Thought Revolution Magazine-October 2013

Vol.4 / oct/nov 2013 Edition

The PATRIOTISM
we are YET to
KNOW!

My Ghana “Call
For Peace”
Experience

12 TRUCE.
Q&A BIMBO
OSUNKUNLE

Wildlife
Preservation
in Africa

Poverty and Ignorance
in the face of the 2015
Elections

FOR THE DESTINIES IN CHARGE OF CHANGE

Matured Social
Intervention
. .Meaningful Social Intervention,

The Mainstream Media and Fruitlessness of Raw Anger
By Taiwo Akinlami

Annual Subscription: Free

Contents

Memo

MONGOLIA6
Macabre Metropolitan Motorways
6
Lenora Shiroka
7
Angela Zhang
7
Kayla Cornale, 16
7
Paul Rusesabegina
8
The Square
10
3D Printing Pencil
10
Animated Bottle Labels
10
Carl Lewis And Ben Johnson
11
Two brothers killed by the same taxi driver, one year apart
11
DR. HAWA ABDI
12
DRIUNI JAKANI
12
POST-PESSIMISTS12
Egypt to Try Former President Mohamed Morsy In Protest Deaths 13
Nelson Mandela released from hospital
13
Ghana court dismisses vote challenges, says president ‘validly
elected’13
Iran warns US to stay out of Syria
14
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe sworn in for another term
14
Mali capital hit by deadly floods
14
UN helicopters strike Congolese rebels
14
Pope recalls envoy over abuse accusations
15
Teachers protest new Mexico education reform
15
Syria strike set to overshadow G20 summit
15

Features

Matured Social Intervention ...Meaningful Social Intervention,
18
The PATRIOTISM we are YET to KNOW!23
Impediments to Self Determination
27
Egypt: An evolving front
29

Business

Prescience31

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The Importance of Entrepreneurial Collaboration in Africa
African Entrepreneurs on the Global Stage

Generations

Emotionally Balanced: CHECK 1, CHECK 2
Healthy Mom Healthy Baby.... Before and After Pregnancy
Child Domestic Helps in Nigeria

Government and Citizen

Poverty and Ignorance in the face of the 2015 Elections
Building a National Identity Database in Nigeria
African Leadership: A Resolve to Africa’s development

View Point

My Ghana “Call For Peace” Experience
2013/2014 EPL Season:
Toxic Relationship

Briefs

Wildlife Preservation in Africa
Science And God
African Beauty

People, places and Events
The Victoria Falls
Passnownow event
Natural Hair Month Event
12 TRUCE. QA BIMBO OSUNKUNLE

32
33
37
39
41
43
44
46
51
53
55
59
60
61
65
67
68
69

Art and Style

The New North:
73
Our World in 2050
73
TR Movies for the month
74
Sir Victor Uwaifo
75
Accessorized76
Afang Soup
79

TR Magazine 3

TR Publication

Our Mission Statement

Publisher
Olakunle soriyan
(Founder/Principal Transformation Strategist, OSC NG)

“Every generation needs a new revolution”
—Thomas Jefferson

Editor-in-chief
Tiwalade soriyan (NG)
Editor- at-Large
Barrister Taiwo Akinlami (NG)
STRATEGY AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Adebayo Tosin(NG)
Bukola Ogunduyile(NG)
Editor
Edion Esohe(NG)
Assistant Editors and Project Owner
Sogaolu Olusola(NG)
Contributors
Rachel Brandt(USA)
Omer Assad(PKT)
Gareth Hunt(UK)
Matt S.(UK)
Jelan A. (Philippines)
Robert P.(UK)
Vanessa Alves(UK)
Mayowa Olaniran(NG)
Samuel Okonkwo (NG)
Adeola Oluwaseun(NG)
Tochukwu Ezeukwu(NG)
Adedola Adekolu-John(NG)
Efe Paul (NG)
Tochukwu Ezeukwu(NG)
Folawe Banigbe(NG)
Mayowa Olaniran (NG)
Adeola Oluwaseun(NG)
Samuel Okonkwo(NG)
Joyce Ikhile (NG)
9ja Foodie (NG)
Information Technology Officer
Adesola Fakile (NG)

Thought Revolution™ is committed to gathering and
disseminating cutting-edge information and nation
building ideals, and findings from credible organisations
and individuals in the pursuit of the completely nonviolent economic and social renaissance of the people
and institutions of Nigeria, Africa, and the rest of the
so-called Third-World as a deliberate effort to provoke
the spirit of pioneering for global competitiveness. It is
an issue-based and current affairs-focused publication,
committed to quality contents, developed by the best
hands in their areas of expertise.
Thought Revolution™ heralds a renaissance long
foreseen by John F. Kennedy, almost three (3) decades
ago when he declared of the people of the so-called
Third World: “The great battleground for the defense
and expansion of freedom today is the whole southern
half of the globe... the lands of the rising peoples. Their
revolution is the greatest in human history. They seek
an end to injustice, tyranny and exploitation. More than
an end, they seek a beginning.”
The ultimate goal of the publication is to propel the
destinies in charge of change to rise in the pursuit
of the economic and social renaissance of the people
and institutions of Nigeria, Africa and the so-called
Third worlders for the common good; in a non-violent
commitment. TR is against violent expression of
conviction. It believes that violence is the armed
expression of the weakness and depravity of the human
spirit. The focus is not to change government but to
address the attitudinal imbalances of all stakeholders
(in the public and private sectors) and the people they
represent.

Vol.4 October 2013©2013 by Olakunle Soriyan Company LTD., No. 12, Aba Johnson Creasent, Harmony Enclave, Off Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
All rights reserved. TR™ is written and edited for a worldwide audience and is published monthly, except occasionally when two Issues are combined
together into one extended issue that counts as two subscription copies. To order reprint, e-prints, posters and plaques or request permission to republish
TR™ content please contact us by sending an email to reprint@trnation.com
Letters to the Editor, with the writer’s name and address, should be emailed to editor@trnation.com Please note that letters may be edited for reasons of
space and clarity. Also note that thoughts, facts and notions of articles are that of the writer and not necessary the position of the Magazine.

4 TR Magazine

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Memo
MONGOLIA6
6
Lenora Shiroka
7
Angela Zhang
7
Kayla Cornale, 16
7
Paul Rusesabegina
8
The Square
10
3D Printing Pencil
10
10
11
11
DR. HAWA ABDI
12
DRIUNI JAKANI
12
POST-PESSIMISTS12
Egypt to Try Former President Mohamed Morsy In Protest Deaths
13
13
Ghana court dismisses vote challenges, says president ‘validly elected’
13
14
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe sworn in for another term
14
14
14
15
Teachers protest new Mexico education reform
15

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TR Magazine 5

Memo
Nation in Focus

MONGOLIA

Over the last two decades, Mongolia has moved from the back
seat of the Asian contest to the forefront. Mongolia’s transformative journey began when it changed from a socialist country to a
vibrant multiparty democracy, thus engendering economic boom
in the process. Mongolia’s threshold of a transformation is driven by
the exploitation of its vast mineral resources; its share of mining in
GDP today stands at 20 percent, twice the ratio of a decade ago. The
economy grew by 17.3% in 2011, compared to 6.4% GDP growth in
2010. GDP is expected to continue on a spiral growth at a double digit
rate over the next four years.
Mongolia’s economic growth has translated into some benefits
for its people; Poverty has been on a downward trend over the past
decade. Most recently, it decreased from 39.2% in 2010 to 29.8% in
2011. Substantial progress has also been made in regard to several
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the national level, though
significant regional disparities prevail.
To ensure sustainable and inclusive growth, Mongolia is making efforts to strengthen its institutional capacity to manage public
revenues efficiently and limit the effects of Dutch Disease; allocate its
resources effectively among spending, investing, and saving; reduce
poverty; and offer equal opportunities to all its citizens in urban and
rural areas and it aims to achieve it in a manner that protects the environment and intergenerational equity.
Mongolia has now become one of the fastest growing countries in
the world, and finds itself on the threshold of prosperity. With its vast
mineral resources, including copper, gold and coal, the economy is
expected to maintain a fast pace in the years ahead, although vulnerabilities remain. If carefully managed, this growth could substantially
reduce poverty and lead to Mongolia’s emergence as a middle-income
country.

Structures are also being been erected to ensure a continuous
progressive development in the country. In infrastructure over 67,000
solar home systems were sold between 2006 and 2012, reaching
herders in every province in the country. As a result, more than half a
million people covering between 60-70% of Mongolia’s nomadic herders now have access to electricity. Also, Rural development, education
are improving the livability of Ulaanbaatar (The capital and largest
city of Mongolia). Other, development initiatives include; ensuring
sound management within the mining sector, sustainable infrastructure development in southern Mongolia, environmental protection,
policy development and air pollution abatement measures are all
part of the formidable structures to ensure Mongolia a viable placement in the Asian contest. The ADB is also committed to fostering a
sustainable and inclusive growth process that benefits all Mongolians.
Assistance will focus on transport, energy, and water supply infrastructure; access to education and health; and regional economic
cooperation.

