A Thousand Iwealas...
Only a few Nigerians have been able to attain the rock star status accorded . Only a few have managed to do this via the business route sans politique. There are a thousand out there willing and able to contribute to the growth of home country. I personally do not think Nigeria needs that many rocket scientist or too many top of the class students. All we need are people willing to apply true and trusted methods, to our economy and we would be just fine. Ours is not a country that needs to reinvent the wheel, it is all in our hands already. So how do we put this together.
An Iweala being an industry leader with years of experience in a functioning economic system, he/she is probably a bit frustrated with contributing to another man economy while theirs wallow in poverty. Probably feels he has a lot to offer. On the flip side he/she is disappointed with the Nigerian political class, and may describe Nigerian politicians as diabolic from time to time. To him or her Nigeria has become a far away country with a lot of armed robberies making it quite impossible to enjoy a quiet Xmas. He/she has heard about the progress being made, but remains dismissive since there isn't a defined role for them to play.
Planners, we need diligent planners and visionaries who have a few years of experience in systems that work with minimal waste. How do we get this human resource cheaply? Nigerians in diaspora. People whose brains were once pronounce drained. Just like China reverse engineered technology, we stand a chance of being the comeback kids who have managed to reverse engineer human capital.
There are thousands of out there, how do we get them interested in an economy that has disappointed many times in the past. I often face the challenge of getting this group interested in the burst of growth and goodwill presently being experienced by Nigeria. How do we market Nigeria to ours?
To be continued in the next post...
Footnote: 1. Is the contribution by Nigerians living abroad as important as it is often made to look? Are we wasting our time by expecting those living abroad to pitch in and help? Should there really be a framework or getting the diaspora involved? Should they make their contributions as foot soldiers just like everybody else? 2. This post was resurrect for my draft folder and inspired by entry at . 3. The where Indian trained tech. graduates honed their skills in the US and Europe, but returned to India to make things happen. This are lessons worth living by. 4. My Patriotism still isn't working just right.
