The Ejigbo saga: The power of social media

There is the saying that ‘injustice any where is injustice everywhere.’’ In this light, The Ejigbo market saga makes this assertion ever more relevant in our collective consciousness. As Nigerians and the rest of  world saw the horrific video of mans in inhumanity to man, many have drawn their own conclusion to this event depending on which ever side of the divide you may stand. To this end therefore, the main thrust of this of this piece is to remind us that social media is truly a potent tool to fight injustice wherever we find it.

When Aristotle declared that ......man without law is but a beast unto man..... He was not only talking about the nature of man as it were but also describing the way man ought to function in a just and equitable society using the instrumentality of the Law as that parameter to guide her behaviour.

In today’s modern society, Nigeria in particular and Africa in general, the Law still functions as described above. But a lot will agree that the same Law meant for every one seem not to hold certain powerful oligarchy accountable when they do wrong. Therefore bringing the question again, is the Law the last resort of the ordinary man who feels injustice has been done to him?

This is where the Ejigbo saga once again reminds us all that injustice can be done, but can also be corrected because we are all watching and saying this thing is wrong through the instrumentality of the social media. The social media is gradually becoming a very potent platform for people to state their case and let the world be the judge.  The Ejigbo drama tells it all that the police would have paid lip service to this case but for the persistent attitude Nigerians who saw those victims de-humanize beyond imagination and they all came out in mass calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice using the various available social media platform to air their views, hence the police could not keep silent any more even the IG, the Lagos state house of assembly all came out in strong condemnation of this event. This is not to say that the various women NGOs did not do their job but that the social media was even at the fore front in pushing their fight making it more relevant.

Africa has been a place where so many atrocities are committed and kept in the dark all in the name of cultures with both victims bearing the scares and perpetrators walking free. This cannot be the case anymore; people must be courageous enough to tell the world what is going wrong in their neighbourhood. All they require is just a click away and the world will hear your story.

The social media will be more powerful only if we use it to tell the truth and those who love to be in the dark will remain in the dark because they cannot stand the power of light for where there is light, justice can be found..........this is what the social media brings with it.

Yek keme

@yekeme

G+.com/yekeme4u

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ID : 67203    yekeme
ID : 58786    chayma

Open Letter to Young Entrepreneurs; More Branding, less bragging in 2014.

This is the Generation Flux. The Millennials who graduated from college to meet unavailable jobs. Following the track of Steve Jobs and co, we are faced with a "Grey collar" job destiny. This piece is to encourage young entrepreneurs as we forge ahead in the harsh Corporate-Creative world.



In any corner of the world you find yourself, just look around, you are likely to see an advert. Either it is a sign board, neon sign or poster looking towards the road or staring at you. They all have something to say. Most times they are asking you to choose a product or persuade you to buy something. How strong is the voice from that advert or how depicting is the picture? Potent enough to make you opt for what they’re advertising? Always put yourself in that shoe if you want to win customers to your product.

Look up , try notice the girl walking towards you in the opposite direction. Perhaps, when she gets closer she may be wearing a custom made top with inscriptions of a company or say, a brand. Is she another sign board? Just don't be surprised the day you come across a new church sign board branded by a company. Adverts are everywhere now and they run via several channels.


The world today is flooded with ad campaigns and product placements. It is a global village and everybody is marketing something whether they are conscious of it or not, including you.


However, despite huge amounts spent on ads and packaging, most businesses are not getting the proportional returns. You should be surprised to know that despite averaging over 3 billion dollars per annum on advertising, General Motors still went down with the economic crunch.


Bill Gates was quoted to have made an insightful remark about General Motors . "If GM had kept up with technology like computer industry has, we would all be driving Dollar25 cars that got 1000 MPG", he said.


"Is advertising not meant to improve and strengthen business?" you may want to ask. But adverts without putting other things in order can as well pass for noise.  It is not enough to shout yourself into the market square but is it for the right reasons?