Concerns
Nigerian roads have been described as many
things and often times have triggered passionate
altercations at different levels, including international news platforms, Senate houses and amongst
contending road users. Traffic in the metropolis
accounts for a huge chunk of time expenditure
of its metropolitans, for instance; those working
in Lagos (the business heart of Nigeria), spend
an average of about 3hours in traffic daily on a
route that would normally take not more than
30mins on weekends. Vehicle maintenance also
zaps a great deal off the income of vehicle owners as the terrible roads condition takes its toll
on cars. Traffic is something the metropolis must
find a solution to and quick, the vision to make a
Mega city of Lagos is being threatened by the long
hours of traffic that depresses people’s creativity,
tranquillity and health.
The efforts of the government to manage the
horrific states of the motorways are welcomed
and quite overdue, metropolitans cannot wait to
6 TR Magazine

have a less busy traffic city. Recently the Lagos
commissioner for Works and infrastructure, Dr.
Kadri Hamzat, lamented on the deplorable state of
many federal and state roads in Lagos and specifically named the Airport Road, Lagos-Abeokuta
Expressway and Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, describing them as eyesores, he also said the Lagos
state government is ensuring that the main routes
in Lagos are motor-able, to that effect the Lagos
state governor Babatunde Fashola also commissioned the first ever paving stone production line
to help foster the rehabilitation of the motorways.
Despite the efforts to rehabilitate the motorways,
the timing and duration has generated even a
more perturbing traffic situation; the timing of
the construction which stretches to the rainy season is an aberration and as such, induces untold
hardship on motorist. Also, the fact that the major
means of transportation in Nigerian metropolis
are via the motorways which have been limited
to public buses, tricycles, private cars and private
motorbikes further commensurate the difficulty

in transportation.
The combination of heavy rain falls and
floods expected around the country this year
complicates the traffic phenomenon. With the
rainfalls, stationary water gets stuck on the motorways (aided by drainage deficiency in the metropolis) after heavy or light rainfall and this infuses
a macabre for road users. The government must
begin to operate proactively and stop the arbitral
Boy Scout or fire Brigade approach of solving agelong problems. To begin road construction or rehabilitation in the rainy season is an indictment
on the government; the roads ought to be taken
care of during the dry season and the holidays to
ensure that such activities don’t become another
frustrating attempt to make people’s lives better.
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Memo
Few in years, aged in impact
Lenora Shiroka
enora Shiroka joined the Post-Pessimists when she was 14 years old and became president two
years later. One of the projects she has been involved with through the Post-Pessimist group is
Children to Children, in cooperation with Children’s Aid. It is a project in which Leonora and other
members of the group go to high schools and talk to young people about alcohol abuse, drug abuse,
and family problems. Leonora organized the Golden Hands project, which gathered 25 children
from the war-torn zone of Dernitza to participate in reading, writing, and storytelling workshops.
Together this group of five to twelve year olds produced theatre performances, artwork on paper,
computer workshops and concerts. It has been highly successful and it offers these people a respite
from the ravages of war that still surround them.
The following is a speech that Shiroka delivered upon accepting the Wright Dunbar Prize on
behalf of the Post-Pessimists in the fall of 1999:
Lenora Shiroka is a remarkable young woman. She has grown up in a very complex and
violent time for her home and yet she embodies a spirit of hope that cannot be diminished by
the hatred of adults who will not listen to the wisdom of the children. Children can teach all of
us many important lessons. The Post-Pessimists are leading the way towards a better future for
Prishtina and the rest of the world by their example. “I don’t have yet a hero,” she says, “but I
think that we all are heroes if we can work for peace and love in the world.”

L

Angela Zhang
orn to Chinese immigrants, 17-year-old Angela Zhang of Cupertino, California is a student of the
Monta Vista High School. Angela had an idea that would possible change the world, she walked
up to her chemistry teacher Kavita Gupta and told her of the idea; she submitted a comprehensive
and advance research paper she wrote in her spare time saying it’s a recipe for curing cancer. The
research was simply mind blowing; Angela had cultivated the habit of reading doctorate level papers
on bio-engineering and possible found a cure to one of the most devastating diseases of all times.
Angela talked her way into the lab at Stanford, and started her research.
Angela’s idea was to mix cancer medicine in a polymer that would attach to nanoparticles —
nanoparticles that would then attach to cancer cells and show up on an MRI, so doctors could see
exactly where the tumors are. Then she thought that if you aimed an infrared light at the tumors
to melt the polymer and release the medicine, thus killing the cancer cells while leaving healthy
cells completely unharmed.
It’ll take years to know if it works in humans — but in mice — the tumors almost completely
disappeared.
Angela recently entered her project in the national Siemens science contest. She got a check
for $100,000. She is still in high school, yet her dreams keep graduating. “I’m excited to learn just
everything possible,” she said. “Everything in the sciences — biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and even computer science — to make new innovations possible”

B

Kayla Cornale, 16
otivated to help her 9 year old cousin who has an autism spectrum disorder to learn to spell
and read, Kayla Cornale invented “Sounds and Syllables”, a teaching system which applies
the musical component of ‘pitch’ to the process of learning language. Through extensive research,
Kayla discovered that autistic children have an apparent talent for tone and pitch recognition.
In 2005 she was awarded the Intel Foundation Achievement Award and in 2006 she received
a first place award in the Behavioural Science category.
Autism is recognized as a “spectrum” of disorders, where the common denominator is a
deficit in social relatedness that acts to impair a child’s ability to communicate and learn. Each
year 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. This year, more children will be diagnosed with
autism than with AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined. Yet little is known of its origins or how to
effectively treat the condition.
Sounds into Syllables, is a multi-sensory music based teaching system for children with
autism. It is designed to assist them with their communication and social development difficulties by teaching them to spell, read, classify words, create simple sentences and identify the facial
expressions for a series of universally recognized emotions.

M

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Fact it

I

n 2007, the number of unemployed
people round the world was 178 million. It reached a peak of 212 million
people in 2009 before coming down to
197 million in 2012
In 2007, 3.8 million youths were
unemployed; however, according to the
latest International Labour Organisation
estimates, in 2013 the figures will shoot
up to 74.2 million across the world.
Unemployment rates in any country
remains a useful means through which
the state of the economy is determined,
as it has both social and economic implications. Governments need to create
policies that counter this sudden rise.

Numbers and Meanings

T

he world is greatly plagued with a lot
of deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS,
Malaria, Pneumonia, amongst many
others. Humans are dying in their millions from these diseases every year.
Over 35 million people are currently
living with HIV/AIDS
of young people living with
HIV/AIDS are women

65%
90%

of all children and 60% of all
women living with HIV are
in sub-Saharan Africa

More

than 11 million children
die yearly from preventable health diseases such as Malaria,
Diarrhoea and Pneumonia

80%
E

of deaths caused by Malaria
occur in just 14 countries

ducation needs to be provided for
people living in these countries on the
preventative and treatment measures for
these diseases. A healthy society creates
and increases the economic potential in
these communities.

TR Magazine 7

Memo
Profile

Paul Rusesabegina
By Adeola Oluwaseun

“Kindness is not an illusion and violence is not a rule. The true
resting state of human affairs is not represented by a man hacking
his neighbor into pieces with a machete. That is a sick aberration.
No, the true state of human affairs is life as it ought to be lived.”

8 TR Magazine

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Memo

E

ver heard of the book/movie; Hotel Rwanda? It was
released in 2004 by American Director, Terry George. It
is based on real life events that took place in Rwanda during the spring of 1994. Asides being a historical account,
the book/movie doubled as an expose on the situation of the
Rwandan genocide. Hotel Rwanda grossed over 30 nominations
and won 13 awards around the globe in the year it was released.
The major character, Paul Rusesabagina is the Rwandan who
faced down the militia to protect the terrorized families who had
sought shelter at the five-star Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali
where he worked. He alone had heroically saved hundreds of
people from meeting a gruesome death.
Paul Rusesabagina was born on July 15, 1954 to his Hutu
father and Tutsi mother in Murama, Rwanda. He had eight other
siblings, in that time it was common to have mixed families despite conflicts between Hutu and Tutsi; but like other families,
Paul and his family did not care about their supposed differences.
His parents sent him to school in a town near Gitwe; a school
that was run by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. By the age
of eight he could read and speak French, and by thirteen he could
read and speak English. Paul acquired the nature of protecting
others as a child when his family gave shelter to refugees during
the late 1950s and early 1960s when problems were developing
between the Hutu and Tutsi.
By the end of his teenage years, Rusesabagina wanted to pursue his interest in the church attending seminary to become a
minister. He also became interested in the daughter of the African pastor of Seventh-day Adventist Church, Reverend Sembeba.
Her name was Esther, and on September 8, 1967 they married
and he began attending the Faculty of Theology in the nation of
Cameroon to become a minister. This dream was short-lived,
for he always wanted to live in the large city of Kigali, and he was
worried he would be stuck as a priest in a small village without the
ability to preach in the prestigious ministry positions in Kigali. So
in December 1978, he, his wife, and two children moved to Kigali.
When in Kigali, a childhood friend of the name Isaac Mulihano told Rusesabagina to work with him at the Milles Collines
where they happened to have an opening. It was then that Rusesabagina found his true calling, using his language skills and
hard work becoming a general manager, and was admitted to
the hospitality program in Nairobi where he learned the differences in fine food and wine. He was later sent to Switzerland and
Brussels where he learned more about cuisine, book keeping,
courtesy, payroll management, how to plan institutional goals
and how to hire/fire workers. However, his constant work kept
him and his wife Esther detached. They separated in 1981 and
he was allowed to have complete custody of their three children:
Diane, Lys, and Roger.
In 1987, he was invited to a wedding and found himself staring at the maid of honor whose name was Tatiana, who was working as a nurse in Ruhengeri. She was a Tutsi but Paul did not care
and wanted to help her escape the prejudices from her workplace.
He obtained a favor from a frequent customer of the Milles Collines, who was a Minister of Health and was able to get Tatiana
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a transfer to
Central Hospital in Kigali.
Tatiana and
Paul married
two years
later and she
adopted his
children.
L ater, they
had their own
child named
Tresor.
In 1992
he was promoted to assistant general manager of
the sister hotel of Milles Collines named Diplomates Hotel; these
hotels were owned by the Swiss-Belgian Sabena conglomerate. At
these hotels he networked with important capital guests. Instead
of staying in his office during the day, he would go and talk with
officials and get to know them, making beneficial contacts.
Shortly after, the Rwandan Genocide a.k.a the genocidal mass
slaughter of the Tutsis by the Hutus that started it is considered
the most organized genocide of the 20th century. Over 500,000
people were killed during the course of approximately 100 days
from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien
Ntaryamira on April 6 through mid-July. The Rwandan Patriotic
Front, a rebel group composed mostly of Tutsi refugees, invaded
northern Rwanda from Uganda in an attempt to defeat the Hutuled government began the Rwandan Civil War, fought between
the Hutu regime with support from Francophone Africa/France
and the RPF had support from Uganda. This led to ethnic tensions in the country and in response; many Hutu gravitated toward the Hutu Power ideology, prompting of state-controlled and
independent Rwandan media.
According to a Human Rights Watch estimates, the death
toll have ranged from 500,000–1,000,000 people or as much as
20% of the country’s total population. It was the culmination
of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the
minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the
majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion
of 1959–62. This incident is what brought Paul Rusesabagina
into limelight.
Despite teeming accusations that Paul Rusesabagina’s heroics
were a distorted Hollywood account, there are still a number of
values to be inculcated from the Rwandan crisis and Paul’s activity in reducing its effect. Some of which include:
Selflessness
• Patriotism
• Professionalism on the job
• Non-discriminatory outlook on life
• Empathy for people in distress
TR Magazine 9

