• Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact
Premium Times Opinion
Sunday, August 14, 2022
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
No Result
View All Result
Premium Times Opinion
Home Opinion

Where are the Nigerian Stories of Disruptions?, By Simbo Olorunfemi

by Premium Times
March 12, 2017
Reading Time: 5 mins read
1

disruption

Where are the real stories not linked to shoddy or non-execution of government contracts, manipulation of government regulation for profit and personal advantage? Where are the successes not linked to misapplication of waivers, abuse of provisions for tax holiday, dodgy payment of customs duties, outright stealing of shareholder funds mopped up cheaply from the capital market?


“Every social need is a business opportunity” – Robert Neuwirth

In the last eighteen months of publishing a magazine devoted to the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa, one of our main challenges in Nigeria has been getting our prominent entrepreneurs to share their stories. We are interested in the everyday story of people turning nothing into something. We are keen on stories of ingenuity and innovation. We want to share in the challenges of the process, and celebrate endurance and the dogged determination it takes to making success of a vision, but it does appear that not too many of our prominent ‘successes’ are interested in a full disclosure, at least, to us.

We might not know why that is largely the case, but it helps us with a bit of understanding on why there are only a handful of biographies of our prominent entrepreneurs out there. Can it be connected with the opacity in which many of our businesses are rooted and operate in? Is it a case of a bit of murkiness in the storylines that some might not want revealed? Whatever is the case, is it not strange that we are not telling our stories with the same gusto we show off other aspects of our life, or as we see elsewhere? Why are we not writing books on our enterprises to document for now and thereafter the toil and back-breaking sweat that birthed the great names and businesses that dot our skyline?

Or is it that we do not have stories to tell? Where are Nigeria’s stories of past disruptions or don’t we have? Where are the stories of enterprise built on the backs of creativity and ingenuity without cutting corners in the payment of taxes and duties? Where are the businesses built without short-changing government and the people of Nigeria through dodgy execution of contracts? Do we not have insights we can share with those behind? Would we not help to validate the dreams and vision of those behind if we will be bold enough to share? Where are the stories?

How do we change the narrative away from the false and the negative if we do not share the stories of yesterday? How do we turn away from today’s sickening obsession with getting rich at all cost and by whatever means, if we do no present alternative stories of successes founded on grit, creativity, determination, integrity and other positive values by our men and women of yesterday? Or do we simply fold our arms and let the country be tossed to and fro by ‘I beta pas my neighbour’ mentality? Or are nations no longer built on the back of clearly spelt-out visions? Where is ours? If our businesses are built and running on the strength of identifiable visions, what are they? We hear one president’s vision was to produce 50 billionaires. Questionable as that vision is, but how did he go about achieving that? Is there something in the way he worked on that vision that the country can borrow a leaf from? Is there anything in the way those businesses translated into the billion-dollar entities that we can take a cue from?

Governance of all the sectors – health, education, etc. – yearns for disruption. Disruption does not care about morality. People simply embrace more effective and affordable means of meeting their needs. The way a new technology or innovation comes to push aside an old technology or births a revolutionary and different approach is what we are in dire need of…


You look around and wonder. Where are the godfathers of banking of yesteryears? What do we make of their vision of yesterday and their stories? Where did things go wrong for them? What has become of the ‘captains of industry’, as we like to call them, of yesteryears? What has become of their businesses that once commanded the heights of the economy? How many of these businesses have passed from one generation to the other? Was there any case of disruption? Or is it only the sorry story of how people ‘set up’ or bought into banks to rob them and steal from depositors and shareholders that we have to share? If what we have to showcase are those who applied funds under their care to set up private empires, what stories can they truly tell? Are there chapters in their stories some of them will rather not share?

Of course, there are the many more, unknown and unsung Nigerians quietly sweating on their dreams, in spite of an uneven field rigged with mines of an inclement environment, incoherent policies and unfriendly banking regime. These ones find themselves behind the starting block, yet they must operate in the same space with those whose nuts have been cracked by crooked, benevolent gods who have compromised the system at all points.

But Nigeria is one large expanse of land buffeted by all sorts of challenges, even when the opportunities for greatness are themselves embedded therein. What she waits for is massive disruption in thinking and mind-set. Governance of all the sectors – health, education, etc. – yearns for disruption. Disruption does not care about morality. People simply embrace more effective and affordable means of meeting their needs. The way a new technology or innovation comes to push aside an old technology or births a revolutionary and different approach is what we are in dire need of, with the public working in the sync with the private to think us out of the hole we have found ourselves in.

