indisputable is that the achievement of any of these aspects of personal development is very much tied to the present social realities, prevailing socio-economic status and national destiny as a whole.

He also gives interesting insight into what Underdevelopment is.

He says underdevelopment is not the absence of development, because nations have developed in one way or another. Underdevelopment makes sense only as a means of comparing levels of development. It is very much tied to the fact that human and social development has been uneven and from a strictly economic view-point some human groups have advanced further by producing more and becoming wealthier.

The moment a nation appears to be wealthier than others, an enquiry is bound to take place as to the reason for the difference. After Britain had begun to surge ahead of the rest of Europe in the 18th century, the famous British economist Adam Smith felt it necessary to look into the causes behind the ‘Wealth of Nations’. At the same time, many Russians were very concerned about the fact that their country was ‘backward’ in comparison with England, France and Germany in the 18th century and subsequently in the 19th century. Today, our main pre-occupation is with the differences in wealth between on the one hand Europe and North America and on the other hand Africa, Asia and Latin America.

EAST AFRICA REPORT

In three words, KENYA WAS AWESOME!

I and my friend, the tireless reformer and wise master builder – Maxwell Ogaga recently embarked on our second joint “African Reformatory Exploration” and this time around, our destination was EAST AFRICA, specifically Kenya. We were both in Liberia earlier in 2012 for 7 days and what a roller coaster it was! Our Arik Air flight via Accra to Monrovia was quite ‘eventful’. At a point,  we had to activate Great Faith while the aircraft maneuvered through inclement weather, but we held our peace knowing  Jonah was not on-board this particular flight. This was not just some fun trip, but rather a purpose driven commission laid on our hearts by God and we were rest assured an innumerable company of angels were on-board so we had nothing to worry about. 

Real Estate in Emerging Markets: A Global Perspective and Focus on Nigeria

Real Estate in Emerging Markets: A Global Perspective and Focus on Nigeria

Firstly, its great to be back! I never stopped writing, but my focus shifted in the past few months to other media but now I’m back (I hope!)

I’ll be sharing a few thoughts on Real Estate. The facts (and viewpoints) presented here are excerpts from a formal presentation I made at a strategic forum in preceding weeks.

I should charge a substantial fee for this information, but I’ve chosen to be magnanimous in the hope that you would also share valuable insight with me when you’ve got one.

Why Real Estate?

It’s real (of course it is!)

It is transferable (unlike your job)

It’s in limited supply (even if you reclaim all red and blue oceans)

It underscores all human activity (except you live permanently in the air).

Emerging Markets…are nations with social or business activity in the

process of rapid growth and industrialization. (The nations in blue are broadly classified as emerging markets. Nigeria is one of them!) 
Investing in Nigeria is plain straight blue ocean strategy if you ask me.

King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel; President Jonathan and Who?

The subsidy debate has engulfed Nigeria, albeit the entire known world and I’d like to add, even the heavenly host who by now most certainly would have been bombarded by innumerable petitions and supplications from citizens of the most populous black nation on earth. This existential crisis has knocked tenderly at the door of Nigerians for more than a few months and was eventually formed and happily delivered on none other than the first day of 2012 (recall that 2012 is the year the world ends according to the Mayan calendar, so we can expect 2012 to be action packed from start to finish). The nature of that action will depend on us.

Before I digress, let’s dive into the chronicles of King Nebuchadnezzar. Who was King Nebuchadnezzar you might ask? He was one of the few kings known to have practically conquered the entire world. Daniel, a great Prophet of God went even as far as to describe him as king of kings. This king was specially chosen by God to execute judgment upon a stubborn nation that had consistently ignored divine instructions. As you might have figured, that stubborn nation was His first born son – Israel.

This king ransacked God’s own nation and carried off everything and everyone worth confiscating as slaves to his own country. He chose the finest of their princes and deployed them as strategic human capital to stabilize and expand his kingdom to the far ends of the earth. To make matters worse, God defied all protocol and declared this pagan king as His own very servant sent to accomplish divine mandate.