As with all economic elixirs, privatization has been oversimplified, oversold, and ultimately disappointing—delivering less than promised. Electricity supply to the average Nigerian has not improved between 2015 and 2019. Within the Last decade the Nigerian government has introduced dedicated policies and regulations, latest among them being the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission Mini-Grid Regulation, 2016. Following…
The Nigerian football league has huge potentials of becoming a major money-spinner if it receives the right kind of publicity and investment. Nigeria has a large number of football lovers who are fans of foreign football clubs. Football has become part of the culture, so we might as well use it to our advantage by creating stars out of our local league, taking advantage of digital media. There is no doubt that there is talent in Nigeria, it is all about the narrative which can be rewritten by creating the right brand, hype and access.
Problem: Poor performance of the Nigerian Professional Football League.
Beneficiary: NFF, League Management Company, State and Federal Government
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
My proposition is quite simple.
Privatize the government owed football clubs by selling them to the richest people in Nigeria. This would raise a lot of eyebrows and attract the attention of Nigerians- the perfect publicity stunt. Most importantly, it is an appeal to the patriotism of the wealthy folk who are very capable of capitalising on the opportunities in the local league. Offers such as Tax holidays, Lease deals on government owned stadia for club matches should also be presented.
The table below is a proposal for the sale of 17 state-owned football clubs with the corresponding prices and hopeful buyers. This sale, if successful, will generate about $50 million.
| s/n | Individual | Football club | Football stadium | Capacity | Price |
| 1 | PRIVATE | MFM F.C | Agege Stadium | 4,000 | |
| 2 | PRIVATE | FC Ifeanyi Ubah | Ifeanyi Ubah Stadium, Anambra | 3,000 | |
| 3 | PRIVATE | GO Round F.C | Krisdera Hotel Stadium | 1,000 | |
| 4 | Mohammed Indimi | El-Kanemi | El-Kanemi Stadium, Maiduguri | 10,000 | $2M |
| 5 | Folorunsho Alakija | Enyimba | *Enyimba International Stadium | 25,500 | $9M |
| 6 | Tony Elumelu | Abia Warriors | Umuahia Township Stadium | 5,000 | $2M |
| 7 | Jim Ovia | Akwa United | Uyo Township stadium | 5,000 | $2M |
| 8 | Cletus Ibeto | Heartland F.C | Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri | 10,000 | $2M |
| 9 | Aliko Dangote | Kano Pillars F.C | Sani Abacha Stadium | 25,000 | $5M |
| 10 | Hajia Bola Shagaya | Katsina United | Katsina Stadium | 5,000 | $2M |
| 11 | Femi Otedola | Kwara United F.C | Kwara Stadium | 18,000 | $2.5M |
| 12 | Abdusalam Rabiu | Lobi Stars F.C | Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi | 20,000 | $3M |
| 13 | Tunde Folawiyo | Nasarawa United F.C | Lafia Township Stadium | 5,000 | $2M |
| 14 | Benedict Peters | Niger Tornadoes | Minna Township stadium | 5,000 | $2M |
| 15 | Bryant Orijiako | Plateau United | Pam Stadium, Jos | 15,000 | $2.5M |
| 16 | Igho Sanomi | Rivers United | Liberation Stadium, PH | 30,000 | $3M |
| 17 | Pascal Uzoma Dozie | Enugu Rangers | Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu | 22,000 | $5M |
| 18 | Mike Adenuga | Sunshine Stars F.C | Akure Township Stadium | 15,000 | $3M |
| 19 | Orji Uzor Kalu | Wikki Tourist F.C. | Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi | 15,000 | $2.5M |
| 20 | Jimoh Ibrahim | Yobe Desert Stars F.C | Damaturu Township Stadium, Yobe | 5,000 | $2M |
*Enyimba owns its own stadium which explains the additional cost.
