Grandiose Parlor

I just read Businessday’s story on the expected 6000MW promised by the government this December, and how Nigerian policy makers have begun consultation with Germany, India, Malaysia on alternative energy sources, excerpt:

In what appears as the Federal Government’s inability to meet the 6,000 megawatts target by end of December, it is seeking the assistance of the governments of Germany, India and Malaysia in the adoption of renewable energy including solar, coal and wind for the country.

I chuckled. Continue reading…

A 17-year-old high school student in Togo shows off his self-taught robotics skills with ‘Sam Ten,’ a robot he made from recycled materials. Msnbc.com’s Dara Brown reports.

An interesting media putsch to “lightup Nigeria” is in full swing; several bloggers have posted just as media enthusiasts have taken to Facebook, Tweeter and similar portals to add their might to the campaign. An expanding list of the discussants can be found on Nigerian Curiosity.

Some years back, I would have been part of this mass of concerned and highly enthused people, after all availability of stable electricity is the core foundation of Nigeria’s development and a passport out of doomsland.

So, it’s a critical campaign, no doubt (see past and related articles on the subject), but I doubt if it’s one suited for Facebook and other social networking sites. The policy makers that must be reached are not there in good number, in fact very few Nigerian administrators are online! So what’s the end point…? Must we continue to preach to the choir each time we’re aggrieved and needing an outlet to vent our frustration?

Until social critics and web activists (this writer inclusive) can find ways to extend their campaigns from the pages of blogs and Facebook to the doorsteps of Nigerian administrators, their voices will remained locked up in the Internet void, impotent. These voices must be brought home, clearly and creatively, to engage the right people.

Child defecating in a canal in the slum of Gege in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria (Photo: Adebayo Alao, Sept. 2007)

It has taken some 30-50 years for the environmental abuse in the Niger Delta to creep into the consciousness of the nation and the international community. As sad as this may be, it’s even sadder that payback for this long wait is now being paid at huge costs to all.

Now, I’m wont to ponder if Nigeria is not already at the brink of another environmental disaster, which, this time, will extend well beyond the boundaries of the delta creeks. Nigerians have been getting high on waste, all sorts of waste and pollution — domestic and industrial in origin. From the innocuously discarded, non-biodegradable ‘pure water’ plastics — the ubiquitous, quarter-liter, mass produced, plastic water-in-sachet available everywhere in Nigeria, to the less visible lethal industrial waste waters, the obvious signs of failed — or nonexistent — waste management/environmental protection policy is clear for all to see.

Sadly, as the waste heaps is building up around the cities, the countdown to disaster is running down as well, surreptitiously bringing us closer to an explosive threshold. The truth is we are closer to the tipping point than ever.

Perhaps, this scenario isn’t all too obvious to many in the home country, who because of other ‘competing interests’ have become blunted to the sight of mounting roadside filth, the plastic bag-clogged gutters, or oblivious to what’s being flushed down the gutters and streams by the industries across the street.

I’m convinced this is the time for environmental angels — social entrepreneurs or better still ecopreneurs — to emerge and start the work of cleaning and saving our environment and societies.

The key words must be innovation, advocacy, and government backing. Their tactics must be bold, complementary and sustainable. These — plus government backing in policies formulating regulation enforcement — can guarantee tangible rewards.

As our colleagues in other worlds are exploring concepts that mitigate environmental distress, so must we pay attention, and be ready to tap into pockets of resources to create tangible value-adding ventures that halt the environmental decay and push back the blind sprint toward doomsday. Nigeria can’t afford another ‘Niger Delta-like’ mishap.

Some worthy areas to explore:

• Turning biodegradable municipal and industrial waste to organic fertilizer
• Use of renewable resources (solar, biofuel),and wastes to generate power, this is ideal for small scale off-grid power projects
• Production of biodegradable plastics; a promising though nascent technology that packs huge rewards.

And there several more can-work business/policy/public health ideas in the areas of municipal water supply, eco-friendly urban renewal projects, livestock/abattoir management, biodiesel production using industrial waste, etc.

Any ecopreneurs in the house? By the way, I know only of one

The first ever Nigerian ICT barcamp held last weekend in Lagos, and from what I’ve been reading, it was a success.

One the innate problems I think most Nigerians have — based on my experience and observations since 2005 — is the lack of cohesion and reluctance to pursue common purpose goals. These limitations, plus the over-aching lack of focus of the top national policy makers — as Oro blog points out, have resulted in a Nigerian ICT sector that has repeatedly failed to live up to expectation, particularly in comparison to other African countries like Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa.

It is uplifting to read about the BarCamp Nigeria; my hope is that the event will translate into a series of ripples that invigorate the entire nation, both private and public sectors.

As the most populous African nation with a burgeoning base of Internet users, (Nigeria is currently second to Egypt at 10 million internet users), nature and geography have bestowed on Nigeria the ability to take huge strides; it is an absurdity that Nigeria lacks a national agenda on ICT.

One area I think Nigeria stands to gain the most is the use of web and related technologies in effecting/augmenting/facilitating changes at the social, economic and political levels of endeavor. The emphasis should not be ‘clone-hatching’ of existing works, but a creation of value-adding applications, deplorable at the enterprise level.

A great example of a value-adding venture is the Taiwo Ayedun/Fola Adeola-led Credit Registry, Nigeria’s pioneer private credit bureau. Credit Registry is unique in its use of biometrics to address identity fraud and the country’s lack of national ID numbering system. See Grandiose Parlor profile of CreditRegistry.

In closing, it will nice if the organizers of the event would release and post a communique of the event and future ideas and plans.

Lagos Safe City Project to install 10,000 surveillance cameras around Lagos.

The primary purpose of the surveillance cameras is to improve security and traffic management, and ensure prompt emergency response services. The cameras are solar-powered and wireless.

Can this work and sustainable in Lagos?

The idea will have a good chance of succeeding if managed and maintained by the private sector.

See video footage. You may need to fast forward the lengthy intro (a full-fledged story by itself) to the main gist.

One thing stands out about the Lagos Governor…he’s really impacting Lagos!

Two Nigerian IT super-weights have presented a concise review of Nigeria’s telecommunications industry in 2008. Gbenga Sesan and Titi Omo-Ettu’s “Of Shackled Strides and Missed Opportunities” presents an excellent insight into what went on in the telecom’s sector.

Check it out on Gbenga Sesan’s blog, Oro.