BC WORLD
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The Next 20 Years

Just look around you in Nigeria, for example. 20 years ago, the ATM machine was a novelty. No bank issued debit cards- maybe just the foreign ones. There were no banking apps. You couldn't transfer funds the way we do now.

 It took 7 days for your 'upcountry' cheques to clear- meaning that if someone pays you a cheque in Sokoto and you pay it in in Ibadan, you had to wait for 7 days to receive value. Later, it became 3 days.
I recall as a young banker, I used to go to the CBN Clearing House with a box that was locked by my supervisor and which could only be opened by the CBN Clearing Supervisor. I carried that box like it was my life.
I had cheques of other banks and a very huge calculator we called casting machine inside that 'portmanteau'.
Around this period 20 years ago, there was an influx of new generation banks that changed the landscape. Now, see how the banks have changed in 20 years. In just 20 years, the banking sector in Nigeria is the one of the most sophisticated in Africa. So much progress has been made
Just before the turn of the last 20 years, the closest thing to a mobile phone was what was called 'nought nine nought'- 090. It was for the nouveau rich in Abuja at that time. Then came the liberalisation of telephony and we then had the GSM.
I remember how we used to have long queues at NITEL offices just to make telephone calls. In my parents house, our neighbours used to come in every evening to receive phone calls from sons or friends. Who would believe the GSM telephony is just about 20 years?
Initially, we had the voice revolution.  Then came data. And with that so many businesses hinged on mobile telecommunications. Look at fintechs churning out solutions now.
20 years ago, what we knew as social media was just Yahoo messenger. Facebook didn't exist until around 2007. Instagram didn't exist until 2010. Twitter didn't exist until 2006. Yet, I can say social media has employed more Nigerians than the public sector.
There are so many entrepreneurs whose shops and offices are on social media.
20 years ago, our entertainment was still very limited. We still relied on foreign music and films. Then TuFace came on the scene with African Queen in 2004. Styl-Plus had released Olufunmi in 2003.
The music scene exploded. We saw the rise of real African megastars like Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Flavour, Phyno, Darey Art Alade, Simi, Adekunle Gold, 9ice, Dagrin, Olamide, Asa and many others.
Nigerian music took over the world within the last 20 years with foreign artistes even seeking collaboration. I have heard our music played in Kenya, Ghana, Dubai, Gambia, Rwanda and a host of other countries. It's always a pleasant experience identifying as a Nigerian.
Who will believe that the new wave of cinema culture started when Silverbird opened its first cinema in 2004? Before then, most of us sat in our homes huddled around home videos that were poorly produced. Now, almost every major city has a cinema.
And with that came the giant malls that are all over the place. The first Shoprite store opened shop in Nigeria in December 2005. The first SPAR was in 2009. Nigerians started patronizing malls less than 20 years ago.
Pre-paid metres didn't exist 20 years ago. We had that very ambiguous billing system where NEPA wrote out a bill and that was what you had to pay. And then, the Nepa officials would go round with their ladders to cut cables of owing customers.
Even though the health situation still needs to improve urgently, I still think we made some little progress. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) didn't exist 20 years ago. There were no HMOs. Me Cure which is the leading diagnostics centre in Nigeria started 2009.
Even though there were reports of work done around IVF pre-2000, the first real major breakthrough was the delivery by Dr Richard Ajayi at his Bridge Clinic in 2001. Since then, the IVF babies are uncountable. The first renal transplant in Nigeria was in 2005.
What will be your role in shaping the next 20 years? Or the next 10?

Which products or services will you invent or discover?

Will you be a spectator or a participant?

The next 10, 20 years will usher in new opportunities. Are you prepared?

@threadreaderapp unroll

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Speed has become an important element of strategy.     
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I got there as they were opening the door at 8am yesterday Friday. I wanted to send copies of my books to @Rovingheights at Surulere.

After putting the books on their scale to measure the weight, I was given a bill of N30,000. I filled the accompanying form and was about to pay when the lady at the front desk of this courier company told me that the books would be delivered on Monday. I couldn’t believe my ears

You mean I’m sending books from Lekki to Surulere and it won’t get there next day? And I’m going to pay N30,000 for waiting for that long? Friday to Monday?