On completion of the sales, revenue generated should be used for the following
Set up League TV- Studio, Cameras, Staff- Not NTA quality. Ebony life, Arise TV, Soundcity kind of quality. This would involve 4-10 camera coverage of football matches, pre-match interviews, warm up and post-match reviews, Video profiling of players for in-depth reviews, high-end Motion graphics ,etc
Implementation is very important. You need a team of thinkers, media gurus, digital experts and patriotic Nigerians with integrity. We have lots of them and yes! Young people. Remember, these are the people that will form a bulk of the expected fan base.
Expectations of buyers include-
Sources of revenue for buyers
Full impact potential: This will create enormous opportunities for Nigerian football players, increase the likelihood for discovery of more talents, create employment, and attract more investment and professionals from around the world. One thing Nigeria has is “numbers”- put that to use and create great value.
Funding: Public Private Partnership
Marketplace: Sports, Television & Entertainment
Other interesting facts: Most Italian stadia are not owned by the clubs, but leased. The system is outmoded, and costs clubs some revenue.
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi (IG & Twitter @tomishift)
Tomi is a Technology and Media professional who currently runs a digital media company called Cliq Ent.
Educational Background: Msc Telecommunication Systems Management (Queen Mary University of London), BEng. Electrical Engineering (University of Ilorin)
As a build up on the post on digitizing the Nigerian government, this here is to give some additional details on how the government can raise a team of technology professionals at a mild expense of under 300 million naira per year within the next 3 years.
The Special Information Technology (SIT) 50 Task Force
From recent projects embarked on by the Nigerian government, one could tell that there are concerns about technology development in the country. However, it is important that the Federal Government (FG) spearheads this drive for technology adaptation within itself for starters. It is as simple as saying “practice what you preach”, “lead by example”.
Tons of government processes are painstakingly slow due to lack of technological adaptation by the FG. Interestingly, the kinds of technology needed to accelerate these processes are not even close to rocket science; but largely within the skill set of Nigerian technology experts in the country. It is better we start this NOW, rather than delay the inevitable.
We must begin to extend & modernize current government ICT infrastructure; with example models such as the UK and US e-Government strategies, the Nigerian government too can develop a single, unified government portal that will be capable of sharing public administration data openly.
Problem: Lack of empowered Technology experts within the government civil service
Beneficiary: The Nigerian government, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and Nigerians.
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi, ICT & Media Expert (Msc Telecommunication Systems Management – Queen Mary University of London, BSc Electrical Engineering- University of Ilorin)
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
This proposition is to have the FG recruit a set of 50 technology professionals into the federal civil service with the aim of modernizing government processes by building new technology services using existing ICT infrastructure. The team will be expected to grow over the years and subsequently have some of its members absorbed into other government arms/agencies such as the Police, Revenue Service, etc
Eligibility: Only Nigerian indigenes with relevant technology experience & proven performance track records within the private sector, both home and abroad.
Organogram: The task force will be employed by the federal ministry of communications technology but report directly to the presidency in order to avoid unwanted hindrances such as unnecessary bureaucratic processes, politics and so on. The SIT task force will comprise of 50 professionals organised into four (4) units, each with team leads reporting to the Director of the task force.
The technical members of the task force will be placed across three (3) levels described below:
1. Specialist: These are absolute specialists in specific fields of interest and would mostly function as team leads. At least 8 years of relevant experience with a remuneration of 12 million per annum.
2. Senior Technology Expert: At least 5 years of relevant experience with a remuneration of 6 million per annum.
3. Junior Technology Expert: At least 3 years of relevant experience with a remuneration of 3 million per annum.
The units are described below:
1. Networking: This team is responsible for networking infrastructure for voice and data platforms. It will also have a sub unit responsible for IT security.
Size: 7 || (Team lead) Specialist (1)- 12m, Senior Tech (3)- 18m, junior tech (3)- 9m
ii. IT Security: these will be IT security professionals with certain members holding certifications similar or equivalent to CCIE security.
Size: 5|| Specialist (1)-12m, Senior Tech (2)- 12m, junior tech (2)- 6m
Team size: 12
Budget Per Annum: 69 million naira
2. Software development: This team will be made up of developers and testers, and responsible for back-end and front-end elements of technology platforms.