Memo
Creativity

The Square


T

he Square, a latest invention by Jack Dorsey, is a small plug-in
attachment to your mobile phone that allows you to receive
credit card payments. This latest invention uses a small scanner
that plugs into the audio input jack on a mobile device.
It reads information on a credit card when it is swiped. The
information is not stored on the device but is encrypted and
sent over secure channels to banks.
It basically makes any mobile phone a cash register for
accepting card payments.
As a payer, you receive a receipt via email that can be
instantly accessed securely online. You can also use a text message to authorize payment in real time. Already being used in
stores like Starbucks, the square is one device that Nigerian/
African retailers can incorporate into their daily businesses.

3D Printing Pencil

A

dvertising and branding just got a notch interesting! With the
new Animated Motion labels, brand designs can now come
alive. Bottles, cans, plastics and other containers can be more fun
as pictures on the containers can actually move, interact and even
advertise themselves.
The animated labels would definitely be a catch for children;
it’s a perfect way to attract and engage their curiosity, for the
grownups and beer consumers it would be a major subject of
discussion at social gatherings.
It would be nice to see Nigerian and African brands adopt
such innovative brand and product advert style.

S

ometimes after drawing an amazing piece, you
would just wish you could pick it up and get its
3D view… you just in luck, with the new 3D printing
pencil using ABS plastic (the material used by many
3D printers), you could actually draw in the air or on
surfaces. It’s a compact kit that’s quite easy to use, and
requires no software or computers. You just plug it
into a power socket and start drawing anything within
minutes.
he 3Dprinting pencil extrudes heated plastic, which
quickly cools and solidifies into a strong stable
structure. This allows you to build an infinite variety of
shapes and items with ease! Most people will instantly
be able to trace objects on paper, and after only a few
hours of practice you will be able to make far more
intricate objects.
3Dprinting pencil is a brand new way of creating
objects and artistic works. It is a real treat for artists,
architects, hobbyists or 3D printing fanatics.

T

10 TR Magazine

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Memo
Tale of two


W

ith a rivalry
not dissimilar
to that of F1 drivers James Hunt
and Niki Laude,
the story of Ben
Johnson and Carl
Lewis is one of
controversy, jealousy, success and
ultimately failure.
Having dominated track and field events for seven years, American
athlete, Carl Lewis found a sprinting challenger at the 1984 Summer
Olympics in Canadian athlete, Ben Johnson. Johnson received a bronze
medal in 1984 as against Lewis’ gold, but that was only the beginning of
the rivalry.
After eight consecutive losses, Johnson finally beat Lewis in 1985,
and by the end of 1986 he had leap-frogged him to become the number
one ranked sprinter in the world. Johnson went on to set two consecutive 100m world records at the 1987 World Championships and the 1988
Olympic Games, winning two Olympic bronze medals and the coveted
Olympic gold at the summer games in 1988. Lewis, who had previously set
world records in the 100metre sprint and the 4x100metre and 4x 200metre
relays, began trying to justify his losses, blaming first a false start, then a
stomach bug, and, in 1987, he cited drug use in the sport.
After Johnson’s gold medal winning summer Olympics in 1988, he
tested positive for steroids, and his title was subsequently rescinded,
instead handed to Lewis. Johnson later admitted to using steroids during
his 1987 World Championship win, and lost that title as well. All of his
world accolades went with it.
Carl Lewis then went on to tally up 10 Olympic medals, 9 of them
gold, and 10 World Championship medals. He was named as Olympian
of the Century by Sports Illustrated, and is arguably the most successful
Olympic athlete of all time.
Johnson’s fall from grace ultimately led to Lewis’ heroism, it has been
noted that Lewis didn’t begin his anti-drugs campaign until after he
had been beaten by Johnson. It has been suggested that Lewis somehow
orchestrated Johnson’s failed drugs test, but this has never been proven.
Eventually we must learn from the lessons from this story: no matter
how successful you are; take one wrong step and it could all disappear.
Carl Lewis stayed true to the game and success returned to him, Ben
Johnson was not so lucky.

COINCIDENCE OR PRESCIENCE
In 1975, while riding a moped in Bermuda, a man was accidentally
struck and killed by a taxi. One year later, this man’s brother was killed in
the very same way. In fact, he was riding the very same moped. And to
stretch the odds even further, he was struck by the very same taxi driven
by the same driver–and even carrying the very same passenger! (Source:
Phenomena: A Book of Wonders, John Michell and Robert J. M. Rickard)

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Word for word
“This is not encouraging,
it is very retrogressive and
things must change. Women
must henceforth seek larger
role in politics ahead of 2015
elections. Women constitute 50% of the
population of the country yet cannot
be identified but remembered in the
political circle for only clapping and
shouting; we deserve more.”

The acting PDP Women Leader, Oyibo
Ahaneku-Nwaneri to the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on the coming elections and the role of women.

“You are better off with
an ignorant person who
is aware, conscious of his
ignorance, who accepts that
he is ignorant, but if you are ignorant of
your ignorance then it’s a big problem.”

President Mugabe, speaking at the National
Heroes Acre in Harare, during the burial
of one of the country’s veteran freedom
fighters

“We may not have the entire
wherewithal but experience
has shown that it is only
when we make the first
effort that the international
community will come to help us. Unless
we address our security challenges
ourselves, the rest of the world will not
do it for us.”

Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari [Head of
African Union Team to the ECOWAS
Commission] at a team visit to the Nigerian
Minister of State for Defence.

“I wish I wasn’t ... There’s
nothing good that comes
out of that. You get more
visibility as a result of it.”

Bill Gates, on being the world’s richest
man, in an online advertising conference in
Redmond, Washington (2006)

TR Magazine 11

Memo
Builders of the old ruins

DR. HAWA ABDI

S

aid to be the combination of Mother Theresa
and Rambo, Dr. Abdi saves lives in her home
country, Somalia. Somalia had been at war
with itself since 1983 when the government
collapsed. Without protection, foreign help
organizations fled. Corruption was rampant.
Reporters said food from abroad fed the conflict
instead of the people. Starving Somalis were
abandoned to fend for themselves.
Mama Hawa” as she is known to her people,
was born into a tiny group of elite Somali
families. She became the only woman doctor
in her Muslim country where women were
expected to be neither seen nor heard. When
the war broke out, Dr. Abdi chose to stay. Using
all her family’s money, Mama Hawa managed

“

DRIUNI JAKANI

D

riuni Jakani is one of
the people transforming his rural community
in southern Sudan from
postwar devastation to
economic growth and
prosperity. In January,
southern Sudanese voted in a referendum in
favor of becoming an independent nation.
In 1983, war resumed between the government in the predominantly Muslim north
of Sudan and rebels in the mainly Christian
and animist south. The war, which continued
until 2005, devastated the south and resulted
in the deaths of 2 million civilians. Jakani
joined the southern rebels after being forced
to witness the rape of one of his sisters by a
Sudanese government soldier to protect his
family. When negotiations to end the civil

POST-PESSIMISTS

I

t began during the war in 1995, with a
Kosovo Albanian and a Kosovo Serb who
refused to hate each other despite the ethnic
hatred all around them. They gathered with
Albanian and Serbian friends in a small,
old house in Prishtina to talk about peace.
Because they “saw no reason yet to be
optimists and did not want to surrender to
pessimism either,” they called themselves the
Post-Pessimists. In a country where Serbian
and Albanian children were not allowed to
go to the same schools, these meetings were
nothing short of revolutionary. From the
beginning they demonstrated that youths

12 TR Magazine

to build a 400 bed hospital. Her patients were
mostly women and children.
But curing her patients couldn’t keep them
safe from war. By the early 1990’s Mama Hawa
opened up her family farm to those forced to
flee the fighting. Thousands of Somali women
built their own dome shaped huts out of sticks
and plastic sheeting. By the turn of the century,
her community housed 90,000 refugees and had
expanded to include a school for 800 children,
and adult classes in nutritious cooking, farming,
sewing and fishing.
In 2010, Mama Hawa woke up to the war
outside her window. Automatic gunfire tore
through the walls as 750 fighters from the
Party of Islam surrounded her home and were

ransacking her hospital. She
was outnumbered. While the
heavily armed rebels held the
compound at bay, two things
happened that Somalia had
rarely seen: Muslim women
refugees risked their lives to
stand beside Mama Hawa,
and powerful clan leaders, at war with each
other for 25 years, agreed Dr. Hawa Abdi should
be saved. Shamed by the protesting women, and
pressured by the warlords, the fighters backed
down. The publicity about the incident drew
international acclaim for Mama Hawa, badly
needed resources for her foundation, and some
firm conclusions about women and war.

war began to show promise, he left the army
and went to study in neighboring Uganda.
In 2006, a teacher in Western Equatoria
introduced Jakani to five very bright orphans
who were struggling to stay in school. Undeterred by his own limited personal finances,
Jakani invested what little he had in a local
poultry farm to generate enough income to
support the young students.
By late 2008 he decided he could have
more impact in his community if he started
his own group. Today Lacha Community
and Economic Development (LCED) has
10 employees and has been recognized as a
Community-Based Organization of Excellence by the local branch of the United States
Agency for International Development
(USAID). Its mission is threefold: to support
peace, agriculture, and gender equality.