Adverts don’t need noise to register in the mind of consumers. Deliver on brand promises and you will be their choice.


Sincerely, the rate of ad exposures to people is alarming, there are dozens of brand to choose from, most of which have sub-standard quality. But how do we differentiate even now that ads thrive on puffery to influence Purchase Intention (PI)? Brand promise and trust over time comes to rescue here. The promise must be conveyed in soft, modest and value- driven appeal.


The era of ad campaigns like "We are the soul and body of Entertainment", "The best pizza money can buy"
etc seems to have overstayed welcome. Now, advertising should have altruistic approach and ad messages should be essentially subliminal. People prefer soft appeals to bragging.


In fact, companies need to focus more on quality service delivery and then carve out captions from the user, client or customer experience.(i.e seeing things from the user perspective.)


As Kathy Heasley puts it: "A brand is two words : the 'Promise' you telegraph , and the 'Experience' you deliver"


Then when your company ad runs, it serves as a voice to the feelings and experience that customers have after using your products. That registers better in a customer's mind. And can help better to figure out cognitive dissonance.

Standing out without bragging pays off in all ramifications, you are not under pressure to live up to what you have claimed. In fact the radar shifts to your customers-- the ones who keep you in business. They 're patronizing you, not because they like your face or company logo but because you fulfil a need or solve a problem.

That is what your operations, ad campaigns, marketing and research should focus more on and wait for the Awards, customer base expansion and equity worth to declare you as the best.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, citing the US SEAL who gained popularity after killing Osama Bin- laden as an example, expressed the justification that the best brands, over time, have been the ones who don’t make noise but rather becomes more concerned about creating more value for its customers/clients.  In the end, they have success to prove their excellence.

Hear what Steve Jobs said about his company, Apple. "We do not say anything about future products. We work on them in secret, then we announce them."

BACK HOME

When MTN first came to Nigeria, they started with "The better connection" later to "the best connection" and now it is "everywhere you go". Perhaps it took them time to realise that most people choose the network with a coverage in their area. In a town or community where MTN's network covered there were alot of MTN customers. Same for other networks too.  A couple of weeks back we were in a village in Delta (ofagbe) where  MTN has no coverage, the major network providers there were Airtel and Glo. My colleagues who were hitherto MTN addicts gladly queued to collect and register for a free Airtel sim card.

 Thus, changing environment may as well mean changing network. You hear people hold conversations like "Glo is the only good network in my new area so I changed my line".

So when people opt for a network at the expense of the other or load credit on a particular sim rather the other, it is because of the quality of service experienced.

Perhaps that was what influenced the Network Portability project instructed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). That will sharpen the power of choice. If a network is not serving a customer well, he or she can make a switch to another service provider without losing his telephone number.

As young entrepreneurs who may not have enough resources to launch massive ads campaign and marketing promotions you can still make a difference and charm customers by concentrating on quality service delivery and then run ads on concepts depicting value-expressive and functional (ads) appeals.

Good advice, focus on Branding your product or services and every other thing would follow suit. Don't fall for the Bragging trick!



by SHOWUNMI REX 
@remirex 

Publisher @yekeme

Nigeria and her GROSS DOMESTIC POVERTY(GDP)

Whenever Senior government officials  score their admininistration excellent with the growth rate of the economy's GDP it raises concern.  It suggests they' re just making statements filled with ambiguities.


I thought for once whether the GDP means something else. If these learned adults can be so confident about the GDP growth (with a deficiency in development) then GDP meant something else that most of us misconceive .


GDP has a new meaning in Nigeria---Gross Domestic Poverty which is the product of our hardworking "Harvard trained" co-ordinator and colleagues. The reality that an average Nigerian can attest to.


In fact the growth rate of this GDP is increasing by the second. Now, it is up to 80% of the population living below $2 per day. There's likely the possibility that before 2015 the per cent would have increased.


May be more companies would have folded up leaving more people out of jobs; inflation would have reduced the value of the take home pay of  both civil servants and private business employees.