Size: 9 || (Team lead) Specialist -12m, Senior Tech (4)- 30m, junior tech (4)- 12m
ii. Database Administration: This sub unit will be made up of data acquisition, design & development. Responsible for collating and conversion of data formats, development of data structures, queries, and data optimization.
Size: 9 || Senior Tech (3)- 18m, junior tech (6)- 18m
Team size: 18
Budget Per Annum: 90 million naira
3. Information Systems: The team would comprise of General IT, Project Management, trainers, media & design.
Size: 7 || (Team lead) Specialist -12m, Senior Tech (3)- 18m, junior tech (3)- 9m
ii. System administration: These will be responsible for hardware setup and maintenance, system analysis, Facility management, and other system administration duties.
Size: 6 || Senior Tech (3)- 18m, junior tech (3)- 9m
Team size: 13
Budget Per Annum: 72 million naira
4. Administration & Planning: This team will handle Human resource management, general administration, planning & logistics. Admin (2)- 6m, Procurement (2)- 6m, Drivers (2)-1m
Director- 15m
Team size: 7
Budget Per Anum: 28 million naira
Total wages: 259 million naira per annum
Other costs: Rented Office space (Abuja & Lagos), Workstations, Fleet vehicles (2), maintenance, running costs. Estimated at 41 million naira
Deliverables:
Expectations within a year, the team will enable the ability to:
• Register a company online. Just like in the UK, it can be done in less than 24 hours without showing up physically- I did this myself
• Make Tax payments, government levies, traffic fines, etc., online without the need to show up physically at an office
• Perform company checks online at an affordable fee, to protect investor interests.
• Implement a unified government portal, to share public administration data openly.
• Implement a robust government Unified Communications System supporting IM, mail, voice and video communications.
Others areas to be aggregated and standardised are:
Population registries – individuals’ addresses
E-Health – personal health data / records, doctors’ licenses, prescriptions issued, health insurance cover
Social insurance registries – individuals’ benefits and claims
Land registries – address data
E-Police – traffic violations, missing persons and fugitives
Vehicle and driver registries – licences, traffic insurance coverage
Educational registries – educational records
Unemployment data – benefits and claims
Migration board – documents data
Full impact potential: Modernize the government’s public administration, taking services online and aggregating and standardizing them to gain efficiency.
Funding: The Nigerian Government || Collaboration with Private companies through CSR || Crowdfunding
Marketplace: e-Governance
Other interesting facts: According to the United Nations E-Government survey in 2014, The Republic of Korea ranked first in global e-government due to its continued leadership and focus on e-government innovation. It was overtaken by the United Kingdom in 2016.
Mauritius is the top performer in Africa, and ranked 58th worldwide. Nigeria is not in the top 10 ranking for Africa, and behind countries like Seychelles, Egypt, Botswana & Kenya.
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi
Running company checks in Nigeria at the moment is quite a haphazard task. This presents a situation in which potential investors are not provided with the basic form of protection expected from a 21st century Nigerian Government. With the level of IT advancements in today’s world, deploying such a solution is not a big deal. Providing a Free data company check system is quite important for easy dissemination of information by concerned parties in the business space in Nigeria.
Problem: Poor or no company lookup infrastructure
Beneficiary: CAC, FIRS, Investors, Nigerians
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi, ICT & Media Expert (Msc Telecommunication Systems Management – Queen Mary University of London, BSc Electrical Engineering- University of Ilorin)
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
There is the need for an online open data service in order to provide corporate information for registered Nigerian companies. This should focus on collaborating all types of company data including Company Key Data, Accounts, Returns, Financial Figures, Company Appointments and Filing History. Other information such as Company Name, Status, Company Number, Incorporation Date, Company Age, Activity Description, Credit Report (latest returns) and Directors details should be included as well. For example, anyone should be able to run online checks on Nigerian companies in order to get a report such as given below:
Annual turnover is £6.5 million or more
The balance sheet total is £ 3.26 million or more
Employs 50 or more employees
May be publicly listed
May be a member of a group of companies meeting any of the above criteria
The information should be available to 3rd party service providers from Nigerian public records such as CAC and Nigerian Government Data (Tax)/FIRS.
