Featured, Speeches
Charles Okeke, dean, School of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences and professor of Economics, The College of Southern Nevada, Nevada System of Higher Education Charleston Campus, Las Vegas, USA, who was a discussant at the Realnews sixth anniversary lecture, explains why the world is looking at Nigeria albeit Africa to get its act right
By Charles Okeke
The chairman of this occasion Dr. Haroun Adamu, who I met here and realised that somehow we have cross path in the past and of course, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the detailed explanation of what goes on, I thank you. I have been educated by your presentation.
As many of you know, United States has just gone through election. They are still counting, which is the latest issue of The Economist. If you look at it very well it says: “America with a space in the middle divided.” Elections tend to divide nations if not done well but every votes count in a democratic system.
Again, what I have is an easy job. I can only talk about the economics. I’m not going to talk about the elections. But I want to leave few things with you as we go into this conversation. The world is looking at us. The world is looking at this country. They are looking at Africa because we have always being at the receiving end of some of this discuss of the world.
I have a map here. It is the map of Africa. You all know that the United States is a very big country. However, United States as we see today will fit into West Africa. Most people don’t know that. China and United States will fit into Africa as well as India, Eastern Europe, France, Spain and Italy will fit into the continent of Africa very easily. Most people don’t know that.
I have another map here that talks about economic map or resource map of Africa. In United States, when you go to pay for your vehicle licence, you must first of all go and do smoke test and when you fail the smoke test, you will not get your licence. If your catalytic converter is bad, you will fail the test. Ninety-four percent of the catalytic converter used in vehicle manufacturing comes from Africa.
So the world is looking at the continent. They like to have us at dinner. I’m saying to you that we need to conduct our elections and our affairs well. We all have a role to play here. It is your responsibility to educate the public. It is not just the INEC. It is a collective effort and what Maureen has done here today is what I have always imagined could be done and she has done it well.
As I said I’m not going to talk about elections but there are few things I what us to educate yourselves about and the public because it is our responsibility. It is also our collective responsibility. I’m going to ask you two questions. What is the least populated continent on earth? Well, Africa is the least populated continent on earth. Africa is also one quarter the size of Asia. We have had some issues on economic growth performance that is affecting our development.
Our people are doing well around the globe. We are doing well. Some of you have gone through Britain and gone through Gatwick Airport. Who owns Gatwick Airport, does anyone know? A Nigerian. Now there are things that are done in medicine, A Nigerian doctor delivered a child twice. Many of you may not have heard of it also. The child was discovered to have some serious medical conditions, the foetus was brought out operated upon and put back and delivered the second time. This is a feat that has never been done before.
One of the best car designers we have in the world today is a young kid from Sokoto State. He designed cote-electric car in United States. I understand that the president had appointed him as the chairman of the Automobile Association of Nigeria. How many of you have cell phones here? Anytime you have an appliance that has copper in it, a Nigerian is responsible for it. This individual has over 80 partners worldwide. He is from Anambra State and a close friend of mine. We have Nigerians doing a lot of things around the world and many are willing to come in here an assist. I have spoken with Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who is now the chairman of Diaspora Commission. She came to Las Vegas and I spent time discussing with her.
What I’m trying to say to you is this; do not be deceived that we are not great people because we are. The important is for you to realise that. It is when you realise that then you start moving forward. If you believe that you are not, it is the responsibility of the journalists and all of us to spread this news.
I don’t want to dwell on that I want to sit back and listen to your questions with other panellists and I will offer you some of the opinions that I have regarding what we need to do to move to the next level. Our education system needs some serious twinkling. By the time a child is in high school is already too late. Our entrepreneurial skills need to be changed. There are many things that we could do to really bring Nigeria to the table of the global talk.
I thank you for this opportunity. I thank you my fellow panellist and I thank you Maureen.
*Being an excerpt from the discussion on the topic ‘Political Transition and Africa’s Economic Development’ at the Sixth Anniversary lecture of Realnews held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Thursday, November 15, 2018
– Nov. 16, 2018 @ 23:09 GMT |
Tags: Why the World is looking at Nigeria #Realnews2018Lecture
