Onye kwe, chi ya ekwe!

- thoughts on Ndigbo and the Digital Economy, a brief exploration of a credo for the 21st Century Igbo Society and Economy by Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu @ Nkata Umu Ibe, February 2nd, 2019, Enugu

Igbo mmamanu! Igbo mmamanu! Enugu mmamanu!

We have gathered here this evening to discuss as a family what needs to be done to improve our lives and our community. Ndigbo are amazing people, wonderfully made and extraordinarily capable. Proud with a reason, convicted of themselves by an undeniable success at home and abroad, determined as evidenced by the fighting spirit that propels their comeback from every setback. 

Despite holding this powerful conviction that one has to believe something in order for that thing to become a reality in one's life, the Igbos appear to be one of the slowest regions to understand and seize the opportunities in the digital economy. Yet, we pioneered the industry arguably even before the Surulere and Ikeja havens where technology put down its initial roots in Lagos; in Enugu. Prof Mobisson as "head of the Industrial Development Centre (IDC)...in 1983 ... introduced the first Black African commercially produced line of personal computers and servers, an effort described by then Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari as "blazing the trail for Nigeria’s quest for technological development". (Wikipedia). The ASUTECH 800 and 8000 series of PCs were in production the same year as Steve Jobs launched the Apple. Lisa is a desktop computer developed by Apple, released on January 19, 1983. It was one of the first personal computers to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) in a machine aimed at individual business users. Today, Apple is the world's first trillion-dollar company.

Kedu ihe mere anyi?

Recalibrating the trajectory of an entire civilization is fortunately not a science in the sense of its being predictable. However there are observable traits sufficiently broad and deep in their occurrence in a population to make it possible to predict behaviour, particularly as a response to environmental stimuli. We can, for example with sufficient certainty say that an Igbo man will build a house in whatever place he finds himself. He will reclaim swamps, (and some would say even lagoons) clear forests, compact desert sand or hew out rocks of ice to have a place to call his home.

We can also safely assert that through observation, trial and error testing of hypotheses, and knowledge transfer (the scientific process of transferring the output of the marriage of wisdom and reason - ako n'uche), the Igbo entrepreneur will define a “line” which he will hold firmly to as the core of his enterprise, sometimes from generation to generation. It is this latter amongst many other facets of the credo of Ndigbo that perhaps has the greatest impact on the subject at hand: how to transit Ala-igbo and its people to the Digital Economy of the 21st Century.

The most obvious indication of the disconnect between Ndigbo of the pre and post 21st Century is the adaptation of its business architecture to the transformative paradigms of the connected society. We can ask the questions at a visual level, and deeper: Have the storefronts changed? Is the merchandising better? Have brands emerged and become more sophisticated in expression and management? Are businesses computerised and processes driven by systems? Have B-schools emerged and emphasis shifted to the fundamentals of operational management like supply chain management? Has data and its management become formalised, captured, discoverable, collaborative and reusable? Has Business Intelligence become a distributed tool for optimisation? Have business premises changed to a service-oriented architecture in design and layout?

Ogologo ab?r? na nwa m nwere amamihe (Being tall does not mean a child is also knowledgable). Against the backdrop of the Igbo resurgence post- Biafra War, the reality that these indicators are largely negative reinforces the perception that the transition to a Digital Economy has yet to lock in. Indeed, an observable trend in Ala-igbo is that growth in individual net worth is not directly proportional to income per capita and economic employment. Across the Igbo states, labour productivity has trended negatively outpacing declining GDP. Measured as internally generated revenue per working age person, the states of the SE rank between N120 - N200 as compared with Ogun or Lagos States at N200-N500 and N500 to over N1000 respectively. Essentially, the economies of the states are stagnating against population growth. While there is no data to scientifically support this, it is widely believed that Igbo wealth and productivity is greater outside the homestead than it is within the geography of Alaigbo. This is the thinking behind the call for aku luo uno (one's wealth should also manifest at home) – a sense the must be an intentional policy of Igbo to ensure that their wealth generated in the local and offshore Diaspora must find its way home to lift up the economies of the Igbo states. Again, this is yet another nexus for the comparison between the Igbos and the Jews. Without meaning to get into the controversy, there is sufficient parallels between these two market-dominant minorities to support the study of the growth of the Israel and as indicator of the potential of a renascent Igbo homestead.

