By Dr. Henry I. Balogun
MedNet Healthcare Systems. Inc.
4 Neshaminy Interplex Dr.
Suite 101
Feasterville-Trevose, PA 19053
Mobile: (215) 704-8223
hbalogun@mednetservices.com
July 15, 2024
His Excellency, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President of Nigeria
Aso Rock Presidential Villa
Yakubu Gowon Crescent
Abuja, Nigeria
A New Vision – Project STAD
Your Excellency,
With great concern and love for my country, I decided to share my desired and anticipated contribution to your administration’s significant work. Your vision and aspirations for our nation and its people are deeply appreciated.
It is not my desire to sit idly by and re-echo some of what has come to my attention from fellow Nigerians.
I am a firm believer in lending a helping hand where possible. As a token of my deepest love, I came up with the suggestions in the attached paper entitled “Project STAD.” It is neither a panacea nor an all inclusive solution but a way to lay the groundwork for what is needful, beneficial, and transforming.
Please review it personally to see the gist of the plan. Your leadership and guidance are paramount in
making our beloved country a great nation for all.
If you are wondering who Henry I. Balogun is, I was born in Afawo, Ikere-Ekiti, and raised by a single mother named Alice Ogunmeowe Omolewa. Our biological connection to the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti is why my mom used to refer to herself as “Omo Ewi, kee wiran.”
I would greatly appreciate a thoughtful and careful review of Project STAD in the best interest of our
people.
If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out.
Thanks for taking the time to read this
Solutions to the problems of Nigeria require a sincere and patriotic look within coupled with the ability to see tomorrow, focusing on innovation backed by under-the-radar-like support from the government. Welcome to solution through aggressive development (STAD). Nigeria cannot afford to not focus within. We are not only blessed with a vast ocean of natural resources in many known and unknown pristine places; we are equally blessed with human resources and unmatched resilience. We are much too intelligent to accept anything less
than the best. The time has come for the Nigerian government to take an innovative approach toward ending the huge problems Nigerians are forced to grapple with.
Nigeria cannot afford to continue to fall asleep at the wheel or look for other nations to come in and solve our problems. The time to stand up and do what is right is now. STAD’s goal is not limited to building vibrant manufacturing establishments, dream building research powerhouses, or engineering strongholds but a neverending sustaining effort to pull together, innovate in an environment conducive to growth, and see Nigeria as not our ATM but our hope, thereby standing together to reconstruct a better nation worthy of emulating.
ELEMENT OF SOLUTIONS
Nigeria is thirsty and equally hungry for a better approach, attitude, determination, and nation-building vision.
The future does not allow and no longer supports business as usual. Deadly slumber, selfish relaxation, and the
me-first mindset must give way to an active and country-first mindset. We cannot afford not to take our rightful place on the development platform.
The following recommendations, which I am willing to present in person, with explanations and clarity, at the
right time to the power in Nigeria, cannot be ignored or marginalized. The time has come to:
Encourage Nigerians to become productive through constructive innovation
Promote Made in Nigeria and encourage every media outlet to get involved
Promote home-away-from-home interaction, which is the bedrock of one Nigeria
Back-end connection by academic institutions to research centers outside of Nigeria
We must take a better approach – strengthen and restructure our military/law enforcement.
Investment in quality medical facilities, engineering, technology, and manufacturing.
Encouraging pay increases to reduce brain drain while focusing on strength from within.
CREATING A NEW NIGERIA
We need to ask ourselves: How should a new Nigeria look like? The answer to this question is bound to determine and help lay the anticipated foundation for a better, stronger, and genuinely unified nation. If Nigeria is to be great, we must open the gate of regionality to make Nigeria what it ought to be: one nation. What does this mean? Confinement of a citizen to their local, state, or natural/biological group is, at a minimum, against inclusiveness, highly neglectful, and, at a maximum, detrimental to growth. It places us in a foreign person mentality, utterly unaware of our brothers and sisters’ problems, needs, and aspirations across state lines. It makes us unconcerned about one another while living in an unmindful isolation. The dangerous reference to citizens of the same nation by one another as “they” instead of “us” creates me and my people’s first approach,
detrimental isolation, and dangerous division destined to tear us apart eventually.