Jakani’s project is improving life in rural
Western Equatoria. LCED has supported
training in ox-plowing and bought two oxen.
Today, land that took three days to plow by
hand is finished in three hours. With the
increased productivity, locals can now view
farming as a viable business opportunity.
LCED has also help in achieving remarkable
milestones; for the first time, three women
were chosen as chiefs of their villages.
For two years Jakani worked with local
women to increase their skills and confidence.
And he persuaded the local men to agree to
have women present at their traditional meetings. “What happened when the women began to participate is that when they spoke they
made a lot of sense to people,” Jakani explains.

of different ethnicities not only can co-exist
but can work together to improve the lives
of children and youth in an ethnically mixed
environment.
The organization was a bi-ethnic association for several years, until the Serbian war
against Kosovar Albanians led to mass deportations in the spring of 1999, forcing Serb
members to leave the city. In spite of the war,
ignoring persecutions and the constant risk
and imminent danger, the members never
gave up. Instead, they issued an appeal to all
the youths of Prishtina to unite and work
together for renovation of the culture and

sports center in Kosovo’s
capital. The appeal
was broadcast by both
Serbian and Albanian
radio stations, which
on most matters oppose
each other. No other peace organization had
yet dared take such a step. They gathered
approximately 600 children and youth for
their project, which was accomplished with
great success. In 1999, the Post-Pessimists of
Bosnia Herzegovina won the Wright Dunbar
Prize for social activism at the Global Peace
and Tolerance Awards Ceremony.
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Memo

AFRICAN NEWS
Egypt to Try Former President Mohamed
Morsy In Protest Deaths

F

ormer Egyptian President Mohamed
Morsy, will stand trial on charges
of incitement to conduct murder and
“thuggery” relating to clashes near
the presidential palace in December,
2012. The country’s general prosecutor
ordered Morsy to stand trial along with
14 members of the Muslim Brotherhood,
No date was given for the trial.
The charges stem from when pro and
anti-Morsy protesters clashed outside the
presidential palace in early December;
demonstrators were protesting his thenrecent edict granting himself sweeping
powers and a proposed constitution —
drafted by an Islamist-dominated council
— that they feared would give him even
more power. After Morsy supporters
chased protesters from the grounds, both
sides threw rocks, fireworks and Molotov
cocktails. At least 10 people were killed,
according to the semiofficial al-Ahram
newspaper.
Citing investigators, it said that Morsy
and his staff are accused of ordering supporters to attack protesters after guards and
members of the Interior Ministry reportedly refused to do it.
Morsy, who was deposed by the military amid widespread protest over his rule,
has been held in detention since early July.
Egypt has been in turmoil since then, with
the military battling Muslim Brotherhood
members and other Morsy supporters.
Last month, about 900 people — citizens as well as members of security forces
— were killed. The deaths occurred when
the military used force to clear out two
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pro-Morsy sit-in sites in Cairo.
Morsy was elected after longtime
Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled. Mubarak appeared in court as his
retrial resumed on charges involving the
killing of hundreds of protesters during the
popular 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.
Mubarak was convicted on the charges
last year and sentenced to life in prison, but
he appealed the ruling and was granted a
retrial. A court ordered Mubarak released
last month and placed under house arrest.
elson Mandela has been discharged
from the Pretoria hospital where he

N

had been receiving treatment since June,
said the South African president’s office.
“Madiba’s condition remains critical
and is at times unstable,” President Jacob
Zuma’s office said, referring to the revered
leader’s clan name. “Nevertheless, his
team of doctors are convinced that he will
receive the same level of intensive care at
his Houghton home that he received in
Pretoria.”
Mandela, 95, was hospitalized June 8
because of a lung infection. He marked his
July birthday at the Pretoria hospital where
he has been surrounded by relatives.
“During his stay in hospital from the
8th of June 2013, the condition of our
former President vacillated between serious
to critical and at times unstable,” the office
said. “Despite the difficulties imposed by
his various illnesses, he, as always, displays
immense grace and fortitude.”

Ghana court dismisses vote challenges,
says president ‘validly elected’
hana’s Supreme Court declared
President John Dramani Mahama
“validly elected” as the court dismissed
all claims of voter fraud, mismanagement and irregularities in the West
African nation’s December 2012 presidential election.
After the election, Ghana’s Independent
Electoral Commission declared Mahama
the winner with 50.7% of the vote, narrowly
avoiding a runoff with his main challenger,
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
But challenges followed, with allegations of widespread mismanagement and
voting irregularities at more than 10,000
polling stations. Akufo-Addo and two other
officials of his New Patriotic Party sued and
the case went to the Supreme Court.
Mahama, from the ruling National
Democratic Congress party, was sworn in
as president, and the court ruling means he
will retain the office.
The Supreme Court dismissed all six
claims alleging fraud and irregularities,
with judges ruling unanimously against
claims that certification forms had duplicate serial numbers; that votes from phony
polling places were counted and that there
were duplication of polling station codes,
meaning that votes from a particular voting
station might have been counted twice or
more.
Akufo-Addo made a statement after the
ruling was announced, saying he will not
seek a court review of the decision, congratulating President Mahama and calling
on Ghanaians to work out their “differences, ease tensions between us and come
together and build our country.”

G

TR Magazine 13

Memo
AFRICAN NEWS
t least 24 people have been killed in
flash floods caused by torrential rain
in the Malian capital Bamako, a government official said.
Thousands were also made homeless
as the Niger river burst its banks, destroying around 100 houses in several hours of
heavy rain in a city of around two million
people, Alassane Bocoum, the national
director of social development, said.
The worst damage was done to poorly
constructed mud-brick homes on drainage sites on the banks of the river, although
residents reported concrete homes had also

A

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe sworn in for
another term
imbabwean President Robert Mugabe
was sworn in for another term following disputed elections. After a judge
made it official, crowds erupted into
cheers and released balloons adorned
with colors of the national flag.
The ceremony was delayed for days
by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s
petition challenging the July 31 election. He
withdrew the court case, paving the way for
the event.
The nation’s electoral commission
declared Mugabe the winner with 61%
against the former prime minister’s 34%.
Mugabe told his critics to “commit suicide” if they cannot accept his re-election.
Mugabe, 89, is Africa’s oldest leader and
has led the southern African nation since it
got its independence from Britain. He led
the newly-independent Zimbabwe, first as
prime minister in 1980, then as president
seven years later.

Z

been battered by the raging floodwaters.
“A monitoring group has been set up to
get people to abandon homes built largely
of dried mud that could collapse,” Bocoum
said, adding that the serious flooding had
been confined to the capital.
Flooding often leads to widespread
displacements and casualties during West
Africa’s June to October rainy season, as
well as disease outbreaks due partly to poor
sanitation.
nited Nations forces and the
Congolese army have attacked rebel
positions with helicopter gunships,
armoured personnel carriers and a large

U

number of ground troops, ramping up
the UN’s engagement in the latest rebellion to hit the country’s eastern region.
The fighting was some of the fiercest
in the week since the newly created UN
intervention brigade went on the offensive,
and one Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed
after the rebels aimed artillery fire at their
position, the UN said in a statement.
Seven other troops were also wounded,
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
“I am outraged by today’s killing of a
United Nations peacekeeper from Tanzania
by the M23,’’ said Martin Kobler, the special
representative of the secretary-general
in Congo, who heads the peacekeeping
mission. ”He sacrificed his life to protect
civilians in Goma.”
The fighting took place near Kibati
village, about 15km from the provincial
capital Goma, a city home to nearly 1 million people that was briefly captured by the
M23 rebels late last year.
Haq said M23 had been using the positions “to shell populated areas” and that
“the objective of the operation is therefore
to remove the threat against Goma”.
The UN’s top military official in Congo
said that at least one, and possibly two
shells fell inside Goma. Residents of the
city’s Mabanga Nord neighbourhood told
Reuters that a 14-year-old boy was killed
and others injured in one of the blasts.

International News
llegations that the Syrian regime
used chemical weapons last month
are a “pretext” by the West to attack the
country, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei said.
Iran is Syria’s main regional ally and has
warned Western powers against intervening in the country’s civil war, as the United
States edges towards launching strikes
against the Damascus regime.