Migrating/integrating the current company data structures to a system supporting this functionality, including building the system itself is not beyond ordinary. It is as basic (or complicated- depending on your perspective) as a Computer Science final year project assigned to 10 students. However, this is based on the assumption that company data for all registered entities in Nigeria currently exists in some kind of computer readable database.
There are unconfirmed reports that a Nigerian Senator earns between 180 million to 350 million annually. This more than enough to fund a government IT specialists team of at least 30 professionals from the private sector. This would include Database Administrators, Security Specialists, Network Engineers, IT System Administrators and programmers; with years of prior and relevant experience. Infrastructure would not be a problem due to the existence government owned entities such as Galaxy Backbone and NITDA.
This solution is achievable within six months if well planned and funded.
Full impact potential: Better protection for investors
Funding: The Nigerian Government
Marketplace: Business in general
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi
One would wonder why a TV network with so much infrastructure and geographical coverage would consistently produce very poor quality images and TV programmes. Over the years, there have been a series of broadcast studio design upgrades, management changes. However, it takes more than these actions to transform this once great establishment. We have seen new TV stations with lesser amounts of resources providing better quality of TV programming and images but NTA still remains at the back of the pack. As things stand, Nigeria’s national TV channel cannot be compared to its international counterparts like SABC, BBC.
Problem: Poor quality of TV productions by NTA
Beneficiary: NTA,
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi
Idea Status: Pitch
vs 
HOW DOES IT WORK?
With the new wave of technological advancements in TV broadcast systems, good quality camera systems are now affordable to a large extent. This is why TV stations such as Ebonylife TV and london live UK are able to produce high quality images with equipment that cost less than what larger media establishments like BBC would require. In my view, NTA needs to follow the path of these smaller TV stations that make do with cheaper TV equipment and over time build up to acquire higher costing TV broadcasting equipment.
Studio design: NTA’s current studio designs look like they don’t have enough space; it seems really small compared to the image below. An effective and commonly used design is the use of see-through glass with an office overview like the RT news picture above. This may require a remake of the office layout but it is totally worth it.
Lighting: This goes beyond pointing a set of lights at the presenter. LED DMX controlled studio lighting is quite affordable.
Studio Cameras: I personally think this is one of the major sources of NTA’s poor picture quality. HD broadcast cameras and lenses are very expensive, however, there are cheap solutions- if money is a problem. For instance, Blackmagic recently released cheap broadcast cameras (under $2,000)that can operate with Camera Control Unit, talk back systems, etc. The camera below shoot in 4k, ultraHD resolution!
Lenses under $5,000 will provide very good quality
Others accesories like a Cranes- even if it is a cheap one, dolly movements add to the quality of production
Ebonylife TV and London live tv are TV channels that use DSLRs alot. DSLRs are cheap and affordable and produce great quality.
a fully rigged up dslr with a robotic operator.
Sound: They obviously need a new sound solution, you can constantly hear a buzz during the live broadcasts. And the production of the reports are terrible. No standards, with different audio levels, of reports, etc. A $5,000 audio solution will solve that issue.
Graphics/ special effects:Below par for NTA, considering the fact that there are tons of graphic designer contractors in Nigeria. A channel like Soundcity always produce great graphics made by Nigerians in Nigeria. What is NTA’s problem then? are they plain stubborn or ignorant. NTA really needs to re-brand its colors.
Video mixer: This needs to be as good as the quality of camera footage going into the device. Blackmagic again has a 4K switcher. which will do wonders for under $8,000.
Others are Streaming solutions (Encoding), Broadcast Converters, cabling, power, networking equipment, rack mounts and casings, which are readily available and not too expensive.
