Occupy the world !

I have to start by saying I don't fully understand the whole Occupy movement. You see for me I was not there at the start, I was living in a remote part of Africa at the time, so the only exposure was CNN and a few posts on Facebook, mainly my daughter, so for me all it was was people moaning about life and how unfair it all was. So when I came home late last year I wanted to get up to speed on the whole thing.

I went to vist the Occupy London camp at St.Pauls, and I must be honest to say that the people there just reaffirmed my view. People just moaning about how unfair life was, how hard life was, how the rich were all evil, how bankers were all greedy and how the world would soon end. It was all negitive, I did not hear one positive idea or suggestion. I just came away thinking how pointless the whole thing was.

Then I went online, I now had access to YouTube and so I watched copious videos and started to see both sides of the debate. And it was there I saw the first positives, social media was really being used to convey a message, and thats a really good thing. But when you check Facebook, the Occupy Movement starts to look such an American thing, 90% of the groups were US, a good thing and a bad thing in my eyes. However thanks to this wave of voices, the injustises of a country I had been living in, Nigeria, suddenly have a band-wagon they could jump on, and so "Occupy Nigeria" could take place. This for me was the second real positive.

But my issues are this, what is the point ? what is the goal ? who are these people ? and most of all, what ideas are they putting forward ?

I have personally lived beside real poverty, lived in countries that excell at political and commercial corruption, I have seen first-hand the impact of greed, I have also lived in Nigeria and South Africa, but I do wonder if this movement can or will make an actual difference. One thing I have learned through life is never take things at face value, to question is to learn.

A question for Nigerians

I was sitting watching YouTube videos of all the various OccupyNigeria protests and one thing struck me, one question came to my mind, so I thought I would ask it out load via my blog.

If a man came to each of you as an individual and offered to give you N1m, cash with no conditions, or they would build the worlds biggest oil refinery in Nigeria, which would you choose ?

I think there in lies just one of the reasons why today, after less than a week, the Occupy Nigeria movement is already closing down and winding up, why the movement is already over. You see for me, the vast majorty of nigerians are quite selfish, and most average nigerians, those earning N18k or less, the 90%, would take the N1m and not care that the oil refinery would solve so many of the countries problems.

Is that different from other countries, from other Occupy movements around the world? Yes I believe it is, and yes I believe that is very sad. Nigeria abeg, continue what you have started here and go for the real cause of your situation.

Goodluck Jonathan is not the problem. #occupynigeria

The uprising in Nigeria, the bandwagon that is now called “Occupy Nigeria” was born out of a natural reaction to the issue of the fuel subsidy being removed. On the back of all the worlds “Occupy” movements it was only natural that Nigeria would follow suit. This is a country with a very high social media usage, mainly Facebook, ridiculous levels of unemployment, a severe lack of education and the basics of a living standard, and so all the ingredients for this type of thing. Equally, with so many Nigerians now living in the western world, their tales of a better life have raised the expectation levels of the youth back home.

But one thing I have noticed while watching the videos on YouTube and Twitter is the anti Jonathan sentiment of those protesting. Okay so as President he is a natural target, but this is more about the man, rather than the position. For me, the target for all this should be the system, not the man. Lets be honest here, removing the subsidy is the correct thing to do, yes the timing sucks, and yes the speed of it could have been done better, but GEJ is doing the right thing and is having to take action because of the extreme failings of his predecessors. Nigeria is the 8^th biggest producer of oil in the world, so why does it have to import oil for its people? That is the biggest question. 

There are refineries in Nigeria, so fix them. If needs be, sell them to the private sector, regulate them, standardise them, condition them, but above all, get them working. Build new ones, maybe via a PPP, and place them in the states that don’t have oil, Cross River would be ideal, plus some of the northern states and then start to produce your own without having to import fuel. But this has been decades in the making, so its not down to GEJ, but fixing the problem is.   

Nigeria relies far too much on its Politian’s, for me, too many countries do that. Nothing works when governments are involved, less government will always result in more action. So my message for those involved in the Occupy Nigeria campaign, ignore GEJ, attack the government and Politian’s, attack the 1%, find a leader for the cause, but above all, create the solutions to the real problems, Goodluck is not the problem  

There is no such thing as Corruption in Nigeria #occupynigeria

I had the privilege to live and work in Nigeria for almost two years and in that time I met loads of Nigerian Politian’s, including His Excellency The President. But for the context of this post I have to go back to before I left England and headed to Naija. Before I left I went online and read all about the country. Violence, Fat Houses, poverty, no education, no roads, no health care, massive unemployment, and of course corruption, that’s all you read when researching Nigeria, that’s the outside world’s view of Nigeria. Fact, everything they say is correct, and is understated. Fact, all of this does not tell the whole story of one of this planets most wonderful countries. As you read this, know that the author is a super fan of Nigeria, I truly love the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its people.

But after living there I have to say, there is no such thing as corruption in Nigeria, not as we in the west know it. I remember a number of conversations with very senior people, “big boys” and journalists and they would all tell me the same thing, there is no corruption. But hold on I hear you say, we can see it, everywhere, and I for one experienced it, first hand. So what are they talking about? What am I talking about? Nigerians are very patriotic, they love their country and so no Nigerian will ever admit to me, an oyibo, that it exists. What does exist is “the Game”, and every single person plays that game.

“Eating the money” became my favourite expression within weeks of me arriving, “Chopping the money” and “small smalls” were sayings I soon had to learn the meaning of. You see the Game is how this country works, or rather, it is why this country does not work, but most Nigerians don’t see that. If a normal person chops some money, that’s okay, if a Politian does it, that’s the game, if an outsider does it, wahala day, especially if that outsider is black. No Politian in Nigeria can get anywhere without playing the game, no one. The game is so ingrained in the fabric of the nation, it is so integral that the whole system relies on it.

During my time in Nigeria I saw it first hand, Tax collectors, Union Representatives, Judges and Lawyers, hotel staff, sales people, suppliers, accountants, doctors and teachers, charity workers, including UN staff, civil servants, journalists, tourism officials, NGO’s, the police, government officials, immigration people, the SSS, absolutely everyone was playing the game in one way or the other. It is not corruption, it is the way it is, the way the country’s economy is built, even the anti-corruption people are playing the game ! But for me as an outsider, an oyibo, the single biggest failing of the system is that they would eat the money before doing the job, at the expense of doing the job, so nothing moves forward, nothing improves.