A

14 TR Magazine

Washington and its allies “are using the
chemical weapon allegation as a pretext,”

and “are saying that they want to intervene
for humanitarian reasons,” Khamenei said.
“The United States is wrong about Syria,
and it is certain they will suffer... just like
in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Khamenei told
members of the Assembly of Experts, the
body that supervises his work.
Separately, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds
Force unit, Qassem Soleimani, said Tehran
would back Syria “until the end” in the
face of possible US-led military strikes.

trnation.com

Memo

Some analysts believe a wider goal of US
President Barack Obama’s determination to
launch strikes is to blunt Tehran’s growing regional influence and any consequent
threat to Washington ally, Israel.
“The aim of the United States is not to
protect human rights... but to destroy the
front of resistance against Israel,” the Quds
Force commander was quoted as saying by
the media.
“We will support Syria to the end,”
Soleimani added in his speech to the
Assembly of Experts.
He did not elaborate on the nature of
the support and Iran has constantly denied
allegations by Western powers that it has
sent military forces to prop up President
Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime.
he Vatican has recalled its ambassador to the Dominican Republic and
relieved him of his duties pending an
investigation, after local media accused
him of pedophilia, a spokesman for the
Roman Catholic Church said.
The Dominican Attorney General
announced late that a special prosecutor had been appointed to investigate
Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who has
been nuncio, or ambassador, in the capital
Santo Domingo for nearly six years.
Vatican spokesman, Father Federico
Lombardi said the Holy See had started a
probe of Wesolowski and that he had been
recalled “in the last few weeks,” specifically
over the pedophilia accusations.
“He has been relieved of his duties
and the Holy See has begun an investigation,” Lombardi said when asked about

T

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allegations against Wesolowski in the local
media.
Weeks after his election in March as the
first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years,
Pope Francis announced he wanted the
church to root out sexual abuse of children by priests and ensure that abusers are
punished.
Monsignor Agripino Núñez Collado, a
church official in the Caribbean nation, told
reporters the Vatican acted as soon as the
pope had been informed of Wesolowski’s
alleged “missteps.”
He said Wesolowski faces possible punishment by the Vatican but may be immune
from prosecution in the Dominican
Republic because a nuncio has diplomatic
status.
Dominican Attorney General Francisco
Dominguez Brito, told reporters the investigation would take into account national
and international law, “given his status as a
diplomat.”
Teachers protest new Mexico education
reform

T

ens of thousands of teachers have
demonstrated in Mexico City, many
pledging to disobey an education reform
passed by Congress and championed by
President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Mexico’s Senate overwhelmingly passed
a sweeping reform of the dysfunctional
public school system early, handing Nieto
an important victory in his push to remake
some of his country’s worst-run institutions. The Senate gave the nod to the final
so-called secondary law of an education bill
that regulates the tests that Nieto says teachers should take periodically to ensure they
are up to standard. New teachers could lose
their teaching jobs if they fail. The Lower
House approved the bill on Sunday.
The Senate debated the issue and voted
102-22 in favour of a standardized system
of test-based hiring and promotion that
would give the government the tools to

break teachers unions’ near-total control of
school staffing. That control includes the
corrupt sale and inheritance of teaching
jobs, and it has been widely blamed for
the poor performance of Mexican schools,
which have higher relative costs and worse
results than any other in the 34-nation
Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD).

orld leaders from G20 are meeting
in St Petersburg, Russia, amid sharp
differences over possible US military
action against Syria, in response to what
the US administration calls a deadly
chemical weapons attack by the Syrian
government.
The summit comes hours after a US
Senate panel voted to give President Barack
Obama authority to use military force
against Syria–the first time lawmakers in
that country have voted to allow military
action since the October 2002 votes authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
The US and Russia, which is a key
Syrian ally, remain at odds as Obama has
tried to build his case for military action.
The US president has vowed to continue
to try to persuade his Russian counterpart,
Vladimir Putin, of the need for punitive
strikes against President Bashar al-Assad
for using chemical weapons when the two
meet in St Petersburg.
As Putin opened the summit, he spoke
exclusively about the global economic
crisis, which forms the primary agenda of
the summit, stressing the need for coordinated international policy making, in
order to combat the continuing volatility in
economic markets.
He suggested that world leaders discuss
the subject of Syria “during dinner”, so as
not to take away from the summit’s primary
economic agenda.

W

TR Magazine 15

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Features
Matured Social Intervention ...Meaningful Social Intervention,
The PATRIOTISM we are YET to KNOW!
Impediments to Self Determination

trnation.com

18
23
27

TR Magazine 17

Features

Matured Social Intervention
...Meaningful Social Intervention, The Mainstream
Media and Fruitlessness of Raw Anger

By Taiwo Akinlami

18 TR Magazine

trnation.com

Features

T

he recent allegation that the Nigerian
Senate passed a bill, legalising child marriage
and the attendant public outburst has prompted
this piece. Please note that this is a matter of
national importance, therefore, I have not sat on the
fence. I have shared my opinion in my piece, titled,
‘Constitution Amendment, Child’s Rights, The Senate
and the Rest of us,’ shared on my blog (taiwoakinlami.wordpress.com) and Published on page 81 of the
Punch Newspaper on Monday, July 22, 2013
This is the second major social outburst I have
witnessed in recent times, particularly since the liberalization of the machinery of expression of personal
opinions with the advent of the many social media
platforms, known as a critical part of the New Media. The first was the public outburst that greeted
the removal of fuel subsidy in 2012. One thing that
is common to both events is the way the leaders of
the interventions and the public gave expression to
their views.
I saw that the leaders of the interventions, their
followers and sympathizers were not careful not to
allow words of insult, hate, name-calling, labeling,
curses to badly colour what could be a meaningful
social intervention. Simply put, everything was employed in communicating our anger but decorum. It
was as if caution and respect for dignity of human
persons were thrown out of our philosophy of communication and found a permanent resting place in
the arms of comfort of whirlwind. We have acted as
if the use of foul, abusive and indecorous words is the
globally accepted and accredited language of meaningful social intervention, though, it is not.
Another side of the coin is the disposition of the
mainstream print and electronic media to issues
which are supposed to be of national importance.
I believe that the mainstream media does not do
enough to educate the people contrary to their traditional and constitutional responsibility as the Fourth
Estate of the Realm. I think the major reason why the
mainstream media fail to play their roles is that they
do not set an agenda with a sense of mission to tackle
issues of national importance, with a view to educating the members of the public to direct their social
conscience and energy in the area of positive engagement, which would in turn engender social change.
I have found that the mainstream media joins the
bandwagon in situations like this and embrace sensationalism over educative journalism. The mainstream
media, which is believed to be run by professionals
should not only exercise caution in the discharge of its
historic duty, it must also moderate national debates
and issues and set a long-term agenda for an issue.
For example today, CNN has set agenda for bringing
to the fore, the evil of human trafficking around the
world and it is doing everything professional to lead a
meaningful global debate in this area. It would not be
a bad idea if a media outfit in Nigeria sets an agenda
trnation.com

I have found that the mainstream
media joins the bandwagon in
situations like this and embrace
sensationalism over educative
journalism. The mainstream media,
which is believed to be run by
professionals should not only exercise
caution in the discharge of its
historic duty, it must also moderate
national debates and issues and set
a long-term agenda for an issue. For
example today, CNN has set agenda for
bringing to the fore, the evil of human
trafficking around the world and it is
doing everything professional to lead
a meaningful global debate in this
area.

to expose all the sides to child marriage in Nigeria.
Pathetically, many of the players in the mainstream media have operated as the social media in the
times of national crisis than professional information
disseminators. The social media is known for sensationalism. It establishes and maintains its relevance by
giving a platform of expression to the peoples’ view on
a matter. Thus for example on a social media platform
like Twitter, people looks for what is trending. The
social media does not have contents of its own. It waits
to be fed by the users. The mainstream media should
not be so. As a matter of fact it is not designed to be
so. It is designed to provide contents to inform and
educate the members of the public. It is very sad today
that many players in the mainstream media operate
like the social media. They focus on a subject, which
is trending and once the matter dies down, the media
goes to bed and begins to wait in the fringe for another
break. This kind of roller-coaster and opportunistic
journalism hold no promise for meaningful nation
TR Magazine 19

features

building,
The mainstream media should moderate the anger of the populace by providing excellent and educative perspective to issues, through the instrumentality
of professionalism. Where it fails in this onerous but
inevitable responsibility, it promotes intellectual chaos
like we recently witnessed in the matter of the senate
and child marriage. I guess the point I am trying to
make is that the press cannot continue to play to the
gallery in public debates; it must arise and set purposeful agenda for national development by focusing
on the real issues and its importance to us as a people
and not sensationalism as its presently plagued.

20 TR Magazine

The truth is that knowledge and information,
which is primarily the responsibility of the media to
provide moderate national debate and create positive use of energy in the direction of positive national
change. Lack of knowledge creates chaos. Chaos does
not bring social change. Its lifespan is extremely short
and cannot deliver meaning. Chaos delivers nothing
but intellectual and emotional exhaustion, the forerunner of almost irredeemable frustration.
Permit me at this point to take the place of the
mainstream media and do a bit of social empowerment advocacy addressing the disposition of raw anger to the issue of the senate and child marriage.

