Challenging Inheritance Traditions-Village Diary

Village Diary seeks to overturn traditional inheritance customs within Cameroon that disenfranchise children and widows:

In our region of Cameroon, when the head of a household dies it is common to see family relations (brothers, uncles, etc.) or members of the community claim rights over the property of the deceased. Without legal wills testifying to the contrary, homes, farm plots and related property are often usurped by others. This property should pass to the rightful heirs, namely the widow and her children, to safeguard their future.

Retooling for the Informal

More on the informal in Stealth of Nations:

Two articles on Africa show the importance of engaging the informal economy.

First, The Daily Trust from Nigeria points out that government policies must be retooled "to encourage our small entrepreneurs who constitute the informal sector with a view to developing and enhancing their businesses." The writer suggests that 5 to 10 million Naira per local government per year (a pittance: $30,000 to $60,000) is all it would take to make the local economies bloom.
Second, the BBC points to the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi, one of the most run down communities in the Kenyan capital -- but, significantly, not one of the poorest.
Marketplaces, and a million little lean-to repair shops and small-scale factories are what most urban Africans rely upon for a living. But such is their distrust of government officials that most businesspeople in the informal sector avoid all contact with the authorities

More here

Are Nigerians Ready?

Within an analysis of Hillary Clinton's scathing speech to Nigerians Salisu Suleiman writes and asks:

True, our backs are broken, our dreams stolen, our resolve molten. But we must ask: Where are those to fight to change? Who will tell Nigerians that dying in silence would be a great betrayal of our heritage? Are Nigerians ready to fight for true liberation? Are we ready to wrestle our fate from with the motley that claim to be Africa’s biggest party; but have reduced governance to a banal cabal who only pledge the perpetual pillaging of public property for private purpose?

More here

On Capitalism-Reuben Abraham

In Zoo Station Reuben Abraham on Capitalism:

"Capitalism at its core is basically agnostic," says Abraham of ISB. "It does not try to be inclusive or exclusive. Capitalism is about optimal allocation of resources. The more it is allowed to thrive, the higher the number of people who will be impacted positively by [its] growth. So, in that sense, being inclusive is perhaps a natural process. But for this to happen, what is really needed is more liberalization and fundamental reforms. For instance, until 1995 the fruits of telecom were not available to 95% of the country. Because of the reforms in this sector, [they are] now available to 50% of the country.... In this sector, capitalism has become a force for good. We could have the same thing happen over and over again in different sectors."
Corporations naturally go for high-margin customers in the beginning, Abraham notes, but given that there is a very small number of high-margin customers in India, they will have no option but to look at other segments of the population. "These are natural consequences of a well-regulated market at work. The problem really is: What is the optimal amount of regulation in a sector and who decides that? In my opinion, it is an iterative process. This is a journey that needs to be figured out by trial and error."

If regulatory reforms don't take place, "corporations will be forced to do inclusive capitalism [Ed Note: Not sure what this means]. Otherwise, there will be social unrest. The issue then will be about the level of commitment of the corporates given that they always have to walk the thin line between their responsibilities toward the shareholders and the society at large."

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Influencing Cybernetics

Appfrica highlights a paper by Ron Eglash in which he writes:

The use of African material culture as a form of analog representation is particularly vivid in cases of recursive information flow. In African architecture, recursive scaling – that is fractal geometry – can be seen in a variety of forms. In North Africa it is associated with the feedback of he “arabesque” artistic form, particularly in the branches of branches forming city streets. In Central Africa it can be seen in additive rectangular wall formations, and in West Africa we we circular swirls of circular houses and granaries. This is not limited to a visual argument; the fractal structure of African settlement patterns has been confirmed by computational analysis of digitized photos in Eglash and Broadwell (1989).
Recursive scaling in Egyptian temples can be viewed as a formalized version of the fractal architecture found elsewhere in Africa, and is most significant in it’s use of the Fibonacci sequence. The sequence is named for Leonardo Fibonacci (ca. 1175-1250), who is also associated with an unusual example of recursive architecture in Europe. The Fibonacci sequence was one of the first mathematical models for biological growth patterns, and inspired Alan Turing and other important figures in the history of computational morphogenesis. Since Fibonacci was sent to North Africa as a boy and devoted his years there to mathematics education (Gies and Gies 1969), it is possible that seminal example of recursive scaling is of African origin...[continue reading]

Business based Marshall Plan for Africa?