Surely, the tertiary institutions would have turned out more half-baked graduates seeking non-available jobs. And Banks in a bid to make profits as well as meet up with their capital base would have layed off more workers and deny more loans or with outrageous interest rates. We are transforming gradually.


If you are an optimist you may look at this as a cynical forecast. But I plead with you to analyse the reality objectively. Our development is traversing towards retrogression while the rich and powerful service their frivolities--- very soon, if the report is true, we shall have our 11th Presidential Eagle...

Although, Progressive development is not an impossibility if sincerely pursued but the "body language" of  my "Oga at the rock" does not negate popular speculations. It is almost impossible to witness meaningful development without fighting corruption--the monster that now sits on "the high table".

In conclusion, if government really wants to be serious about curbing corruption (that has led to several abnormalities including poverty)  it must admit that a crusade of such importance does not consecrate any sacred cow irrespective of whatever she is ministering.



by.......SHOWUNMI REX  (@remirex on twitter)

publisher @yekeme

How to create meaningful jobs in Nigeria; the German experience

A decade ago Germany was the sick nation in Europe now the story has changed.’ Says Angela Merkel, the  German chancellor, as she spoke on the Economic crunch that has caused unemployment rate to increase in Europe. The German experience isn't rocket science, what makes it spectacular is its result. It is the aggressive pursuit of an Employment plan  that Nigeria can also learn from. A country with an unemployment rate of 5.2 %,  is worthy of emulation especially by  Nigeria with 23.9% unemployment rate.
Germany's employment plan comprise of two doctrines. Mrs von Der Leyen the Labour Minister gives the first strategy as she responds to the question below.

How did Germany solve her Unemployment problems?

“The problem of youth unemployment is that schools cannot equip young people with the necessary working skills. A dual vocational training system is needed to become a skilled worker. That is what has made the German economy strong” revealed  Von der Leyen. This strategy is what Germany refers to as the “dual education” system, which combines apprenticeships at companies with vocational training in schools.

Secondly, the availability of  capital to finance SMEs to complement the 'Dual vocation' policy. As Chancellor Merkel explained in one of her interviews, the problem of Economic inequality needed to be solved by empowering SME’s. It’s been observed that the ones with so much money are not using it while the companies who need cash badly are not getting it.  This in subtle terms depicts how and why the gap between the rich and the poor widens. It cannot be over-emphasized that Small and Medium scale Enterprise is the backbone of any blossom economy.


Back to Nigeria, what is there to learn from the German experience?

1. Improving,Redirecting and Repositioning Education: The bane of unemployment is poor education whether formal or informal. The quality of education will reflect on the quality of employees and on to the quality of the management that will affect how the company sustains. Business organizations are progressing because they are meeting a need or solving problems. Any deviation from this goal may attract feedbacks like profit loss and layoffs among others.

To enhance capacity building in America and the rest of the world, the Ivy league launched The Massive Open Online Classes (MOOC) in partnership with Coursera. This project has been applauded for its role in rendering qualitative, specialized knowledge to participants across the globe via the internet. Another wonderful  project complementing traditional schooling.

On our part as a developing nation, Nigeria’s educational system is decaying with every moment. The school isn’t even providing adequate theoretical knowledge to students let alone practical and pragmatic learning.  The average student isn't acquainted with the latest Tech and Trends in his chosen field. Pointing out that there's little or no preparation for the labour market.

Typically, the undergraduates are more concerned either about how to break free from the ‘bondage’ of school work or savoring the pleasures of school life.
 Basically, Education should solve contemporary problems not create more. In a discussion with a friend who studied Electrical Engineering, I argued about how disappointing it is to have a department as such that produces First class graduates in Universities and still live in a country without steady power supply.

Pedagogy needs to change learning models from a job seeking academic to self-reliant and entrepreneurial outputs. More over, General Studies(GST) as a course should be mandatorily tailored to groom students on how to turn and carve  their niche into money making ventures.
As a matter of fact, there is a business side to everything. What men have achieved from following their talents,passion and callings is glaring for all to see.This is the season of creativity and Government should produce the enabling environment.