Where are the stories that can inspire the translation of genuine vision, creativity and sweat into birthing Nigeria’s own Google, Apple, AliBaba and Uber? Where are the stories that can inspire ideas that can bring about disruption in governance? We need stories of genuine endeavours, not fractured with k-legs, to share with those dreaming and looking up from the bottom.


It is not as if we have not seen what it is like to experience some form of disruption. The Card Reader brought about some sort of disruption with major impact on the result of the 2015 elections. The BVN scheme and TSA policy, if duly implemented and the banks will allow, have within them seeds of possibility for engineering a disruption that can strike a fatal blow to the belly of formal corruption in the system.

But then, the challenge in the private sector remains the dearth of stories. Where are the real stories not linked to shoddy or non-execution of government contracts, manipulation of government regulation for profit and personal advantage? Where are the successes not linked to misapplication of waivers, abuse of provisions for tax holiday, dodgy payment of customs duties, outright stealing of shareholder funds mopped up cheaply from the capital market?

Where are the success stories in the banks that were not involved in manipulation of the stock market in the last decade, forex round tripping, ghost banking and sundry money laundering schemes on behalf of public officials? Where are the authentic stories, devoid of huge exposure to financial institutions, while they live beyond any conceivable means? Where are the stories that can inspire the translation of genuine vision, creativity and sweat into birthing Nigeria’s own Google, Apple, AliBaba and Uber? Where are the stories that can inspire ideas that can bring about disruption in governance? We need stories of genuine endeavours, not fractured with k-legs, to share with those dreaming and looking up from the bottom.

Simbo Olorunfemi works for Hoofbeatdotcom, a Nigerian Communications Consultancy. Twitter: @simboolorunfemi

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Previous Post

Canada at 150: Lessons for Nigerian Youth, By Chido Onumah

Next Post

Making Sense of the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, By Uddin Ifeanyi

Related Posts

Zamfara Gold As Commonwealth, By Zailani Bappa
Opinion

Sheikh Gumi, Governor Matawalle and the Sands of Time, By Zailani Bappa

February 2, 2021
June 12 As Democracy Day Needs To Be Reconsidered, By Bashir Tofa
Opinion

The Need To Act Now To Stop the Ethnic Conflagration!, By Bashir Othman Tofa

February 2, 2021
Kofi Annan: In Service of the World, By Ejeviome Eloho Otobo & Oseloka H. Obaze
Opinion

Biden’s Likely Policy Orientation Toward Africa, By Ejeviome E. Otobo and Oseloka H. Obaze

February 2, 2021
Agenda for ‘Born Again’ JAMB and TETFUND, By Tunde Musibau Akanni
Opinion

Oyeweso, A Celebrated Historian, Ascends the Sixth Floor, By Tunde Akanni

February 2, 2021
Before Nigeria Burns, By Akin Fadeyi
Opinion

Is President Buhari Presiding Over the Last United Nigeria?, By Akin Fadeyi

February 2, 2021
On A Soyinka Prize In ‘Illiteracy’, By Biko Agozino
Opinion

Obasanjo: Only Those Who Did Not Do Well Went Into the Military, By Biko Agozino

February 1, 2021
Next Post
A New Low, By Uddin Ifeanyi

Making Sense of the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, By Uddin Ifeanyi

Seriously, Which Carpenters “Constructed” Nigeria’s 2016 Budget?, By ‘Tope Fasua

Other Reasons Why the Naira Is Worthless, By 'Tope Fasua

Editorial

  • EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

    EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

  • EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

    EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

  • EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

    EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

  • EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

    EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

  • EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

    EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

Subscribe to our Opinion articles via email

Enter your email address to get notifications of new opinion articles as they are published.

Join 526,543 other subscribers

Most Popular

  • The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Showing Gratitude To Allah For His Bounties, Blessings and Favours, By Murtadha Gusau
    Showing Gratitude To Allah For His Bounties, Blessings and Favours, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
    Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
  • You Will Be Held Responsible On What Happened To Your Children!, By Murtadha Gusau
    You Will Be Held Responsible On What Happened To Your Children!, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • World Teachers Day and The Position of Teachers In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    World Teachers Day and The Position of Teachers In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Podcasts

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
 

Loading Comments...