The following is an excerpt from an article I published in Ekiti Standard Newspaper entitled “Substituting an “IIt” Relationship for an “I-Thou” Relationship.”
There should be no reason why a Hausa man or woman cannot become the governor, senator, or representative of any State in the Yoruba land, and for a Yoruba man or woman to become the governor, senator, or representative of any state in the East and for any Ibo man or woman to become the governor, senator, or representative of any state in the North, South, or West. Our lawmakers have a job to do. Once the requirements are established, including residency requirements, any Nigerian should be able to run for whatever public office of interest to them in any state in Nigeria. The legal definition of who is a qualified Nigerian with culturally sensitive behavior and the desire to meet residency requirements of any specific state of interest should be at the top of what is needed to help us become one. Our various dialects should not be allowed to stand in the way.
How to adequately handle things should be part of the job description of each political advisor to the governor and deputy. The desire to treat each other with ultimate and non-negotiable respect and civility cannot be underestimated or compromised. Federal law should discourage any attempt to mislead a governor or the deputy, including a senator or representative, or take ungodly advantage of any government official due to an inability to understand cultural issues
Anything contrary should be seen as an attempt to intentionally
complicate things or mislead any government official in their quest to do a great job. Any intent to deceive or
take undue advantage of any government official for their lack of proper understanding of a dialect, idiom, or
unique adage (or cultural issues) should get severe punishment allowed by law.
While freedom of religion should be respected and encouraged, the Federal government’s job is to help curb overreaching religious tenets, philosophies, and ideologies. Unreasonable expectations and demands of a
religion must be discouraged to protect everyone from inhumane punishment simply because it is allowed by a specific religion. No religious tenet or constitution should be allowed to override Federal law, rules, and
regulations. Special ecclesiastical courts or judicial systems should not be permitted to operate like they are in a separate, sovereign, and independent nation. An uncivilized ritual involving human sacrifice, like in the Stone
Age, should be considered a federal offense and receive severe punishment the law can dish out.
Protecting Nigerians in their respective place of residence is a must. Any attempt to make it difficult or impossible for any Nigerian to live in any area or any state of interest to them should be considered a federal
offense punishable by law and to be defended vigorously by the Federal government. Any attempt to magnify
shortcomings or inadvertent mistakes of a governor/deputy, senator, or representative during the learning curve
expected because they were not born in the state where they are should be regarded as an interruption of
governing duties deserving severe punishment by law.
DEVALUATION OF CURRENCY
The second point I will not hesitate to reveal here was also first published by me in the same Ekiti Standard
Newspaper. This was published with concern for the future. The fact that Nigeria needs to embark on what is
needful and productive cannot be over-emphasized. Project STAD will be incomplete without an in-depth look
at the massive problems caused by devaluation. We cannot intentionally ignore the most appropriate and constructive solutions to the problems. Here is an excerpt:
A country where creativity and innovation are psychologically, socially, realistically, and systematically
discouraged through inaction and inattention by the government, politicians, and financial institutions, including
the media, is bound to remain stagnant with zero growth. In a country with zero growth, where manufacturing is
nonexistent, and innovation is discouraged, currency devaluation will give any would-be oppressor the advantage they have been hoping and looking for. The Nigerian government caved in and submitted to pressure to devalue our currency as suggested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), even against the objection of
some highly informed Nigerians. We went ahead and introduced devaluation but failed to encourage
manufacturing and innovation.