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features

As a meticulous student of social struggles and an
active participants in same, in the last 25 years, both
within and outside the university system, bearing
the scars of my involvement on my body and psyche,
including detention in three detention camps in the
hands of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI)
and the dreaded State Security Service (SSS) and narrowly escaping a death sentence, I have come to the
irresistible conclusion that we must maintain the discipline in social struggle to always separate the acts
of the oppressors from the person of the oppressor or
how the oppressor arrived at becoming an oppressor.
This does not excuse the oppressor. It only helps us to
factor him or her in in our agenda for social change.
Nelson Mandela wrote in Long Walk to Freedom, ‘it
was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for freedom for my own people became hunger
for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew
as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must
be liberated just as the oppressed. A man, who takes
away another man’s freedom, is a prisoner of hatred.
He is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrowmindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away
someone else’s freedom, just as I am not free when
my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the
oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.’
It is simply, being at home with our humanity as
human beings, understanding that every human being is sharpened by their environment. It is called,
socialization. The truth of the matter is that our senators are products of this society like all of us. As postulated by Olakunle Soriyan, there is a little Nigeria
inside each and every one of us. The issue is that this
little Nigeria is not seen until it finds opportunity for
expression. We have seen the little Nigeria come out
at different times in the social critics of yesteryears
and yesterday, who later pitched their tents with the
same class of people, they once demonized. I do not
make a case for compromise in social struggle. And
when I talk about not making a case for compromise, I
talk about compromise of the goals the social struggle
set out to achieve. I do not talk about compromise in
tactics and strategy, which is inevitable in any meaningful struggle. When we understand the foregoing,
we recognize the humanity of the man, who is being
castigated today and we do it with caution, knowing that casting the first stone does not mean you are
without sin.
We must never condone the acts of oppression
for a second. I agree with Franz Fanon that ‘every
onlooker is either a coward or a traitor.’ I agree with
the more recent submission of Adebayo Williams that
‘a properly educated mind, will not accept an act of

trnation.com

When, I set out to do this piece, I took
a decision that in illustrating my
points, I will refrain from using any of
the unprintable adjectives that have
been used to qualify the members of
the senate.
tyranny, because to accept the act of tyranny is an
act of intellectual self-dispossession.’ I believe, we
must by all reasonable and dignified means hold our
elected leaders accountable. But in giving expression
to the prompting of our social conscience, in holding
them accountable, we must do our entire best not to
temper with their dignity of human person. We must
be angry and yet not sin by issuing forth profanity
to fellow human beings, who are husbands, fathers,
wives, mothers, sons, daughters, representatives of
their communities. Mandela again submits, ‘I never
lost hope that this great transformation would occur.
Not only because of the great heroes I have already
cited, but because of the courage of the ordinary men
and women of my country. I always knew that the
deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and
generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or
his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can
learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes
more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a
glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps
just for a second, but it was enough to reassure me and
keep me going. Man’s goodness is a flame that can be
hidden but never extinguished.’
When, I set out to do this piece, I took a decision
that in illustrating my points, I will refrain from using
any of the unprintable adjectives that have been used
to qualify the members of the senate. I believe I can
make my point to you as people, who have followed
recent events without repeating, the language I want
us to forget. The unfortunate thing is that even public figures and those who are looked up to as leaders
have not shown the best of examples in their use of
language.
Sadly, the kind of language, we have employed in
our response to the recent issue of child marriage, I
must say does not add value to the struggle. Our hostile language has not helped us to communicate our

TR Magazine 21

FEATURES

grievances better. Our language gives us away as short-distance
runners, who are just angry for a while and expend all their energy in a short while and crash out very sooner than they think.
Our language portrays us as a people whose only strength is our
verbal exertions, which has no impact in building an enduring
movement for change. Anger against persons have never changed
anything but anger against systems have brought great seemingly
insurmountable changes to our world. Nelson Mandela wrote in
Long Walk to Freedom, ‘I was asked as well as about the fears of
the whites. I knew people expected me to harbour anger towards
whites. But I had none. In prison, my anger toward white decreased but my anger for the system grew. I wanted South Africa
to see that I loved my enemies while I hate the system that turned
us against one another.’
It is also important to note that anger against the system is
not expressed in too many words; it is as a matter of necessity,
expressed in meticulous and careful planning. In most cases it is
kept only within the knowledge of the initiated. What the public
knows is also part of the plan. I think bane of our social intervention in Nigeria is that it lacks a system of intervention, which has
goal or set of goal, interdependence of forces and balance of roles.
When a social intervention has no coordinating authorities, it
becomes a mob action. Mob action does not have the character to
bring about any meaningful change. The best it could do is to become a spring board for the intervention of organized onlookers.
Though, the facts of the senate deliberations have been widely
misrepresented and many, who have joined the fray did not bother to find the truth of the facts, I believe we have responded this
way because we are human and maybe because of the sensitivity
of the matters. It is also clear in my mind that we are just getting
used to the culture of social media, where censorship must be
personal and responsible and this require a lot of discipline and
knowledge. Many of us do not also understand that the use of
abusive and fowl words may constitute an infringement on the
rights of the other person. This means that two wrongs will never
be equal to a right. I also know that many of us are in different
level of development and we may not know better. Nelson Mandela, who Richard Stengel in his book ‘Mandela’s Way Lesson of
Life’ wrote ‘we long for heroes but have too few...Nelson Mandela
is perhaps the last pure hero on the planet,’ was a hothead as a
young man. He embraced violence as the solution to end the oppression of his people in South Africa. As he matured, he gained
better understanding and learnt his lessons. I think we have a lot
to learn from him today, hence I have quoted copiously from his
autobiography, ‘Long Walk to Freedom.’
Permit me to conclude with Mandela’s understanding of true
test of a freedom fighter’s devotion to freedom: ‘when I walked
out of the prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed
and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved.
But I know that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet
free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not
to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey,
but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For
to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a
way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true

22 TR Magazine

It is also important to note that
anger against the system is not
expressed in too many words;
it is as a matter of necessity,
expressed in meticulous and
careful planning. In most
cases it is kept only within the
knowledge of the initiated.
What the public knows is also
part of the plan. I think bane
of our social intervention in
Nigeria is that it lacks a system
of intervention, which has goal
or set of goal, interdependence
of forces and balance of roles.
When a social intervention has
no coordinating authorities,
it becomes a mob action.
Mob action does not have the
character to bring about any
meaningful change. The best it
could do is to become a spring
board for the intervention of
organized onlookers.
test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning. Long before
Dr. Nelson Mandela penned done these historic and instructive
words, Dr. Martin Luther King, in his speech at the ‘March on
Washington’ rally, which is today popularly known as ‘I Have
a Dream’ Speech served steaming hot, a balanced and stabilizing diet of matured social intervention to his fellow comrades
thus, ‘in the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be
guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for
freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We
must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity
and discipline.

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Features

The PATRIOTISM
we are YET to KNOW!

O

ur great nation celebrated her 53rd
year of independence recently, and I feel responsible to take a second look at the level of
patriotism prevailing in our blessed nation.
Now, some have argued correctly that terrorists commit acts of barbarism in the name of patriotism—-no
doubt, man’s aggressive instinct against enemy nations
is a regrettable fact. At times, it is not out of place to
by Olakunle Soriyan call the idea of patriotism a moral weakness when we

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take a second look at some of the evil the world has
seen in the name of patriotism. People through the
ages have carried out both horrible and wonderful
acts under the banner of patriotism. Also, Science and
technology have made travel and communication so
easy that the world has become a global village. Race,
colour, language and sex are losing importance and
the concept of one world is developing. In the light
of these developments, nationalism and patriotism

TR Magazine 23

Features

are losing their importance, and internationalism is taking roots. Man wants to live in peace
wherever he is; whether in his birth country or
anywhere. People generally feel a sense of loyalty
to the environment that supports their highest
aspirations, wherever that is. My country, right
or wrong, may no longer be a necessarily correct
view. Some have even made the bold statement
that you will never have a peaceful world unless
you kick out patriotism from the human race.
How then are we to define it?
Our personal interpretations are usually derived from our peculiar experience. However,
since experiences are peculiar and principles
are universal; obviously, patriotism has to be defined by principle, above personal experiences;
or we will be on the side of sentiments, bias and
prejudice. By principle, patriotism is actually
the love for one’s country and the willingness
to defend it. Any threat to a country, either by
another nation, or socio-economic and political
challenges within a nation, the patriotic energy
within that nation should rise. The moment
there is a threat to the nation from an enemy,
from without or within, the patriotic feelings
of the people should ordinarily be immediately
aroused. Patriotism inspires the people for the
noble deeds and nurtures fellow-feeling and
brotherhood among the people. Patriots rejoice
in the glory of their country, regardless of how
lofty or painful the experiences of the citizens
are.
In Nigeria, with the growing agitation prevalent in the country, the socio-economic and political disequilibrium in the system, it appears
patriotism has no place. The daily struggles, sufferings and negative experiences of our people
seem to define the right to jettison the ideal of
patriotism. Surely, it will be difficult to sell patriotism to those with empty stomachs. It makes
sense to assume that the country should also be
lovable to be loved. After 53yrs, it looks like on
October 1, 1960, Nigeria got INDEPENDENCE,
not FREEDOM. INDEPENDENCE for Nigeria
seems like the sovereign right to self-destruct.
I mean, immediately after independence, Nigeria actually began a long and strange march
towards growth and development that made development look so complex and mysterious—-a
strange march that has taken more than fifty
years in the wilderness of mismanagement,
corruption and poverty; which has left a generation dead and unfulfilled—-without having

24 TR Magazine

seen the Promised Land—-a promised land of
quality education, rapid infrastructural development, and mass employment for its citizens. So,
in the light of these developments, nationalism
and patriotism are losing their importance. To
demand patriotism from the masses in a 2013
Nigeria seems like an insensitive and impractical proposition. I mean, how would you feel
if I tell you that a research conducted by The
OLAKUNLE SORIYAN COMPANY a few years
ago found that only about 5 percent of 2000 Nigerian citizens over 18 described themselves

Our personal interpretations are usually
derived from our peculiar experience.
However, since experiences are peculiar
and principles are universal; obviously,
patriotism has to be defined by principle,
above personal experiences; or we will
be on the side of sentiments, bias and
prejudice. By principle, patriotism is
actually the love for one’s country and
the willingness to defend it. Any threat
to a country, either by another nation, or
socio-economic and political challenges
within a nation, the patriotic energy
within that nation should rise.
as either “extremely” or “very” patriotic. Can
our nation, Nigeria really survive on 5 percent,
if this is true? It’s worthy of note that the 5%
is mostly amongst people who share the “9ja
craze” in entertainment and sports. It’s appears
Nigerians have a different definition of patriotism that allows us to feel we are patriots when
the Super Eagles are winning or when we are at
a comedy show or musical concert donning “9ja
4life” T-shirts. But in politics, economics and
prevalent issues that define us as a people, we are
totally disconnected from the idea of patriotism.
Frankly, what we forget and miss out on is

