This 
is the age of can do economies, in this
era of globalisation, change has continued to be the only permanent feature in all the productive sectors in mostly
the developed countries, last year’s technology may already be considered obsolete this year, western governments
and their big corporations recognise this fact and therefore invest large sums of money in human capital development,
substantial amounts are also committed to research and development, they do this in order to continue to remain
competitive, and also to stay ahead of competition, failure to regenerate by investing in these areas will mean
capitulating to the Asian tiger economies who are already queuing up on their doorsteps waiting to invade their
markets and economies with cheaper and sometimes better quality products and services.
These western economies know that they
can not afford to let their economies fail, economic failure will result in job losses, decrease in corporation
and income taxes, increase in the payment of unemployment and other welfare benefits and also trigger massive disillusionment
and discontent amongst the citizenry, factors that may lead to social and political disintegration, this scenario
is almost like inviting anarchy.
What about the developing economies,
especially Nigeria who are already living out the scenario previously described? How
are we bracing up for these changes and also the increasing impact of globalization? What is our individual and
collective (national) strategy to be and remain competitive? It is time for us to realise that the funds of the
donor countries and their respective agencies that we have relied on so much in the past for aid and assistance
are fast drying up; these countries have their own problems and issues as well to which these funds are being committed.
The thinking in the international community
at the moment is ON YOUR OWN (OYO), cleverly and diplomatically this new philosophy is being warped in different
terms and jargons, the underlying tone is no longer economic aid for Africa but trade with
Africa. Play this argument forward and you will see that African countries
(Nigeria included) are almost in direct competition with the Asian countries such as India, Singapore, and China
etc for trade with the developed countries and also for foreign direct investment (FDI), international business
is not a game of sentiments, companies and countries take their capital only to countries where the capital will
be safe and can yield the most returns on investments, other considerations
will include availability of social amenities and infrastructures, availability of cheap and skilled labour, strong
work ethics etc. India appears to be very highly favoured at the moment and is the destination of choice for the
big corporations, in the UK and America, most service related and call center jobs have been off-shored to India,
why is Nigeria and the other African countries not attractive enough to some of these corporations?
I watched the video clip of Obasanjo’s
November 2004 visit to the White House recently (http://www.naijacommunity.com/green-articles.php?AID=131) and wasn’t quite surprised that the journalists present at the
meeting did not even look OBJ’s way, they also did not ask him any question relating to Nigeria or Africa both
in his two capacities as the president of Nigeria and as the chairman of the African Union (AU),They chose rather
to ask George Bush questions about Kofi Anan, the UN and Iraq, this is indeed an indirect statement from them that
Africa and its issues are no longer front-page news, their new attitude supports the Igbo adage that a man whose
house is on fire does not waste his time chasing rats, rather he commits his whole efforts towards attempting to
put out the fire.
I think that this should be a wake up
call for all africans especially the Nigerian government, we have to learn to accept our fate and deal with our
issues, running to George Bush, Tony Blair and the other western leaders always for aid and assistance may just
be a waste of tax payers money, considering the likely outcome when compared with the amount of resources invested
in the effort by way of estacodes and payment of travel expenses and accommodations in 5 star hotels for the government
officials or ‘travelling salesmen’and their wives, cousins, in-laws, drivers, cooks, girlfriends and gardeners.
It is also time for African governments
to begin to value and
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invest in their human capital, In Nigeria the educational sector should be re-positioned and supported to be the
driving force of the Nigeria of tomorrow, we should all be tired by now of hearing the phrase ‘half-baked graduates’.
The process should start in the junior levels covering nurseries, primary and secondary schools, investments should
be made by the respective local, state and federal government in classroom buildings, equipments and technology,
teachers should be trained and appreciated, it wouldn’t be asking for too much for their salaries to be paid on
time. It is not a thing of pride that the only time they receive a salary review is only when they threaten or
actually go on strike, the government should get its priorities right.
Looking at the UK model, we can see
why they have managed to remain one of the most competitive economies in the world, they value and appreciate both
teachers and students knowing that the students are the talents and workforce of the future, who will pay taxes
and also produce cutting edge products and services that will help in sustaining the economy. The teachers are
encouraged and supported as well, the government pays tuition fees (£6,000) for all trainee teachers in the
UK, the government also pays them a training bursary of £6,000
yearly. Science, mathematics and information technology trainee teachers receive a training bursary of £10,000,
this is because these subjects are regarded as shortage subjects, therefore their training bursary is much higher
as an incentive to attract more teachers in these areas.
Students are paid an educational maintenance
allowance (EMA) of £30 weekly, subject to attendance and assessment of parents’ or sponsors income, this
may seem like bribing them to stay in school, but the UK government’s wider objectives is to encourage and support
the future labour force.
Are students paid any kind of bursary
in Nigeria? If yes,
how often are these paid and how much exactly are they paid? How much does the respective state governments deduct
from their allocations as alleged students’ bursaries? Where do these funds end up? I remember our running battles
when I was an undergraduate student with the Anambra state government to get them to pay Anambra students the 500
Naira bursaries which the government had already collected on their behalf, until I graduated; the students never
received the bursary.
Recently because of the high labour
turnover in the teaching and other key professions in the UK, the government introduced a scheme called the key
worker living scheme (KWLS), teachers, social workers, the police, fire brigade officers and health care practitioners
are being given interest free loans of £50,000 to £100,000 as deposits and down payments to buy their
own houses, this surely shows the government’s understanding of the underlying issues of skills development and
key workers’ motivation.
To function and be ahead in today’s
changing world, we need to constantly upgrade our skills, this may sometimes mean re-training for new jobs, we
should not be complacent, my aunt used to be a top flight secretary and was a shorthand writing expert in her days
but today she is unemployed because she didn’t follow the times by updating her skills to current standards which
is completely technology driven. How many more Nigerians are in this same situation? Recently a Nigerian mathematics
professor on sabbatical at the college where I teach had his contract prematurely terminated, the reason being
that he was computer/technology shy and seemed to rely heavily on the traditional methods of teaching (chalk and
board).
In today’s world, there are no such
things as a job for life, employers now look for people with transferable and marketable skills, this is why stories
of redundancies and offshoring of jobs continue to fill every available media space, multi-skilled employees who
can function in multi-task environments are very highly valued.
My initial experience of being a teacher
in the UK was quite
challenging, it was a long way from the blackboard and chalk that my teachers used back in Nigeria, the classrooms
in the UK are equipped with high - tech teaching equipments, smart boards, projectors, internet on demand etc,
in the beginning the atmosphere was quite daunting and I really had to fast forward my learning process in order
to cope. There may have been others who couldn’t cope or who may have failed to recognise this change and trend
and face up to the challenges, these kind of people are everywhere, in the different professions in Nigeria and
in other parts of Africa, they are the ones who should really be thinking about upgrading their skills, the government
should support them in the process.
Finally, every one of us should also
constantly think about improving our skills and fashioning out our own strategies for survival both in our careers
or businesses in this rapidly changing and competitive world. It normally helps to find out the key and rewarding
professions in whatever country one finds himself or herself, and then adapting or re-training accordingly, it
all makes sense to me now why my brother who was an accountant in Nigeria migrated to America and retrained as
a nurse, Nigerians should no longer cling religiously to the past nor wallow in self pity, we should be pro-active
by moving on and adapting to the times, but with the support and encouragement of our government.