In Nigeria, there is, currently, no support of any kind, including financial or legislative incentive, to help any
Nigerian willing to do something. There is no financial incentive for any Institution of higher education to embark on research that can lead to valuable, life-changing, and better products good enough to export to
another country. There was no incentive to attract foreign companies to operate in Nigeria. The Nigerian media
are not interested in providing free publicity to help Nigerians propel great ideas. The general expectation of the
people at home to Nigerians coming to establish something is that you have to pay your way through. Family
members want their relatives who are coming home to do something to give them whatever money they brought for their project. Neither the federal nor state governments are interested in assisting Nigerians or their already established entities outside of Nigeria in coming home and establishing businesses destined to increase
employment and positively affect the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The financial institutions in
Nigeria are not interested in helping either. As I said earlier, the Nigerian government initially objected to
devaluation when the IMF introduced it; it was finally accepted prematurely without the proper accommodation
necessary to make it helpful.
Sending poorly packaged, unregulated, and, at times, rotten food with no expiration date to Nigerians in the
diaspora does not constitute a sound and enticing export. Why can’t we produce excellent quality products with
magnetic appeal strong enough to attract non-Nigerians to try the product? Whatever expectation from export
can also be considered dead on arrival due to our inattention to quality and excellent packaging. Selling raw
materials to manufacturers in other countries is not a good reason to shoot for devaluation of your currency.
How do you take advantage of devaluation when you have nothing to export and innovation is almost nil?
How is it so difficult to see that the devaluation of the currency has never led to economic growth? Devaluation will not produce the expected result in a society (where manufacturing is zero). No foreign companies are
willing to establish offshore services to take advantage of the lower labor cost necessary to justify devaluation
in an environment so backward. Why is it so difficult for the Federal and State governments to give science a
chance by encouraging and funding research, science, and creative ideas?
Why are we so blind to the fact that exporting well-produced manufactured goods, not raw materials, is necessary to balance the equation and place Nigeria on an equal level with any developed nation? As I said before, sending our raw materials to goods-producing countries to turn into valuable products for us insults our intelligence, destroys our economic system, and holds people in perpetual poverty. It can only lead to less
compensation for labor at home and overwhelming dependence on goods-producing countries, even if the import cost is overly high.
We have become indebted to the entire world and fallen apart under the yoke of so much debt. When a nation
cannot pay its debt with its currency but must buy another country’s currency to pay its debt, they are bound to
dance in a way that pleases the one to whom they are indebted. How do you justify the pain of being denied the joy of living in your own house, but the one built for you in which you must pay rent? How is that a solution?
Devaluation in a non producing society creates inequality and makes its citizens feel less and less intelligent.
Suppose your colleagues in the US are making $25 per hour. In that case, the devaluation of your money will force you to grapple with what is far less than that at home or even travel to the US to do a mediocre job that people with your qualifications and experience consider highly insulting. Those interested in supremacy now
and forever will never stop imposing inequalities whenever possible. The cost of imports remains the same
while workers at home, regardless of class, make less compared to the rest of the world. We need attractive incentives and a focus on valuable exports significant enough to change the trajectory.
Suppose you want to argue that devaluation leads to the affordability of products in a non producing nation like
Nigeria. In that case, I will say that you are one of the most naïve people on the planet. My question would be, which products are affordable? Devaluation was initially designed to discourage imports and encourage exports.
However, in a nation where research, development, and improvement of local products, if any, meant to be sold to their citizens living abroad, including citizens of other countries, are nonexistent, devaluation does not make life easier but more complex and complicated.
Attracting foreigners’ attention to our products was never part of the equation. Where is the intent to take advantage of devaluation?
When the Nigerian government favored devaluation, our obsession with foreign goods and the undue linkage of higher prices with quality were significantly discounted and underestimated. It is now more problematic when we must pay the goods-producing countries in Dollars as most of them would prefer. If a car in Europe, Asia, or the United States sells for $32,000, you cannot pay N32,000 but convert the suggested retail price of the
automobile from Dollars to its Naira equivalent to give you an idea of its actual cost. If you think you know the cost of that product before going to bed, wait until the following morning when you wake up, and you will discover that the exchange rate is no longer what it was the night before but higher. The goalpost of what you
think you can barely afford has been moved further. You now must play and kick the ball harder than ever before. We are like a man running in a race. The one running behind “must run faster than the front man.”