Full impact potential: Better TV production quality, increased viewership
Funding: NTA
Marketplace: TV Production
Other interesting facts:
NTA and Startimes have a joint venture.
Chroma keying at its worst: courtesy of NTA
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi
One cannot fail to overlook the poor state of Nigeria’s government websites. These websites are not only mostly contracted out to private firms for development but also poorly managed with varying attributes such as web Technologies, layouts and designs, nomenclatures and are often hosted outside the country. This current state of chaos needs to be addressed as soon as possible in order to facilitate proper access to government information and service.
Problem: Poor state of Nigerian Government Websites
Beneficiary: Nigeria
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi, ICT & Media Expert (Msc Telecommunication Systems Management – Queen Mary University of London, BSc Electrical Engineering- University of Ilorin)
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
First of all, put up a proper website for http://www.nigeria.gov.ng/ which currently has nothing!
Having a single point access to government information and services is quite important in this information age. It is therefore needed to aggregate all content currently available on all existing Government websites and ultimately enhance the intrinsic quality of the Government websites based on a set of predefined Guidelines and Policies.
The best way to ensure that this works is to build up web technology development capabilities within the government itself. This should not be difficult as there are Nigerians who possess the required skill-set to pull-off such a feat.
Judging by the current situation, it is very likely that Nigeria’s Ministry of Communication Technology and its agencies are incapable of managing Nigeria’s Government websites. It simply means that the wrong people are making the decisions. It only makes sense to restructure and hire of new able hands.
A Guidlines document for all Nigerian Government websites similar to what the Indian Government published in 2009 would go a long way in ensuring an acceptable level of standards. This should cover all areas relating to Design, Development, Hosting, Content Quality and Management.
It is essential that revamping Nigeria’s Government websites should not be seen as a one-time affair where it is achieved by contracting to private firms. It should be approached with the consciousness that it is a continuous project that needs to be reviewed frequently due to the ever evolving nature of web technologies.
In gathering the skills needed, the government should poach highly skilled and talented individuals from the private sector in order to build a formidable team of developers, designers and content managers.
This is also not the time to appoint some old Professors or PhD holders to head Technology teams that need to be dynamic and vibrant. In my opinion, the government is already filled with such academicians and we cannot categorically state that the country is better for it.
Some points to note:
Hosting: must be done IN NIGERIA. I know that galaxy backbone (A government owned establishment) provides web hosting services.
Development: No wordpress websites, please!
Full impact potential: Standardization and uniformity of Nigeria’s Government websites, projection of a better image of the Nigerian government on the internet.
Funding: Federal Government of Nigeria
Marketplace: e-Governance, Tourism
Other interesting facts:
As of the time the article was written, Nigeria’s government website has nothing meaningful on it.
In 2013, UK’s government website was named the Best Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, beating out 99 shortlisted buildings, inventions, and cars for the honor. The video below was put together by Dezeen.com
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi
One cannot but stress how important it is for a 21st century government to be technology savvy. Technology simply automates processes created by people, hence, the Nigerian Government needs to embrace innovative technology in order to effectively cater for its corporate and consumer needs and in essence, deliver better services.
If properly implemented, technology can create more effective and cost saving management and operational models; and eventually create a slimmer, more responsive, transparent and agile form of bureaucracy within the system. One way of achieving this uphill task could be to seek partnership/ assistance of a foreign government such as that of Estonia, a country with a population of less than 2 million, according to Wikipedia, which is arguably the world’s most tech-savvy government. However, I am of the opinion that Nigeria’s private sector possesses the skills and man-power needed to make the Nigerian Government more tech-savvy; not by hiring contractors but by absorbing these able hands into the government’s work force.
Problem: A technologically backward Nigerian government
Beneficiary: The Nigerian government, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and Nigerians
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi, ICT & Media Expert (Msc Telecommunication Systems Management – Queen Mary University of London, BSc Electrical Engineering- University of Ilorin)
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Technology is crucial to establishing and running the country. Nigeria needs a public agency for central e-government solutions forming an Information System’s Authority. But first, the government needs to end mediocre projects. Some of my proposals are:
> Scrap ALL government website development contracts awarded to contractors. Why can’t these websites be built by the parastatals?