Ndi Igbo are recognised as the most adventurous and tenacious of ethnic groups in Nigeria. Widely travelled and settled, the Igbo lives and seeks to thrive wherever he finds himself (ebe onye bi ka o na awachi - where one lives, one takes care of). Yet, how does this concept travel in digital realms, how does the Igbo discomfort with onye n'ejigi aka oru (a willfully jobless person), usually associated with hard physical work relate to the emerging economy in which the world's most valuable companies make nothing, in which the world's most productive factories are in the mind?

Yes, we are a redoubtable people, yet the future belongs to those whose adventures begin in the mind not the heart; who travel, explore and occupy mental spaces in which exponential value is created and asymmetrically extended through technology. If we fail to provide an environment that recognises and grows their capacity in the New World of Work and Play, the Igbo Youth will either be incapacitated by the Digital Divide or dislocated into other regions and countries where their adventure takes them to the detriment of the homesteads, a continuation of what has already happened in the analogue world hence aku luo uno.

Perhaps my disappointment comes more from my place of expectation than from data. The digital economy is built on the foundation of hardware, software and services which are combined in various configurations to produce goods and services that make up the gross domestic product of an economy. From handsets to tablets, laptops to servers, telecommunications masts and radios to fibre optic cables in the ground; from the apps that run on mobile phones to the client-server systems that run corporations on-premises and in the Cloud, the entirety of the infrastructure stack appears to be largely missing in Alaigbo, and as a result, the human infrastructure that not only provides and supports this stack, and critically the end user that drives the exponential demand we see in other state, regional and national economies is suppressed.

Could it be that the concept of technology, especially the intangible component of software, is alien to the Igbo psyche? Are the Igbos by nature, able to relate only to the tangible goods (ibu) and services (oru)? Does the term, oru beke (white collar jobs) still retain a lingering overhang of the less regarded form of labour, and by extension, place software and related soft technologies lower down in the rung of desirable professions? And if they haven’t why not? Kedu ihe ji nkita onwu? (what is keeping the animal from death)

Ndigbo na si na onye njem ka onye isi awu ima ihe. (The Igbo have a saying that one who has travelled far and wide is often more knowledgeable than the grey-haired elder) If so, the current situation does not reflect the significance of the roll call of technology pioneers, the digital heirs of Prof Mobisson which includes Nigeria's best known: Philip Emegwali, Leostan Eke’s Zinox Group, Valentine Obi's eTranszact, Will Anyaegbunam's Beta Computers, Pius Okigbo's InfoSoft amongst others. In telecommunications, the pioneers of mobile communications and cable included Minaj, Bourdex, CelTel, Zoom, Rainbownet and others. At many points in the past three decades, Igbos have led the multinationals – Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, etc. – in Nigeria and Africa. Our Diaspora, from Chinedu Echeruo to Benneth Omalu have pioneered research and development that has impacted the world.

What has blocked the spread and proliferation into the third generation? The question begs itself because the Igbo credo already contains within itself a number of sustaining paradigms that should ordinarily be weaving the generations together. For instance, our belief in continuity expressed most beautifully in yesterday being related to tomorrow (nwanne echi) is a tantalizing call to live yesterday in anticipation of tomorrow, forcing one to attempt to constantly, almost iteratively visualize the future. Any break in this philosophical outlook would cause a disruption that is enough to set an entire civilisation on a different course; equivalent almost to what would happen to a space craft missing its trajectory and heading out into the infinity of outer space

The conclusion is almost inevitable: while our philosophical underpinnings and manifest spirit of adventure continue to combine and recombine in our DNA, there is a missing stimulus in the environment that is preventing the emergence of a powerful, digital economy in Alaigbo: the State and Local governments. Okwulu anghi akari onye kuru ya aka (a young man cannot be stronger than the one that supports him). Think about this: California is a state but it is the 6th largest economy in the world, larger than that of France It has little offshore oil and generates most of its revenue from agriculture, the entertainment industry ( Hollywood), and significantly, the intellectual output from its premier university, Stanford University. It is estimated that by 2012, Stanford’s entrepreneurs (faculty and students) had generated revenues of $2.7trillion annually and created 5.4m jobs. Silicon Valley is home to the world’s largest technology companies and start-ups - why not Enugu State for Nigeria? Or Abia?