I took back my books and left. I checked google for another courier company closest to me. I saw one in Victoria Island and drove there. The lady at the front desk gave me a bill of N16,000 for next day delivery. The time was 9am and I insisted it should be delivered same day.

She called her supervisor in my presence and I heard her supervisor say I had to pay twice the amount if it will be delivered same day. That’s N32,000 from Victoria Island to Surulere.
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More than 15 years ago, I met an Italian who had lodged at KS Motel at Total Gardens, Ibadan.

He was in Ibadan for the first time and he was very fascinated with the city when I informed him that Rome and Ibadan shared a very unique similarity: both of them are built on seven hills. He asked me to take him round Ibadan which I did.

The seven hills are Oke Padre, Oke Ado, Oke Bola, Oke Mapo, Oke Are, Oke Sapati and Oke Mokola. But Ibadan is not just a city of hills. It is also a city of 'bottoms'. Loosely translated, 'idi' means bottom or the backside.

Several people have attached sexual innuendoes to the names. However, the actual translation indicates that some of the 'idis' indicate how the settlers converged at a point thereby leading to how they arrived at the names given.

Go round the city and you can locate Idi-Arere, Idi-Ose, Idi-Ishin, Idi-Ape, Idi-Ayunre, Idi-Obi and Idi-Ito.
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I had become dissatisfied with my career at that point. Having started my career in Ibadan and having lived there all my life, I felt there was more. I remember how I felt there was a void within. Outwardly, things looked okay but inwardly, I was a mess.

I knew that if I wasn’t careful, I would just settle into a comfortable zone and that may just be the end of my career. Everyone loved Ibadan- the cost of living was low and I had almost everything, at least compared to those within my immediate space.

One of the greatest mistakes you can make is to benchmark your life by those within your immediate space or circle of influence. You will think you’re making progress until you get out and see others who will challenge you. And that was what I decided to do.

I saw a vacancy for a role in Lagos and I applied. Up till then, I had never worked in Lagos- save for a few trainings, attachments and banking school.

When I got the role, it was a major stretch for me. I didn’t have a place to stay so I had to ‘squat’ with a friend for 6 months until I could pull resources together to get a studio apartment.
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My dear Nigerian Youth,

I'm still on your case. I'm not about to relent so soon because you represent immense potential and you sit on a gold mine yet you know it not.

You account for at least 43 percent of Nigeria's population. You are over 72 million strong. Unfortunately, what is a blessing is turning to be a curse. Your situation brings a scripture to mind: man that is in honour, and understands not, is like the beasts that perish.

You still wonder why I'm miffed? I sat across one of you- a young lady- today and listened to her tale. She had spent 2 years living in Dubai and slaved away for a real estate company. After 2 years, she's back to Nigeria- broken and penniless.

She regaled me with stories of how more than 75 percent of her income went to rent and she couldn't even afford a decent accommodation. She had to 'collabo' with two other ladies to rent a studio apartment. But now she couldn't stay in Nigeria anymore.

She complained so much about the road and heat that I wondered if she was born in Dubai! She also complained of lack of capital when I asked why she couldn't settle down to do something in Nigeria. I told her no one has 'capital' problems but what people have is 'idea' problem.
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I was at a courier company on Saturday to send out a parcel to Abuja. This courier company actually started out as a transport company with buses going to different destinations in Nigeria.

Overtime, people sent parcels through the drivers to different destinations. The company saw an opportunity and started a courier and logistics company.

As the very courteous staff of the courier company attended to me, I saw her bring out different cartons to pack the items I was sending out. Several parcels were everywhere packed in those cartons.

I whispered to myself that production of packaging is another line of business that this company should go into- if it is not already into it. The company will produce for its own use-rather than buy from others- and also sell to other users of packaging materials.