About a month ago or thereabouts, CNN featured a story about Michael Kors, an American Designer and his venture into the Cosmetics world. Kors was said to own a brand worth 50billion US dollars. That is how far people can go when they move in the direction of their  niche venture.

In addition,The Silicon Valley and our own Computer Village have shown us as well how the world have moved away from “white collar” superiority to the ‘Grey collar’ dominance.

My only concern is that Computer Village unlike Silicon Valley is not producing enough entrepreneurs with the mind of building big corporations. CV has become more of a base for young people with a daring heart to hustle and trade to earn a living.

2.  Open access of SME's to needed Capital.

It was last year or so, the news of one 8billion naira loan deal by a wealthy man to buy a Yacht hotel broke out. It took the media and its criticism to foil the deal. Then you ask yourself; 'Of what Economic value will that be to the common man on the street or the Economy?'. Imagine how many small businesses that money could start and finance? Banks are just too interested in giving out more Loans to the Affluent Rich to service their vanities. I dare any Bank in Nigeria to publish lists of how many start-ups they've granted loan. There seems to be a neglect to young businesses and government expects to solve unemployment problems? How impossible!

For the sake of emphasis, Government needs to take comprehensive education and SME fundings seriously.

Again it is not just about acquiring the skills, it should be more about grooming trainees to build sustainable businesses out of it. And Internship, empowerment and Loan support should form the nucleus of Government's  Employment plan.

Let us not forget that this country's unemployment problem is severe, it  is beyond what our  few billionaire entrepreneurs can solve and  government needs to see it that way.


*SHOWUNMI REX is a Writer, Public Speaker, Entrepreneur and Socio-political philosopher. His interests are Business and Politics.(E-mail: remirex@yahoo.com; @remirex on twitter)

@yekeme

What Jonathan needs to win in 2015

President Jonathan is contesting come 2015. That does not seem to be news anymore, it is so obvious no body needs a college degree to figure that out.That is the perceived factor causing the imbroglio within the PDP.  Actually, it is not that the average Nigerian is  against this in itself  only that how His Excellency is going about it is what is drawing resentment and that is what his opponents are capitalising on.

If you ask me, i'll opine that Mr President does not need this mud he's dragging himself into. Unlike, most of his adversary I believe he won the last election however, what I may not vouch for was that voters weren't induced. Like a friend pointed out, the rumour that his campaign spent up to a 100 million every day on the build up to the election proper was justified with the 1.3 trillion subsidy fraud declaration. As we all knew most of the campaign financier were either oil moguls or their proteges. Caveat, all these are assumptions.

Mr Jonathan's campaign will go down in history as one of the most sophisticated electioneering campaign in Nigeria. But then, with so much money and power play there is just little you cannot  do. That is where my headache starts, did the President sack all the think -tank that delivered the 2011 mandate  hurriedly ? Because, the President's popularity seems to be drowning with every event unfolding. However, that may not be the cause.


Mega campaign, meagre results
Well, this is what I can say, President Jonathan promised alot during his campaign, so much that made his achievements meagre and very unnoticeable, so much that the people are not actually feeling the positivity in his government. Four out of every Five graduates are still without jobs; the roads are still not motorable, food is still very expensive and the value of the Nigerian Naira is still dwarfing to foreign currencies, among others. Before GEJ's fans accuse me of being cynical about his government may I mention that I see the renovations in our Airports, I've had to ,during an air travel, obtain my boarding pass under a canopy to make that achievement stick in my head.  I've not been to the Enugu International airport but my friend who flew to Enugu last week had great experience of the place. And this gladdens my heart.

And our own Minister for Agriculture seems to be putting in place projects that will undoubtedly favour the country long term green revolution. The Cassava branding, the bank lending promotions, among others are well thought out, as well.