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Features

that we have a clear zero-sum game here, in that, if
we give place to all the gaps and negatives in our environment, we would be justified to ignore our patriotism. However, if we ignore our patriotism, it will
be virtually impossible to drive transformation and
renaissance; we now have a choice to make between
the validation that comes from our anger and pain or
the progress we can experience from accepting our
patriotism. Validly, only the united effort of a collective patriotic spirit can meet and surmount the challenges of our unique environment. If our nation is to
survive its current challenges, the definition of a “true
patriot” must be clear. Please note that, I do not believe patriotism to be blind obedience to one’s nation.
No! I deeply share the sentiments of Carl Schurz, the
German revolutionary and, later, American political
scientist who said, “My country...if right, to be kept
right; and if wrong, to be set right.” His idea of patriotism is often referred to today as “loyal opposition.” It
means whilst we must not deny the struggles resident
in our system, and whilst we must not be quiet; the
idea of patriotism we need is the one with the potentrnation.com

tial to change the social behaviour of the country out
of feelings of national love and patriotic duty. This is
where most Nigerians need to be but sadly, are not.
Most of us are so justifiably angry that we have given
up on the system. What we need is patriotism that
promotes the active and sensible ¬reconstruction of
a system that one believes to be -essentially good, but
critically flawed.
Now, I believe that anger should be a critical ingredient that drives the human spirit to action, not to
indolence, lethargy, disinterest and mediocrity. We
need this kind of anger. But the anger that renders us
despondent, inactive and unprogressive is actually not
different from the passiveness that breeds irresponsibility. We need the patriotism that stretches beyond
our problems and embraces the solutions instead—
-the patriotism that allows each of us to activate the
large heartedness inherently deep within us as a deliberate commitment to follow the principle that says
“love not only what is yours, but love all that belongs
to the human race.” This is imperative and cannot be
discounted.
TR Magazine 25

Features

Each of us must accept the imprints of geography
that we each belong to a defined space. Trust me, destiny will always be location sensitive. God, through
Nature, has determined our appointed places; and it
is our duty, each of us, to appreciate, promote, and
when necessary, defend the place nature has placed us,
otherwise called our country. To pretend that this is
not so, is to despise God’s wisdom in choosing where
we were born. Birth is a gift of God, and place of birth
is therefore a responsibility. I constantly find myself
¬annoyed when I hear people talk about “relocating
to America, Canada, United Kingdom, even most recently, UAE (Dubai), Qatar, etc... and the most annoying is small South Africa”. My response? “Go ahead.
Please move to those places. It’ll be much easier for
the rest of us to fix things without your constant whining and complaints.” While some may consider this
harsh, I invite anyone who can’t see the good in Nigeria, despite her blemishes, to leave. We must love
our country enough to stay and work to change it for
the better. Just like the American Civil Rights activist,
James Baldwin; I love Nigeria “more than any other
country in this world, and, ¬exactly for this reason,
I insist on the right to seek her progress and criticize
her perpetually.” No matter how negative our country is, we have no other country. We cannot let up or
give up. We must have a story for those that will take
our place in another 100years. We owe it to them to
wrestle down every wall of prejudice, religious and
ethnic intolerance, corruption, ignorance, fear and in-

26 TR Magazine

discipline that fights to keep our country small, and
her people weak and weary.
Some say that there is little reason to love Nigeria;
and I understand the temptation for any rational person to accept this. Sure, our country has made mistakes throughout history, but while the ethics behind
some of these ¬decisions were admittedly murky, it is
not right to blame the entire nation for a few morally
ambiguous and bereft leaders. Our anger or even optimism must not drive us out of reason; subsequently
our pain must drive us to love her more and take the
kind of positions that reflects the desire to change
Nigeria by all means; and this, in itself, is a demonstration of one’s love for the nation. We must critically
look into the future we prefer and decide what role we
will play today to create it. We don’t need critics who
know all that is wrong and possess the grammar to
underscore it, but lacks the commitment to act and
create visible impact.I can assure everyone reading
this that It will take the practical ¬investment of time
and resources by patriotic Nigerians to ensure Nigeria’s renewed prosperity.
As we continue to monitor the issues of our land,
we need patriots who will ignore the obvious challenges, by accepting the challenge to make efforts at
building a new moral society with the great hope that
the strength and bonds of our diversity will one day
strengthen us all in the years to come. God bless Nigeria. God bless her people. Amen!

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features

Impediments to
Self Determination

O

ctober 2nd, 2013. Gambia's President
Yahya Jammeh announces his country's withdrawal from the Commonwealth saying, It
will never be a member of any neo-colonial
institution.
October 13th, 2013. African leaders, at an AU
weekend summit insist on immunity from trial at the
ICC for sitting African heads of state. According to
Ethiopian Prime Minister and current AU Chairman,
Hailemariam Dessalegn, The unfair treatment that
we have been subjected to by the ICC is completely
unacceptable. And for Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta, a
sitting president with a pending case at The Hague,
“the ICC stopped being the home of justice the day it
became the toy of declining imperial powers.
Rumors of AU member states quitting the ICC
altogether, emerged from the summit along with the
men and women (Africa's burdens and burden bearers), who had been holed up in Addis Abba for the

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weekend, dreaming up solutions to the continent's
myriad of problems.
The right to self determination, that ancient almost entirely African quest, the one at the heart of
Jammeh's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of
Nations and the elephant in the room at the just concluded AU summit, is a noble aspiration indeed.
The adverse and enduring effects of Colonialism
on the political and socio-economic stability of many
African nations are undeniable. The suspicion that
greets foreign aid from erstwhile imperialist powers,
the dismissal of otherwise noble Bono-esque philanthropic gestures as part of the white savior industrial
complex, the wariness against neo-colonialism, all are
very well within reason.
African leaders and Africans do well to probe the
motives, actions and inactions of Western governments and their respective non-governmental appendages, in relation to the continent. They do well

TR Magazine 27

features

to rethink their allegiance to the Commonwealth of
Nations, to question why countries decolonized by
Britain in the 50s, 60s, and 70s would still want to
be part of any organization that retains the Queen as
head, however nominal.
The establishment of the Commonwealth cannot
be divorced from the 1920 imperial conferences, with
membership based on a common allegiance to the
British Crown. In 1991, in what has become known
as the Harare Declaration, member states of the Commonwealth gathered in the Zimbabwean capital to
reinforce their articulated core values of promoting
democracy, good governance, human rights and
prosperity. Two decades down the line, Zimbabwe,
in bitter irony, had become the antithesis on those
principles.
The Commonwealth might and indeed does have
some benefits, but with members having no significant trade pacts, how truly relevant is it? Why not
expunge every vestige of colonialism, the Commonwealth inclusive? So yes, maybe President Yahya Jammeh is on to something.
Maybe the continent would fare better in the
comity of nations if it planted firm feet against any
appearance of neo-colonialism. Or maybe it should
look deeper…
How much of the threat to Africa's self determination and seemingly attendant problems is external?
President Yahya Jammeh has been in the saddle
for the past 19 years, after he took power as a young
army officer in a military coup in 1994, and has won
each election since then. His strategy is simple: I will
develop areas that vote for me, but if you don't vote for
me, don't expect anything. The Gambian strongman
lives in a heavily-guarded presidential palace, where
he keeps a fleet of luxury cars, including a customized Hummer stretch limousine. His official convoy,
a 30-strong caravan of SUVs is guarded by pick-up
trucks with anti-aircraft guns and reputedly runs anyone off the road that gets in their way. The Gambian
economy under Jammeh's watch, dangles somewhere
between mediocrity and something less.
Jammeh is hardly different from the rest of his
counterparts across the continent. In October 2013,
the Mo Ibrahim Prize, announced that it would be
keeping its $5m reward, awarded to an elected leader
who governed well, raised living standards and then
left office. Its search for excellence in governance and
leadership drew a blank–the fourth time in five years.
The greatest impediment to the continent's quest for
self determination, since Africans sold Africans to
Europeans, has always come from within.
Africa's hollow sounding clamor for respect in

28 TR Magazine

Jammeh is hardly different
from the rest of his
counterparts across the
continent. In October
2013, the Mo Ibrahim Prize,
announced that it would
be keeping its $5m reward,
awarded to an elected
leader who governed well,
raised living standards
and then left office. Its
search for excellence in
governance and leadership
drew a blank–the fourth
time in five years. The
greatest impediment to
the continent's quest for
self determination, since
Africans sold Africans to
Europeans, has always
come from within.
a global geopolitical space that responds primarily
to economic power will continue unabated until it
harnesses its anger and dissatisfaction with its state
of development and focus it within. The continent's
greatest bane has been the ceding of its political space
to rabble rousers like Jammeh, who have perfected the
art of organizing to seize power, doing nothing for the
common good, and deflecting attention by whipping
up anti-imperialist sentiments.
A generation of African intellectuals, liberals and
nation builders must rise up to take the continent
back, country by country, from the mediocres it has
allowed to run rings around its respective state treasuries for decades.