Realistically speaking, the devaluation of the currency in Nigeria does not have the expected negative and discouraging effect on imports. The supposed positive impact of exports needed to make life easier at home was inadequately considered. We did not prepare for the first step but went straight to the second step. For emphasis, the first step would have been to encourage the production or manufacturing of goods at home sufficient and of better quality before taking such a massive action of devaluation. We are one of the few countries with a deadly
obsession and attraction to mesmerizing, mind-chattering, technologically advanced, improved, and lifechanging products from developed countries.
No domestic products can compare or are close enough to help us
level the plain field. Currently, we are incapable of competing successfully.
We underestimated our craving for brand names and for whatever goods were made elsewhere. It makes
Nigerians look unintelligent and incompetent and puts us on a leash held by the rest of the world. We cannot look within because there is absolutely nothing to desire from within. We are not asking the countries producing
what we like to establish offshore manufacturing in our country, thereby taking advantage of lower labor.
China has been doing that for years. It is one of their backbones. The main manufacturing plant of Apple, one of America’s leading technology companies, is in China, taking advantage of devaluation – low cost of labor, to be
exact.
In the case of the automobile I talked about earlier, it does not matter; the dealership must collect the Naira equivalent and pay the automobile manufacturer, not the Naira equivalent in Naira but the Dollar equivalent in Dollars. That kind of transaction leaves the Dollar stronger and the Naira weaker. What a destructive and ungodly platform for inequality! Why can’t we pay our debt in our currency? There is no better way to help our economy! However, we are helping other countries through our inability to produce while encouraging their
desire to indirectly hold us down and tell us how to live our lives. The absolute truth is that Nigeria cannot afford not to promote manufacturing and innovation from within. We have to get involved.
Considering the current salary scale, how many people can afford that automobile? Not many! Where does that leave most people who would have loved to reward themselves with such luxury? They are left to wallow on
the lonely island of deadly jealousy, an unspeakable crime likely to send them to jail or end their lives prematurely. The inability to afford what you would have loved to enjoy can lead to envy severe enough to make people turn against one another.
The currency devaluation was also designed to discourage foreign travel by making it more expensive,
encouraging vacations within your country. That is wishful thinking. Even though we have many, Nigerians are obsessed with “Ilu Oba” and not any of the Ilu Oba in Nigeria. I am not under the illusion that imports and foreign travel can be abolished entirely but should be curbed in the interest of a strong economy.
Nigeria should appeal to any evil empire trying to suffocate us by taking advantage of our self-imposed, gullible
stance. If they fail, we will have no choice but to close our borders to anything made in their countries.
An American philosopher, poet, and environmental scientist, Henry David Thoreau, wrote an essay. Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience, published in 1849, “was a call to arms.” In the article, “Thoreau argued that people owed it to themselves and their fellow man not to blindly follow their government if they believe their
government rules and laws are unjust.” This essay “was partly motivated by Thoreau’s dislike of slavery and the American government’s support of it.” The same can be used to let any country or entity know that unjust
interactions, regulations, and rules cannot be tolerated anymore.
To say that the Nigerian government is incapable of capping devaluation, thereby stopping it from falling every.
time we blink, is like allowing someone to be threatened and murdered at will because the Law Enforcement
Officers are incapable of protecting; that is negating and abandoning the call of duty. Volatility in devaluation must end until we can solve the problem of lack of manufacturing and innovation. When trying to get our acts
together, it is not the time to impose an undue burden on ourselves. We need well-informed cooperation at
every level. There are some of us willing to introduce a new automobile to the world, develop a better App, join space exploration, make gasoline cheaper at home, or make a better bike or mouse trap. Until then, the job is not done.
SCOPE OF PROJECT STAD?
What is explained here does not constitute the full scope of Project STAD. It is not comprehensive and should
not be taken as all-inclusive in any way, shape, or form. A walkthrough of the project to fully understand all its proposals is necessary. It will require a meeting with the President and his delegated members and ongoing
follow-up with those commissioned to be proactive.
Thanks for reading.
Henry I. Balogun
Founder/CEO
PrimeHangout.com