What makes California and other clusters of innovation such powerful economic agents is the intentional collaboration between the government and the private sector it attracts and encourages to invest primarily in the human capital that in turn leverages the core physical public infrastructure and related services that create a friendly environment for investors. The triad that makes for a regenerative technological revolution that transforms the economy and society is comprised of Industry, Government and the Education Sector, particularly the universities. They are not yet ready.

Being ready means recognising and committing to the understanding that the Digital Economy requires Power and Connectivity, a supportive Business environment that creates jobs and wealth through entrepreneurship, re-building a middle class that drives a burgeoning E-commerce consumer from services to goods and leveraging Business adoption of trusted transactional systems in a reassuring Legal and regulatory environment which enables a pervasive deployment of Supporting e-services built on sustainable Social and cultural infrastructure of STEM-based Education and the promotion of the Technological, Creative and Cultural Industries. Government action is also important in spreading the benefits of technology throughout society, and governments have the power and mandate to balance the needs of their citizens for long-term economic growth and social prosperity. We are all living witnesses to our condition: all I will say with regard to government is this: Onye ? b?la ji ?f? mana ?f? ma onye ji ya (.

Rather than be the visionaries and change agents in the mold of a Prof Dike and a Prof Mobisson, the leadership and faculty of our universities appear to have settled into the victim mentality that ASUU promotes, a disposition that does not accept any accountability for the issues in its environment. Accountability, which underpins the entrepreneurial culture of a Stanford, would suggest that the universities be open to the following questions:

1. What % of lecturers are qualified to be called that on the basis of the work they actually do?
2. What % of lecturers are guilty of plagiarism rather than the creation of new knowledge?
3. What % of lecturers actually grade scripts or hold seminars that build on the collaborative environment that supports innovation?
4. What % of lecturers' teaching material are independently assessed for relevance and quality so as to promote a culture of merit and mutual respect?
5. How many Universities have published Quality Standards reports in the past 39 years?
6. How many Universities are running programmes that they have rigged accreditation for?
7. Which university has ever published its audited accounts to show the use of funds?
8. Which university is operating a balanced scorecard or any other performance management system?
9. Why is ASUU ignoring its members who act as mercenary lecturers in the accreditation of courses at other universities?
10. Why did ASUU consistently resist enrolment in IPPIS which would use technology to weed out ghost workers?
11. Will ASUU cooperate with an independent Quality Assessment since they have not done so themselves? .

The above is not to deny that there are real issues with the university system but in my view, it behoves a visionary leadership to decide as the late Professor Kenneth Dike did in recruiting Prof. Mobisson and supporting the IDC back in 1983, to choose to rise to the demands of the times. Mberedé njiri dike ma ? bu mberedé ka eji ama dike (a hero is one because of the impossibility he overcomes) . A three –legged stool is only stable when the three legs are not only present but also of the same length, strength and quality. The irony of our current circumstance is that while industry is willing and ready, if anyone should ask why industry appears reluctant to return home, it is to the government and academia that we must turn and say, nwata kw? aka osoro okenye rié nri (a child that washes his hands may eat with the elders). There is little that we can see of the foregoing in our almost Hobbesean environment today and the people are suffering for the absence of a technology-based business and social environment. Still, a na eji ut?t? ama nj? ahia (one cannot determine the day's fortunes by what happens in the morning).

We are where we are today but this need not define our tomorrow. Mgbe mmadu teta ura bu ututu ya (morning begins only when a person wakes up). The task ahead is to wake up our leaders to the urgent needs of our times. They must be brought to the realisation that they hold the destiny of the Igbo Civilisation hostage to the narrowness of their aspirations as leaders. onye njem ka onye isi awu ima ihe. There is nothing wrong with seeking guidance from those who have travelled, seen the future and desire to bring it back to our today. Were we not in a race for access to the global markets, were it not for the inherent logic of the 21st Century technologies that tend towards consolidating its infrastructure and services as utilities which our people must not be locked out from, and subsequently held hostage to, we could simply remind them that Okenye were ihe nwata elu, aka gbuo ya mgbu, owetuo ya ala (an adult who holds a child's toy high so the child cannot reach it, will eventually tire and drop his arms to where the child is). I believe that we do not have that luxury in the digital economy. The divide is real and unlike in the analogue world, the catching up to overtake will be near-impossible.

This race for leadership in the Digital Economy of the 21st Century will be won and lost within the next 10 yrs. It is time we step out of the shadows, join hands to demand and seek our place in the sun. Igbo na si Onye kwe, chi ya ekwe! Orulanu na omumee!

Ndewo nu!