> Consolidate/review the ICT Ministry parastatals (Galaxy backbone & NITDA)- In my view, these parastatals are functioning below par and perform some similar services.
> Address the issue of incapacitated ICT graduates- The curriculum/syllabuses of ICT related taught programmes/courses in Nigerian Universities are globally not competitive and out of date, hence produces unemployable ICT graduates. Note that this is not even an infrastructure problem.
Digitalising the Nigerian Government is very crucial to achieving the goals of effectiveness and Transparency outlined by the new government. The following actions will be required:
However, the items listed above do not come cheap! But this will create a path towards creating a self sufficient tech-savvy Nigerian Government.
It is very important to create a centralised point of government services and these can be achieved by taking the action points listed above. Some services that can result from this restructuring are:
Full impact potential: A Tech-savvy Nigerian Government, e-Platforms for Transparency and Validation, etc.
Funding: Nigerian Government
Marketplace: Information Technology, Governance
Other interesting facts:
The Ministry of Information website, as at 01-07-2015, still had a campaign of the former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Most of the federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are currently hosting their webs and emails’ servers outside of the country, thereby making a mockery of the government.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) website is hosted in the US. What a shame!
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi, ICT expert
updated: 10/05/2016
Status Update: The image has been changed
Idea Status: IMPLEMENTED (CLOSED)
Concise Summary of the issue: It is quite amazing to see that a simple search of “Lagos, Nigeria” on google (the world’s leading search engine) presents a not so pleasing image of the metropolitan city of Nigeria, on its knowledge graph. The search engine suggests an image of Makoko, a slum neighborhood located in Lagos. Running a similar search on other cities such as Accra, Abidjan, Cape Town, London, presents beautiful skyline images of these lovely cities. The great news is that this inappropriate image summary of Lagos can be changed by the collective effort of Nigerians on the internet.
Beneficiary: Nigerians
Proposed by: Tomi Orunmuyi
HOW DOES IT WORK?
One mustn’t fail to clarify that the Google search engine is not totally to blame, as it is simply “a machine” that uses complex algorithms to display search results based on page ranks or popularity. However, I may have just spotted a flaw to this algorithm. Google picks off the Makoko image from a post on Lagos (Lagos: A city where you keep up or fall behind) made by a South African website called Daily Maverick. Perhaps the search engine prioritises images based on locations. But the question is, how many “Nigerian” websites, with beautiful pictures of Lagos, are actually hosted in Nigeria? Very few! Yes! including betaNigeria…Another issue contributing to this image saga may also be that most cool images of lagos, out there have copyright restrictions.
Now, Imagine trying to get a foreign investor, who is unaware of the city called Lagos, to invest in your high tech Lagos business. A simple search on Google could give you an uphill task of convincing the skeptical investor that Lagos is a big city with real estate costs comparable to those of cities such as New York and London.
How can this be fixed?
Google has a feedback mechanism which allows internet users to report errors! Yay! All we need now is for every Nigerian out there to flood the Google servers with reports on that image! Let us change this menace before it changes us!
Full impact potential: Better image representation of Lagos
Funding: Crowd-sourcing
Marketplace: Information Technology
Other interesting facts:
A google search on Makoko suggests NO IMAGE!!!
The image below was taken by the writer of this post. Also watch the video by Catch TV on this topic.
Written by: Tomi Orunmuyi
Did you know that Nigeria’s population has grown by 284% since independence, and is expected to be larger than that of the US in 2050? Nigeria was self sufficient on agriculture and its commodities before 1960, but oil came and everything changed. With the envisaged surge in population and the clear fact that ‘man must eat’, one cannot but ask what the plan of the federal government is to reenact the existing and well crafted agricultural policies currently in place as developed by the former minister of Agriculture Mr Adewunmi Adesina and his team; and what possible roles individual and corporate entities can play in driving the development that is much needed. In all of the parties needed to drive this, particular interest is on the roles of individuals and families. In the US, 97% of the farms are operated by families, individuals, family partnerships or family corporations. An average Nigerian that thinks about the poor state of agriculture in Nigeria is always quick to blame the government and not critical to think about how he can be a player in driving the much-desired growth. How can the government and people work more closely together?