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Features


T

by Omer Assad
(Pakistan)

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he fiasco unfolding in Egypt is disturbing and unnerving at best. The conflicts of
interests and upheaval have seen countless of
innocent civilians killed, members of the Muslims brotherhood shot dead and gassed on sight as
they protest against President Morsi’s removal. Personally, it seems like President Morsi has found himself a niche well crafted; it will become clear in time
that President Morsi is the culprit here as events unfolds. On the other hand, Washington which always
had its vested interests in Muslim countries is quite
passive in this scenario.
Every country has its own interests in the Egyptian
region as it flogs to supports Egypt’s two sided political climate. For Saudi Arabia which has always perceived President Morsi government as a threat to its
kingdom since its inception, is fuelling the Egyptian
generals with $12 billion dollars. This would be a rather good investment as President Morsi was anti Saudi
Arabia. Saudi Arabia has always been reputed for paving roads for Islamic fundamentalists and movements
to gain power and strength. However, that policy has
been taken back due to its strong ties with America.
The dethroning of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011
and the arrival of President Morsi on the platform
of the Muslim brotherhood was a compromise by
Egyptians to accept a semblance of democracy as the
Muslim brotherhood wasn’t a democratically wired
political group. Apparently the Egyptian population
felt an imminent threat to its political climate and future and would settle for any idea of democracy even

though it came at the hand of Muslim Brotherhood.
Ultimately, the Muslim Brotherhood was an uninvited
saviour and therefore couldn’t deliver the dividend of
democracy.
Violent protests erupted across Egypt as President
Morsi became president. His next move was to dispose of the Egyptian judges to fend off their verdict
against him. Muslims, Christians, Seculars and Liberals all protested against President Morsi and voiced
his removal with the pro Morsi and anti Morsi supporter’s clash with heavy casualties on both sides.
President Morsi’s reaction was to order a nationwide
referendum to be held to ensure that he was president desired by the masses. The referendum was held
and favored President Morsi by 64%. Evidently, it was
rigged and pre-planned. As a result, President Morsi
removed judicial decree to keep him on the throne.
Meanwhile, efforts were underway to remove
President Morsi from the presidential seat, dissatisfied protesters gathered in Cairo at the Tahrir Square
to demand his removal. The bold move was ignored
by western superpowers and continental spectators
but eventually, the Egyptian public was rescued by
meticulously planned military coup by the Egyptian
Army. It was a foreseeable eventuality that had to be
done otherwise the Muslim brotherhood in the Sinai
region would have risen up and caused a stir. It was a
difficult move for the Egyptian army.
Apparently, vested interests from all over the
world lie in Egypt and the political outburst was not
difficult to predict. Sinai is a sensitive strip between
Israel and Egypt and needs to be controlled to keep
peace as Hamas’s stronghold is in Gaza strip. America
cannot afford Islamic movements to thrive anywhere
in the world and thus, it will strike forcefully when
needed. The Saudi intervention was necessary to fend
off the extremists from gaining strength.
Personally, keeping the extremists away from
power is the sole solution to the Egypt’s political crisis. Now that the Egyptian generals have achieved
that, they can stabilize the volatile political climate in
Egypt. The Muslim brotherhood needs to be defeated
completely to bring law and order in Egypt. The top
priority for Israel, USA and Saudi Arabia is to get rid
of the Muslim brotherhood. All three are hard at this
task to maintain peace in the region.

TR Magazine 29

Business
Prescience31
The Importance of Entrepreneurial Collaboration in Africa
32
African Entrepreneurs on the Global Stage
33

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TR Magazine 31

Business / Work station

Prescience
The art of finishing before starting
by Tochukwu Ezeukwu

I

f you believe in God to any degree at all, you’d have
heard this statement at least once in your lifetime “God
knows the end from the beginning”. By this, I do not intend
to make you uncomfortable if your belief doesn’t support
the existence or the reality of a God. It just happens that we sustain two different beliefs and I believe that our beliefs should
not define our irritation or nuisance rather it should define our
difference and our difference should create a kind of relevance
that society can only get from uniqueness and variety.
That said, this post has zero correlation with faith or religion.
It is something that is all-the-way relevant to your work ethic,
your efficiency and your effectiveness as a worker, friend, human,
spouse, partner or chief executive.
Very simply, I define prescience as the art of finishing before
starting. That is not supposed to make sense, right? You should
start a thing and then finish, right? But very effective people will
understand that to be truly effective, you must master the art of
starting after you have finished.
I first learnt this principle many years ago, when I started taking interest in driving. For many years I will sit by the driver or
behind him on a journey and I will watch the pedals under his
feet. I will note the pedals that controlled our movement. After a
while I started noticing that the pedal to the right was used anytime the driver is trying to move forward; I noted as well how that
32 TR Magazine

anytime the driver will halt the vehicle, he’ll use the
middle pedal. I kept watching this dynamics for many
years, so much so that on my own and in my spare
time I would practice what I have observed. I did the
same thing with the gear system until I discovered that
there were two systems; the manual and the automatic
system. All these I had done while I was nothing close
to being eligible to drive by any standard. But I did this
for many years, I tell you. I was so confident that with
that knowledge, I already knew how to drive.
But what does this story come to? How does it help
anything? Here’s what eventually happened. My many
years of understudying the dynamics of driving eventually paid off when I eventually had the opportunity to
drive. The very first time I held the steering, I moved
the car farther than any first-time driver I know would
possibly have, and did I mention without any assistance? I have since driven many kilometers since then
without any formal driving-schooling. I am yet to have
my first accident.
So what’s the point? I finished before I started.
Yes I did. Your day will be a lot more productive and
meaningful if you commit to this discipline and due
diligence of ‘starting’ after you have ‘finished’.
Before you go for that crucial meeting, pre-play it,
feed-forward (from feed-back), and practically ‘finish’ the meeting
in your mind before it starts. Throw up possible questions you may
be asked, answer them, create your own questions and anticipate
responses, finish the meeting and then go on and start it while
keeping your mind open. This is why people will wonder why you
are always very productive at meetings.
Guess what? Even seemingly spontaneous performances, like
comedy is full of this principle. Effective comedians are masters of
prescience; they make you feel like what’s happening is unplanned,
but speak to any renowned comedian, they’ll tell you every move
is planned; of course there is the place of improvisation.
When you are going to make a sales pitch, ask all the possible
questions your prospect might ask and answer them yourself; sell
to yourself first, create all the scenarios and solve them, it makes
your job easy. Plan your spontaneity. It will seem spontaneous
and effortless to your observers but you will know that it is simply
prescience.
Practice this with your relationships and your work; finish it
and then start. It reduces your error rate and it makes you appears
smarter than you are. Bosses like to work with people who see the
bigger picture. This sort of posture saves you unnecessary trials,
it saves you shock and surprises, it saves you cost and it earns you
good reputation. The keyword is practice.

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business

The Importance of Entrepreneurial
Collaboration in Africa
As much of the world has struggled through an economic recession, a number of African countries have continued to
develop at unprecedented rates. Indeed, a recent research, ranking countries by growth in their GDP in 2013, sees three
African countries–South Sudan, Libya and Sierra Leone -occupying the top three spots. Additionally, there are 16 other African
states within the top 50.
The Changing Face of Development
Economic growth in Africa has been like this for
over a decade now, but in recent years it has been taking on a new face–tech entrepreneurship. Originally
catalysed by the mobile phone industry, which has
grown exponentially on the continent–with subscribers likely to reach a billion by 2015–apps especially
have been playing an increasingly vital role within
African society.
The buzz this has created across the continent
has led to the formation of various tech hubs. This
includes possibly the most renowned of them all,
iHub in Kenya, alongside many others, including–Ice
(Ethiopia), Hive Colab (Uganda), Wennovation Hub
(Botswana) and CC Hub (Nigeria).
Inspiring Creativity
The idea behind such technological hubs is to provide entrepreneurs with the space to create and others

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to create with. Although initially, most of these hubs
serve to establish small tech start ups, predominantly
apps, the impact in Kenya has made a giant leap on
from that.
Indeed, such has Kenya’s tech-entrepreneurship
grown, that now it contributes 5% to the country’s
GDP. This may not seem like a huge amount, but it
signifies a leap from $16 million up to $360 million
dollars in just a decade. This indicates a growth of
more than 2000%.
Kenya’s I-Hub too, has now moved on from app
creation and the development of small start ups and
entered into hardware. This has included the development of a supercomputer and specialist modem.
One of the most recent products has been the BRCK
modem, designed to withstand power outs and harsh
conditions. This is a great example of an African product, produced for African’s through an African col

by Matt S.

TR Magazine 33

business

African Entrepreneurs
on the Global Stage

P

rofessor Tigineh Mersha argues that a
“standards divide” exist between the African
continent and the rest of the world. This ‘divide’ has in-built consequences for Africa’s roving entrepreneurs on the global stage, as ISO standards are the bedrock to entrepreneurial growth. To
be sure, the ISO is only one part of the African entrepreneur jigsaw puzzle. However, it is one that needs
to be addressed.
International standards are crucial as they ensure
that a service or a product is reliable, of good quality
and safe for the end-user. They are not merely ‘safety’
guides, but important business management tools that
have changed the way business operates and in turn
has helped business change their management, operations and furthermore have helped business reduce

34 TR Magazine

costs.
Africa, according to Bloomberg, is a “hive of entrepreneurial activity” the continent has seen an “explosive growth of entrepreneurial fervor.” But does
the African entrepreneur on the global stage have an
in-built disadvantage? The Asian tiger and the Latin
American boom have been, partly based on the successful implementation of global standardisation
within manufacturing, service procedure and operations. However, the African example has seen several
hurdles to the successful implementation of global
standards.
What of the African entrepreneur? A recent survey conducted by the Omidyar Network found “a culture of entrepreneurship is growing in Sub-Saharan
Africa, with indicators related to entrepreneurial mo-

by Gareth Hunt

trnation.com

Thought Revolution Magazine-October 2013

Thought Revolution Magazine-October 2013

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