From transport to courier to packaging- this is a simple explanation of value-chain activities.
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EZEGWU MRAP


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1. These following are excerpts from a recent “Ross Rant.” Joel Ross publishes these periodic reports that provide commentary on the changing scene with an eye toward wise future investments.

2.

There never was going to be a new stimulus deal. Pelosi did not want to do anything that might help Trump, and she was hoping to trap McConnell, and make him look like he killed it so they could argue the Dems need to control the Senate.

3. My sense is that backfired. It is clear to most that she is the problem, and why, and that she does not give a damn about the people who are suffering. It is all about getting power. Unfortunately, Wall St kept being fooled thinking there would be a deal.

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NIDS-CRAM does NOT show a rebound to pre-COVID employment levels. They report 700,000 job lost between Feb and Oct 2020, this is massive = 3.85% fall (broad definition). The authors of the employment paper say this could be as high as 5.3% or 960,000 jobs.

The authors @joshbudlender @ihsaanbassier (+ Rocco) also show that Oct employment is normally higher than Feb employment, super roughly Oct is plausibly around 102% of Feb. This means it’s plausible 360,000 jobs would have been gained between Feb-Oct *anyway*.


This would mean - within the study parameters - it’s possible COVID has caused up to (an outer outer limit) of 1.32 million job losses when comparing Oct 2020 with what we would have expected it to be in normal times. This is a total disaster in the context of the SA economy.

This is roughly what we should expect from the StatsSA QLFS. This showed 2.2 million jobs lost in first half of 2020, and 543,000 regained in Q3, meaning a loss of just under 1.7 million jobs in first 9 months. We’d definitely expect some more jobs regained in Oct-Dec.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time! https://t.co/xPMGL36VGy


So today, I am going to quickly talk about 4 or 5 countries where you can get residence visas.

Why residence visas?

For starters, they are cheaper, FAR CHEAPER than passports, and offer almost all the benefits, not not, but a large swathe of them.

Second, residencies can be...

a pathway to citizenship.

In one or two of the countries I will talk about tonight, if you renew your residencies long enough, and fulfill all requirements, according to their law, which differs from country to country, you become eligible to apply for full citizenship.

So...

you can see why they are good enough?

Cool. Alright, let's begin.

The first country is

1. Barbados

Yes, @Rihanna's country.

The first thing I love about it is it's fully black, majority descendants of ex-slaves of Igbo extraction.

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Are you trying to solve racism/sexism/colonialism with your work?

As writers we love stories about heroic writers whose work has changed the world. And as such we like to look to our own writing to solve societal problems.

And I understand this completely, not the least because I’ve felt the pull.

But if you’re looking to play saviour with your words, it is unlikely that you will do the marginalised people you are trying to save justice.

And I understand this very often comes from place of good intentions, but there is a reason that most of the moralising plays written by white abolitionists are deeply uncomfortable to read.

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And by the way, you should never be worried that an offer would be withdrawn if you politely negotiate.

I have seen this happen *extremely* rarely, mostly to women, and anyway is a giant red flag. It suggests you probably didn’t want to work there.

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I've been a @23andMe customer for a while, and have followed their ancestry updates closely.

All is more or less as expected....except for this bit about Native American.


The family is almost completely composed of Spanish peasants (from various regions) who emigrated, along with a massive wave in the late 19th-cent./early 20th-cent., to Cuba back when it was a booming economy (richer than Spain's) and worth emigrating to (Communism killed that).

Also, the native population of Cuba was annihilated early on---was the first place the Spanish colonized after all. Having a native background in Cuba would be like having the same in, say, Massachusetts, particularly if you're (say) mostly Irish. Just really, really unlikely.

(Note: the North African/Arab background is less mysterious. The Iberian peninsula was part of the Muslim world for centuries. It would be odd *not* to have some Arab/Middle Eastern background coming from Spain. Given the family is mostly from Northern Spain, it's small though.)

I have a Spanish passport, have been back to the ancestral villages in Spain, seen the church where my grandmother was baptized, my grandfather told me stories about growing up as the child of Spanish colonists in rural Cuba. The native bit just clashes with all the family lore.
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