Restructuring Nigeria For Innovation and Creativity

By Terhemba Osuji | August 8, 2017

With over 551 MDA's and billions spent on Education One wonders whether there is an agency dedicated to fostering talent and guiding youth unto career paths in Nigeria. 

Daily you see potential engineers, architects and artists idling all around who will never reach their potential due to an insensitive government dedicated to promoting mediocrity and not paying attention to its citizenry or innovators. 

The public discourse is bereft of discussions of intellectualism or improving its economies of scale by building institutions around talent. You seldom ever hear of the government promoting of sponsoring talent shows, spelling contests, robotics championships or the announcement of scholarships offerings to prodigies for further skills acquisition training and if not for Facebook many of these innovators will remain faceless as the nation focuses on covering the activities of government officials. 

Perhaps the greatest need to restructure Nigeria comes from the failure of Nigeria to tap into and develop the talent and creativity of Igbo people and other prodigies across the land. 

Due to tribalism the government will not invest resources into turning Nnewi into Silicon Valley, it will not issue a contract to modernize the largest market in Africa nor will it finish the 2nd niger bridge to boost commerce and industry.

it will not develop eastern roads or ports, or hire the spare part dealers, mechanics or the gunsmiths at Awka at NASME or at the Defense Industries Corporations to manufacture weapons for export nor will it site manufacturing allied industries to boost production of all manner of things. 

You would expect a government dedicated to reducing its import bill would call for the ordering of all government vehicles from Innoson Motors and that it would declare Aba a technology city and move NASME or the DIC in between Aba and Nnewi to benefit from synergies of innovation and creativity. 

The current attitude of the Nigerian government towards the east is stifling the creativity looking for an outlet for release and it bubbles to the surface in matters of patrotism as face book is overwhelmed by Biafran made paraphernalia and made in Biafra products that has seen a resurgence through the activities of IPOB.

The last time this talent came to the surface was during the first Nigerian civil war when the Igbo produced bombs, anti aircraft rockets, bolt action guns, and tanks and refined crude oil for export all of which quickly disappeared at the end of the civil war.

Besides political marginalization the calls for restructuring and an exit from Nigeria may all have to do with the desire to escape the overwhelming suppression of its creativity to the freedom and enabling environment to be more creative and innovative - something seemingly not achievable in Nigeria's tribal policy of disinvestment in the south east and its ingenious Igbo people.

Notes: the artist holding the drawing of four people is based in an IDP in the NE.













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