Glenn Hubbard writes in FP:

In all rich countries, the development of a thriving business sector came before physical and social infrastructure. In fact, the Marshall Plan worked because it made loans to European businesses first, which then paid money back into a national pot to fund commercial infrastructure. Africa has already demonstrated its potential for achieving the same. In telecommunications, for example, Africa has become the first continent where cell phones outnumber land lines, thanks to many excellent African entrepreneurs (and the many terrible government land-line systems). Besides, businesses that have a stake in the maintenance and viability of a given project are bound to be far more apt at building and maintaining infrastructure than aid agencies, which have been trying to do it and failing for the past 40 years. Given that many parts of the continent still lack basic roads, water systems, electrical grids, and more, isn't it time to retire the current, aid-driven system?

More here

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Decorative Democracies contd

David Kashangaki adds to the conversation about Decorative Democracies:

In a situation in which 'democratic' institutions are the product of a flawed understanding of democracy (that says all the grass roots have to do is vote for the person who gives them the most money and promises everything that people want to hear- knowing that they will deliver nothing), it is highly unrealistic to expect proper institutions to be formed, and that this civil society will be the backbone of them.

It just will not happen. Similarly, trying to transform these institutions by spending vast amounts of donor aid on 'workshops' for the elite won't transform them either. The transformation will come when there is an educated civil society that understands what democracy means; that can tell the difference between empty promises and what is truly realistic about what can be done to develop; that is able to see participation as more than just voting

More here
Via AllAfrica

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Building a Continental Art Ecosystem

Osei G. Kofi gives a number of reasons for the poverty of contemporary artists within Africa and of African heritage.He contends that:

A crucial factor is that Africans, rich Africans, refuse to buy art. The concept of “putting money on the wall” is alien to them. A while ago a major US business magazine did a cover spread on one of the newly minted billionaires of the Black Economic Empowerment class of post Apartheid South Africa. The paintings on the walls of the sumptuously appointed homes were distinctly run of the mill. There were no Jak Katarikawes, Marlene Dumas, William Kentridges, E. Saidi Tingatingas, Lilangas, Malangatanas, or Cheri Sambas. And yet these are some of the African artists slated to join the Rothkos, Modiglianis and Picassos of posterity.

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A need for Philosophy and Critical Thinking

Ben Hinson writes:

No doubt, there are many many brilliant minds in Africa, but the platform for them to showcase their mental capabilities in the arenas of philosophy, objective argument etc in most cases does not exist...It is a reality that the economically disadvantaged are less attracted to the value of knowledge for its own sake and more attracted to what brings economic gain, and for good cause, after all a hungry man is an angry man. But focusing solely on material gain and not qualitative values leaves a void that ultimately affects leadership, morality and a society's standards.

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Paul Romer's radical idea: Charter cities

From TED Global 2009:

How can a struggling country break out of poverty if it's trapped in a system of bad rules? Economist Paul Romer unveils a bold idea: "charter cities," city-scale administrative zones governed by a coalition of nations.

The Fraying of Nigeria

The Times reports:

The uprising (by Boko Haram), however, is just a symptom of the social breakdown that has made Nigeria so prone to violence. Rampant corruption has undermined even the feeble central government efforts to tackle social inequality, failing health and education systems, the stinking detritus burying most big cities and widespread unemployment. The oil boom has only exacerbated corruption and inequality, and the dreadful conditions in the Niger Delta have spawned an endemic rebellion, regular kidnappings and crime syndicates that siphon off so much oil that total production is running at millions of barrels below capacity...[continue reading]

Radio Free Africa?-Ayittey@State Department

George Ayittey recently attended a dinner at the State Department. Its purpose was to:

...to reach out of the bureaucratic cocoon to independent “gurus” and seek alternative viewpoints before her trip to Africa...in addition I told the group that there was no need to re-invent the wheel and that the West should deal with Africa the way it dealt with the former Soviet Union. There it didn't form partnerships with communist regimes and hand over money to them on promises of reform. It helped Solidarity movements and established Radio Free Europe. Why not Radio Free Africa? Sec. of State Hillary Clinton said it is a great idea and she likes it.