Problem: Non engagement and empowerment of young entrepreneurs who have interest in agriculture. Inadequate sensitization and support from the government and ministries with recourse to international bodies, on how Nigeria can, by 2050, feed herself and drive down world hunger.
Beneficiary: The Nigerian population
Proposed by: Mojisola Sonde
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
After reading and listening to several interviews of the former minister of Agriculture Mr Adewunmi Adesina, the former president Jonathan and the business mogul Aliko Dangote, one factor has stayed dominant and that is; the financial inclusion and availability of adequate funding for the sector. The idea of this post is to propose empowerment of small scale family-partnerships, and family corporations and well educated and meaning individuals with genuine entrepreneurial interest in agriculture. Statistically, 70% of Nigerians are employed by the agricultural sector. If this statistics stands clean then a good number of this employed people are ‘underemployed’. That is producing below the capacity that 70% of approximately 160million people can produce. We propose that the government relate more closely with the people to help to bring to life set policies and develop more advanced ones. Innovation drives every sector and even agriculture. The government should set up an organization, one similar to the ‘feed the future‘ set up by the US government. This organization would empower government on innovative and best ways to engage the available individual farmers and/or limited water and resources that are available to feed the growing population. The big dream is to see a more engaged and fulfilled people, family, individuals in farming, working and interacting closely with the government to end a nationwide disease.
Full impact potential: World hunger is the second of the Sustainable Development Goal. Nigeria’s strides in driving down her own hunger and utilizing her arable lands and productive people to produce healthy food even for the world would strongly impact the world’s success in achieving this goal.
Funding: Government would be responsible for providing agricultural funds and should create incentivized policies to banks and other financial institutions.
Marketplace: Agriculture
Other interesting facts:
Reduced agricultural involvement by educated Nigerians is first of all the government’s fault. Attractive policies and investment opportunities should be provided so that people can get a lot more involved.
Written by: Mojisola Sonde
Nigeria is a country with talented persons, our creativity have spanned across various fields which includes architecture, engineering, science, law, music, medicine, finance; just to mention a few. Often times, the ingenuity of persons who have excelled in these various fields are violated in form of piracy and other forms of illegal duplication or use. All over the streets, we find pirates making profits in broad daylight out of the work of someone else, we find people purchasing books that have been illegally published while the real people who made the real effort are unaware and short-changed. It is therefore important to have a legal framework and an authority to protect the rights of intellectual, this is the major reason why it is important for Nigeria to establish the ‘Nigeria Intellectual Property Organisation (NIPO)’.
Problem: Piracy and other related offences is a serious problem short-changing established intellectuals and discouraging the ingenuity of young ones.
Beneficiary: The Government; Intellectual Property Lawyers; Artistes, Writers and other intellectuals.
Proposed by: Bolu’ Michael-Biyi
Idea Status: Pitch
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Sponsoring a legislative bill to establish the Nigeria Intellectual Property Organisation (NIPO). The bill would highlight who an offender is and also accord punishments to various degrees of offences. NIPO will be officially affiliated with the ‘World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)’ in Geneva, Switzerland. The headquarters of NIPO would be in FCT Abuja with a sub-commission in the 6 geo-political zones of the country. NIPO would be empowered to protect intellectual property via public campaigns, enforcement and other methods as deemed fit.
Full impact potential: It is expected that the establishment of NIPO will reduce piracy by at least 50% in its first year of operation. The legal framework in place and human resources available would serve as a major deterrent for pirates and potential pirates.
Funding: NIPO would be funded by the government according to the existing parastatal procedures.
Marketplace: Governance
Written by: Bolu’ Michael-Biyi (Public Affairs Analyst)