2015 Navigation Deciders

I'll keep emphasizing the fact that Mr President will determine who becomes President in 2015. A subtle way of saying the race is his to lose. Going by Nigeria's distribution, Mr President is next to God in the power he has to himself and only him(the holder of the office) can either desecrate the position or exploit it exhaustively.

Quality not Ethnic- based Campaign
That is why I laughed when Governor Akpabio and Elder Edwin Clark based their logic for the Goodluck 2nd term on thoughts like "We respected President Y'ardua and so President Jonathan deserves same" and " OBJ did two terms therefore this Ijaw man too must go for his second term" , respectively.

With due respect, let me mention that according to the dictates of politics every man must work out his own 'salvation' and it must be centred on the political necessity of the moment. Times are changing and so are the people, too. You don't appeal to former gestures or good deeds of the past; rather, you should think of the better way of appealing to people's interest. This new Nigeria is moving away from having rights to some benefits or privileges because you are from a particular region. Nigeria is wearing a "central culture" identity and more than your tribal affiliations, the Class you belong to is becoming the bane of bond and identity. That informs why a boy of Igbo origin will bond very well with the Yoruba boy that was his roomie in college at Harvard than his kinsman that lives at their village in Nnewi.

So the first people Mr President need to curb are his foot soldiers making offensive tribal statements. The President needs to distance himself from playing the ethnic card, it won't work!Not this time. All Barack Obama's campaign was never based on the "Black race agitation". He appealed, instead, to the young minds with a message of hope, of change and of a better America.

True and Cohesive Transformation
Although GEJ's campaign in 2011 also navigated around this paradigm , the fear of Mr President, it seems, is that he has not delivered up to the expectation of the people.  But for me, that shouldn't deter him from still running an inspiring campaign come 2015. Mr President only needs to focus more on sectors like Agriculture, Power and Petroleum resources(esp Gas)
Jobs !Jobs!! Jobs!!!
Job creation and Power will be a deciding factor in how much acceptance Mr President gets ahead of 2015 general elections. The Chancelor of Germany proved this assertion right with her re-election for a Third Term as the Country's Leader. Germany,it is widely attested, have created more jobs as its economy continues to grow more nourished.

Put Family in Order
Mr President needs to broker peace with his party members. Already, rusty leadership has caused the division within the PDP. And if that crisis is not well managed it may lead to something disastrous for his presidential ambition. GEJ's enemy within started with the 2011 elections where he downplayed the activities of the Party. His campaign wasn't fully orchestrated by the Party machinery and it seemed to work though, because most of the electorate I spoke with made statements like "I voted for Goodluck Jonathan not PDP" to justify their decision.

Rapport the West
Even after the election, Mr President's relationship with former President Obasanjo turned sour. It took time and pressure to appoint cronies into federal parastatal Boards. Also, GEJ's indifference to the South West has not helped the party's growth in the region.Since he became President, the Yorubas were left out of the first ten positions in power. Also, the sack of former Governor Oyinlola as National Secretary of the party and the  reality of a divided House of PDP in South West is no small issue. It could turn around to haunt him and his dreams.

My advise; Dr Jonathan must try as much as possible to put his house in order if he truly wants to taste the fruit again in 2015. Eagle Square is waiting.


*Showunmi Rex; LAGOS trained Socio-political Philosopher. (@remirex on Twitter)

@yekeme

FIRE @ SURU ALABA, in AJEGUNLE: OVER 30 HOUSES BURNT

Residents around Zumuratu pry school area at Suru Alaba in Ajegunle woke up this morning to find out that over 30 houses in their neighborhood was gutted by fire around  4 am today(25 sept).  

Sources in the area confirmed that an electrical spark occurred early this morning due to the high voltage of electricity that PHCN supplied.

For some, it was the worst day of their life as they could not salvage any of their properties. They could only run away from the inferno with clothe they wore for the night. The pictures for themselves speaks volume.

@yekeme