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The Ndebe Project: Igbo 2.0.

"...The Ndebe project is an ongoing development of a new writing system for the Igbo language. Igbo is a beautiful melodious language that is mostly oral although it can be written down using the existing English alphabet (with a few modifications of course). Unfortunately, increasing disinterest in Igbo of native Igbo speakers due to its general uselessness in the shadow of English is threatening the very survival of our language..."

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MEND morphs into a Mini-State

While the clueless 'leadership' in Nigeria fiddles, MEND lays the foundation for an independent state with its own revenue.The FT reports:

Now, inhabitants of the delta have started processing crude. In small, modular refineries they are producing kerosene and other fuel and selling to the local market from so-called mushroom enterprises in the creeks and swamps.

More here
For related coverage read Niger Delta Solidarity

Obama's Speech An Intellectual Vindication

George Ayittey writes:

I listened to Obama’s speech with a bemused sense of vindication. To many of us, what he was saying was not new. We have known of these “self-evident truths” for decades – just that we were afraid to say so openly or publicly. The courageous editors, journalists and writers who did say so, were punished severely with beatings and prison terms; some, such as Dele Giwa of Nigeria, paid the ultimate price. Nor could one do so in North America.

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Mwenda on Obama's Speech-"Stop the Lectures"

Andrew Mwenda writes in FP:

The lesson for Obama is that Africa is likely to get better with less meddling in its affairs by the West, not more -- whether that meddling is through aid, peacekeeping, or well-written speeches. Africa needs space to make mistakes and learn from them. The solutions for Africa have to be shaped and articulated by Africans, not outsiders.

More here.

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Launching 234Next-Dele

Dele Olojede writes about 234Next's daunting task in the FT:

It is especially daunting to attempt what we are trying to pull off in a country whose electricity grid has totally collapsed, whose ruling elites are almost uniformly corrupt and heedless, whose citizens have often appeared to accept that it is their cursed fate to live in such wretchedness, and whose government, with some happy exceptions, is clueless and dysfunctional.

More here.

Nigeria's Middle Class

Within the FT's report on Nigeria an update on the country's middle class:

Watch related multimedia features here
via Grandiose Parlor

Mortgage Finance-The Final Frontier

Lanre Akinola writes in This is Africa:

Excepting South Africa, the sub-Saharan mortgage market has been virtually non-existent up to a few years ago. Increasingly, populations in a number of sub-Saharan countries are being introduced to the concept of funding their lifestyles through debt. As formal personal financial services become more widely accepted on the continent, mortgages are now becoming an attainable reality for growing numbers of Africans. Yet despite optimism about the transformational potential of home ownership, few of these products truly extend below the well-heeled segment of society.

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Nigeria's Road to Somalia

Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu's grim prognosis:

A few years ago, the American intelligence community took a hard look at Nigeria and predicted her demise. At the time, the “Pharaohs” masquerading as leaders in Aso rock choose to play the Ostrich by burying their head in the sand. They lampooned the Americans for daring to state the obvious. Yet, events since then have continued to validate the grim prognosis for Nigeria as predicted by the American intelligence community as the nation has increasingly been mired in crisis after crisis.

More here.

Where Ideas go to Die

Salisu Suleiman writes:

A brief excursion into the mindset of the Nigerian civil servant and the workings of public sector organizations would explain why the proposals are hardly replied to, or even acknowledged. It may also explain why those beautifully packaged, articulate and detailed proposals never left somebody’s desk, or how it ended up as wrapping for someone’s groundnut or suya. If you follow the journey of a file through the treacherous jungle of the civil service, you’d know why the sector is so resistant to change and new ideas.

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Super States?

