tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209818.post112736110957231745..comments2024-02-15T09:53:01.271+01:00Comments on Up Naira : Re: keeping the discussion goingthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05362291064620569539noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209818.post-1148325173423824732006-05-22T20:12:00.000+01:002006-05-22T20:12:00.000+01:00t wrote: "Biggest problems in Nigeria1. Too many s...t wrote: "Biggest problems in Nigeria<BR/>1. Too many super-thieves. We need an Eliot Spitzer..."<BR/>It looks like we have one. <BR/><A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuhu_Ribadu" REL="nofollow">Mallam Nuhu Ribadu</A> chairs the <A HREF="http://www.efccnigeria.org/" REL="nofollow">Economic and Financial Crimes Commission</A><BR/>http://www.efccnigeria.org/<BR/>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuhu_Ribaduthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362291064620569539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209818.post-1128210729466925112005-10-02T00:52:00.000+01:002005-10-02T00:52:00.000+01:00Top-down approach: the Chinese apparently get this...Top-down approach: the Chinese apparently get this right. If we're lucky, we'll someday have worthy policymakers in Nigeria. But Nigeria isn't China; most educated Nigerians are less willing to trust "leaders." Who would blame them?<BR/><BR/>Bottom-up approach: that's the point of MONEY TALK. Empowered people. I think that empowered people have a different formula for creating change than umc has written: <I>"As for entrepreneurs, they’ll exist where there is an enterprise. There’s enterprise where there’s goods. There’s goods where there’s manufacturing. There’s manufacturing where there’s man(female/male) and functional machines."</I><BR/>Financiers will exist only when there is enterprise. Entrepreneurs <B>create</B> enterprise. They exist wherever there is a <B>problem</B> to be <B>solved</B>. Developing countries have a lot of problems = a lot of opportunity. <BR/><BR/>Specifics:<BR/>Biggest problems in Nigeria<BR/>1. Too many super-thieves. We need an <A HREF="http://www.oag.state.ny.us/" REL="nofollow">Eliot Spitzer</A>, some beast that would succeed in punishing these elite thieves, making mass embezzlement less attractive to others. Volunteers? Maybe we can borrow Sptizer, even? <BR/>2. None. I think that's the big one. <BR/>We have a lot of smaller problems, which folks need to get to work on (hint!) - and empowering education is one of them. Getting involved in technology is one. Financing the worthiest enterprise is one (we need to stop pissing money on those big never-ending, no-direction projects.) and so on.thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362291064620569539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209818.post-1127442722901571712005-09-23T03:32:00.000+01:002005-09-23T03:32:00.000+01:00Nice post! I am feeling your passion.I will try to...Nice post! I am feeling your passion.<BR/><BR/>I will try to respond when I get a chance to digest it fully.rwebahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03128005962472194043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209818.post-1127421639399474122005-09-22T21:40:00.000+01:002005-09-22T21:40:00.000+01:00THIS POST IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE FOLLOWING PREV...<B>THIS POST IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE FOLLOWING PREVIOUS POSTS:</B> <BR/><A HREF="http://upnaira.blogspot.com/2005/09/re-recipes-for-economic-development.html" REL="nofollow">Re: Recipes for...</A><BR/><A HREF="http://upnaira.blogspot.com/2005/06/recipes-for-economic-development.html" REL="nofollow">Recipes for Economic Development</A>thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362291064620569539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209818.post-1127421287208317222005-09-22T21:34:00.000+01:002005-09-22T21:34:00.000+01:00Dear umc:your post should be subtitled Mechanical ...Dear umc:<BR/><BR/>your post should be subtitled Mechanical Engineering is the answer. I'm feeling your passion and your vision. Totally.<BR/>You know we'll be talking about this for a very long time to come, and taking action too of course. <BR/><BR/>My quick comments for now: <BR/>in your response to 2. I will like to clarify that I also think getting everyone through to SS3 is a necessary policy goal. But I think the vocational studies in JSS could be made stronger, more fantastic, more relevant by some simple curriculum changes. (which leads to how one can introduce biotech, or machining, or more advanced information technology at an early stage. this is not incredibly radical, since we already had classes in the 1990s to teach woodwork or metalwork.) <BR/><BR/>I'm also curious to know how vocational education works in Germany. Do you have a short description (or a link to a source?) I'm not proposing that Germany has it all right (from what I hear, many Germans appreciate the faster pace in the US, the freedom, and the focus on results and applications, and I can appreciate the more deeply grounded education of the Germans as compared to the Americans.) Also do you have an opinion on what aspects of the German system would be good for us and what aspects are not so healthy?<BR/><BR/>In the meantime, we need some folks to invest in cutting-edge high speed INTERNET so that our 13 year olds can have access to the same mind-broadening games (e.g. sodaplay) and information (e.g. wikipedia, streaming video) as others. Otherwise, they'll grow up having memorized a lot of things but sorely behind on whatever the world outside their country is up to. We need modern information technology very desperately. If we don't get in the game, our citizens won't get practice on things like developing solutions for internet security, getting machines to do large computational tasks, or even on internet politics and real democracy. <BR/>I wonder who would undertake this?<BR/><BR/>Thanks a lot for your post. I still have to re-read it a few times and look up some of the leads you mentioned, esp. on the Indian biotech leader you named.thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362291064620569539noreply@blogger.com