Nigeria, Creativity in
Nigerians and the Missing Link III
In the second part of this article, several
Nigerians who were duly elected in to various political offices by the citizens
of their host countries in Europe and America were presented. In United Kingdom
alone nine prominent Nigerians were elected either as mayors or British Members of Parliament. Names
like Chuka Umunna, Helen Grant, Abimbola Afolami, Kate Osamor and Kemi Badenoch
featured. Others were Ernest Ezeajughi, Chinyelu Susan Onwurah and Olugbenga
Babatola among several Nigerians. In most cases, they made history as the first
black persons to hold such elective posts, which were hitherto exclusive
reserve for white men/women or indigenous people of such countries. The list of
Nigerians who are political office holders outside the shore of Nigeria cannot
be exhaustive. These few Nigerians endowed with creative capacities and
innovative thinking underscore the creativity of Nigerians in excelling amid
challenges.
Few
other areas need mentioning to present the creativity in Nigerians are
academia, inventions and business sector. On academia, one exquisite example published
in this column three years ago, precisely on June 17th 2016
presented the giant stride of Nigerians in universities abroad. The article was
titled “Educational Feats of Nigerians in Diaspora: Food for Thoughts”.
It was the story of
postgraduate students performance at the convocation ceremony in far away
Howard University, Washington DC, USA on 7th May 2016. The news of
Nigerians spectacular educational performance at this university was joyously
welcomed and celebrated by Nigerians in particular and Africans in general.
Local and international media carried the news with various attractive
captions; “Howard University: Nigerian students in the US excel, 16 bestowed
special awards”, “Good news for Nigeria from Howard University” and similar
titles. The story is that Nigerians captured the majority of the prizes
presented during the Howard University 2016 graduation ceremony. Out of the 96
graduates with PhD in Pharmacy, 43 of them were Nigerians. Similarly, out of
the 27 awards presented, 16 of such awards went to graduates who were
Nigerians. The total number of graduates represented 46 states of America and
35 countries across the globe. Yet,
Nigerians collected 16 awards and left only 11 awards to American citizens from
46 states and other nationals from 34 different countries. Among the Nigerians
awarded was a 24-year-old graduate who excelled
all through during her academic sojourn in Howard. She was honored with numerous awards and
recognition at every level of her program. During the graduation ceremony, she
received the Howard University Department of Chemical Engineering Highest level
of academic achievement award, Howard University Department of Chemical
Engineering Wall Of Fame Award – with commentary as one of the best students
the department ever came across in over 20 years of academic endeavors. She
finally graduated with a Summa Cum Laude
(first class). She was mentioned on the list of who is who within American
Colleges and Universities. Finally, she was made the President of the National
Engineering Honors Society by invitation only to top 8 of the junior class and
top 5 of the senior class. Records
in the university rated the performance of Nigeria as a clear outstanding feat
that has not been achieved by any other country in that University. However, this excellent academic
performance of Nigerians in Howard University may be an isolated case but
averagely, majority of Nigerians are astonishingly doing well academically in
many universities abroad.
On
invention and innovations, Nigerians’ names bring bell especially in Europe and
America. Three examples may suffice. The name of Prof. Philip Emeagwali is
prominent. He is a Nigerian, American based inventor and scientist; he was
credited for invention of high-speed computer. In 1989, Emeagwali won the
prestigious Gordon Bell Prize ($10,000) for price-performance in
high-performance computing applications, in an oil reservoir modelling
calculation using a novel mathematical formulation and implementation. Emeagwali
was voted the "35th-greatest African (and greatest African scientist) of
all time"
Another
name worth mentioning is that of Jelani Aliyu, a Nigerian from Sokoto state
living in USA. Aliyu is a celebrated car designer of General Motors. General
Motors is perhaps the world’s largest automobile maker. Jelani Aliyu is the designer of the Chevy Volt;
a car reputed to be an American Revolution and considered to be one of the apt concepts
in the design line. Globally, Jelani's work was considered to be a masterpiece
in the car industry because it was the best selection made out of many entries
from renowned automobile designers across the continents. Prof.
Carl Olsen, an American professor of automobile design, a teacher to Jelani
described Jelani's piece as the bright future of General Motors. He said
"Jelani is exceptionally gifted as a car designer, he is representing the
future of the General Motors, every designer was giving opportunity to design a
car that can meet certain criteria, not only in the United State but Britain
and Germany submitted their designs for the project. In the end, Jelani's
design was chosen as the best design" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqx-xKGeDCA)
Another
globally renowned inventor is Oshi Agabi who is a Nigerian USA based inventor. He invented what he
calls “Koniku Kore”. It is a giant invention of the 21st century.
Koniku Kore is a device that can fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a
silicon chip. The device is a next generation neuro computing platform that can
provide uses in security, military and agriculture. Koninku Kore is an
application for real-world issues such as detecting illness and terrorism
threats. This invention offers a glimpse into how biology can be integrated
into technology, and ultimately how the human brain can help technological
advancements. Koniku Kore is an amalgam of living neurons and silicon, with
olfactory capabilities — basically sensors that can detect and recognize
smells. The Nigerian born inventor, Oshi Agabi proclaimed before the
international journalists at the conference, "You can give the neurons
instructions about what to do - in our case we tell it to provide a receptor
that can detect explosives." More information on this invention can be
accessed via my blog; www.breakthroughwithmkothman.blogspot.com
On business, Nigerians are equally moving
excellently. Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been consecutively the richest African in
the last eight years. Aliko Dangote is the President and Chief Executive of
Dangote Group, which he founded over three decades ago as a simple enterprise
and nurtured to its current status, an international business conglomerate with
interests in diversified manufactured commodities distributed across the
continent. According to Forbes 2017 ranking, Aliko Dangote remained Africa’s
richest person for the sixth year running with a $12.1 billion fortune, despite
about $5 billion drop in his net worth for the second year in a row. By the
2018 ranking, Dangote’s fortune of $14.1 billion placed him as the 100th
billionaire in the World alongside Harold Hamm of the United States of America.
Dangote remains the richest African of the year for the seventh time by 2018.
There are several other multibillionaires business tycoons within and outside
Nigeria. With all these vast natural resources and few citizens with high
innovative acumen and excelling in all aspects of human endeavor, why is
Nigerian system not working? Why is the country facing multifaceted problems?
What is really the missing link between Nigeria with her vast resources and the
few distinguished Nigerians who are superbly doing well in other climes?
On
the missing link, how can the few good people excelling home and abroad be
linked to the vast resources on Nigerian land? This linkage is very necessary
for our national development. The linkage will transform the potential of being
great to actual greatness. Yes, the
linkage of good Nigerian people to the vast natural resources will galvanize
the country to become Eldorado, a model country in the world with global
leadership in all aspects of development. There are factors for fast-tracking
the linkage. The factors responsible for bringing the missing link are good
governance and nationalism. Good governance and nationalism are the strong
pillars for a nation building and excellent performance among the comity of
nations. What are the factors embedded in good governance and nationalism? How
can Nigerian people use them to address our challenges to the national
development? Discussion on these factors will be the concluding part of this
article next week by His grace.
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