In Fixing Africa:

The federal Super States idea in is just a trigger to launch the process. Structural risk reduction in Africa also makes other initiatives more effective and gradually less required

African Tongues Project

The African Tongues Project "...is dedicated to building an audio library of African words. The library can be used to help you learn an African language. For free.Anyone, with the knowledge of at least one African word, can help build this library...[continue reading]

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An Opposition Flaw-The "Pat Utomi tendency"

Discussing Pat Utomi's latest initiative, Grandiose Parlor highlights a key problem with the Nigerian opposition and Perhaps opposition groups throughout the continent, their lack of a social contract with the very people they claim to represent :

One major limitation of Pat over the years has been his inability to create a solid and reliable bond with the Nigerian grassroots, and from what I can see from the sideline, the “Pat utomi tendency” may still be at work: an over-reliance on the Nigerian elites...I hope Pat sees the need to take his campaign further than the confines of cosy restaurants into the dusty streets of the Nigerian hinterland where the battles of democracy will be fought and its rewards most appreciated.

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Make 'Patrimonicide' an International Economic Crime

Ndiva Kofele writes:

I have somewhat immodestly taken the liberty of inventing the word ‘patrimonicide’ as the name for this new international economic crime. The word comes from combining the Latin words ‘patrimonium’ meaning “[t]he estate or property belonging by ancient right to an institution, corporation, or class; especially the ancient estate or endowment of a church or religious body” and, of course, ‘cide’ meaning killing. It is submitted that indigenous spoliation is the very essence of the destruction (or killing, if you please) of the sum total of a nation's endowment; the laying waste of the wealth and resources belonging by right to her citizens; the denial of their heritage.

More here.

African Artists' Foundation

The African Artists' Foundation provides support to professional artists in Africa through healthcare, a pension fund for aging artists, scholarships for young artists, support for the professional development of women artists, international exhibits and community outreach programs to foster an enabling environment for the development and promotion of public health through artistic endeavours-website

Related story on Nigeria's Art Scene here

Replace the World Bank with Venture Capital?

Carl Hammerdorfer writes in BOPreneur:

Let’s face it- what a poor country needs is no different from what a poor state or county in the US needs. Economic development, entrepreneurship, new companies, products… real jobs for God’s sake! Not unproductive jobs working for a foreign NGO, but jobs where people make stuff….and sell it.

More here

Dont Blame Nigeria's Taliban

Jean Herskovits writes in the FP:

Ten years of supposed democracy have yielded mounting poverty and deprivation of every kind in Nigeria. Young people, undereducated by a collapsed educational system, may "graduate," but only into joblessness. Lives decline, frustration grows, and angry young men are too easily persuaded to pick up readily accessible guns in protest when something sparks their rage. Meanwhile, those in power at all levels ignore the business of governing and instead enrich themselves. Law and order deteriorate.

More here

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Quick Hits

Swarm creativity in Accra's Makola market.
A dearth of entrepreneurial financing-VC4Africa
The plight of the elderly-BlackLooks
Using IP to foster growth.
Obama Redefined the "Door of No Return" But...
African Elections Project.
Battling corruption with puppets-BBC

Obama's Three Messages

Paul Collier writes:

...many African leaders must have been hoping for more of the absolving balm of western guilt. They did not get it. Instead, Obama delivered three unwelcome messages.The most explosive was that Africa's core problem is its own misgovernance: Africa's persistent poverty has been largely self-inflicted. Obama is the first western leader to have the political space to deliver this tough but necessary message. He does not need a photo-op with smiling Africans to signal to voters back home that he is a compassionate sort of guy. Nor does he risk being denounced. His protection is in part that it is not possible to imagine Obama in a pith helmet; but beyond that, nobody can seriously question Obama's sincere concern to help his father's continent...[continue reading]

‘Internal Colonialism’

Wole Soyinka writes:

...Since the debilitation of civil society through decades of military rule, Nigerians freely use the expression ‘internal colonialism’ as the readiest expression of the continuing suppression of popular will, an orchestrated democratic denial that operates in relay, and is sustained by a select hegemony resolved to remain in perpetual control of the nation. Offering nothing in return, this unproductive cabal has become increasingly arrogant and contemptuous in its dismissal of even a pragmatic semblance of a gesture towards fair dealing that sometimes salves the pride and dignity of a people.

More here.

A Message to Aid donors as well?-Obama

In the Kaufman Post

...the message from Obama during his current trip to Africa may also be properly interpreted as a wake-up call to the aid industry, which (with the exception of a few donors) has tended to depict a glossy and politically correct picture of what is transpiring in African governments, thereby masking a huge variation in governance performance across Africa, and, particularly in recent years, downplaying the priority of good governance and anticorruption for development.

More here.