The Perils of Digital Zombification

Olufemi Adeagbo

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire

Digital technology drives virtually every human and organizational developmental trajectory today. Naturally, when we think of digital, emphasis is placed on cutting edge technology. Artificial intelligence, Robotics, Machine learning, Autonomous tech, Analytics, Sensors, & much more come to mind. These tools and the connectivity/collaboration platforms they leverage will continue to change the world with significant benefits. However, Digital technology is really an enabler, shaper, and magnifier of intent and mindsets. The human mind is at the epicentre of it all.

And through the lenses of some topical and controversial issues, this piece seeks to present perspectives with respect to how the same beneficial digital tools carry potent peril because of their ability to use algorithms that manipulate the inherent biases we all have as humans. This can only be ameliorated if we assume individual responsibility for our thinking. Failing to do so indulges the crudity of our instinctive biases, and ensures vulnerability to subconscious manipulation at every turn. It is a disservice to intellect and self.  And at this point, a danger to Nigeria and consequently to all of us.

CONTEXT: AFRICA IS ATTRACTIVE AND WILL REMAIN ATTRACTIVE

Africa has always been attractive. At a point it provided manpower, characterised by the barbaric slave trade. Colonialism followed, with attendant extraction and exploitation of resources and impositions of culture, religion and economic models, and many proxy contests. Since their ‘independence’, many African Nations have continued to provide significant inputs for the industrial revolution that has uplifted many nations globally. Even today, critical raw materials required for technology networks, mobile devices, electric batteries, and nuclear power, are extracted from Africa. 

A NEITI 2012 report suggests that about “40 different types of solid minerals exist in Nigeria, with a commercial value running into the trillions of dollars, and with 70% of these buried in the bowels of Northern Nigeria.” From Congo, to Niger, to Nigeria; the “coincidence” of resources and conflict seem to be Siamese twins. In fact, it is doubtful if any resource rich African nation has had breathing space to focus solely on development. Conflict always seems present, sapping resources into military expenditure, creating fragmented power blocs, insurgents, and more recently, deadly and blood thirsty terrorists, but never really threatening extraction and migration.

Besides resources and population, Africa also remains attractive, perhaps because of (1) the seeming malleability of its people (2) tethering to insatiable temporal consumption desires (3) a desperation for adulation, (perhaps rooted in a veiled inferiority complex syndrome) which fuels bare knuckled scrambling for wealth (4) ethnic and religious divisions (5) seeming preference for consumption over productivity (6) presence of a ‘race complex’ that drives desires for all things foreign, including appearance and identity alteration; and (7) the ever present multi-sectoral and morphing 'elite' class, who in the quest for power & wealth, contribute to the destabilization of their own countries. These attributes, combined with massive resources, makes Africa extremely attractive to exploiters, internal or external. 

On the 11th of January 1976, Gen Murtala Mohammed, in his fiery speech to the OAU noted that: “ It appears some developed countries cast around neo-colonialist eyes and once again long for the recolonisation of that Continent which is still endowed with much of the world’s untapped resources. The new weapon is no longer the Bible and the flag, but destabilisation and armaments. “ One month later, he was gunned down in Lagos. Two of the principal actors remain at large till today.

On the 29th July 1987, Thomas Sankara, the charismatic Burkina Faso Head of State between 1983 - 1987, made a compelling speech to the same body about African unity, the need for productivity and internal trade rather than imported consumption, the debt yoke, and the fact that every rifle purchased by African nations was used against fellow Africans. Instructively, Sankara said, "we must stand together to prevent us from being individually assassinated. If Burkina Faso stands alone refusing to pay, I will not be here for the next conference!". Two and a half months later, he was gunned down, in a coup led by his confidant, Blaise Compaore, who then became president for 27 years until disgraced out of office in 2014.  Destabilization always has willing internal allies. 

As I write, Chad is going through fast moving destabilisation events that have almost certainly returned the military into the saddle, and could expose our Lake Chad flank to even more insurgency. President Obasanjo warned about the severe consequences of Gadaffi falling, but was ignored at that time. He understood the proliferation of arms that would follow. Libya is now pretty much a failed state with no clear leadership control. Mali experienced a coup. One was attempted in Niger just two days before the new president was sworn in. We are facing unprecedented turbulence as we are surrounded by destabilised neighbours whose territories harbour hardened terrorists and serve as gateways into Nigeria for these terrorists, in addition to those we are already dealing with. This is not the time to aid them by internal destabilisation, thinning of our military on multiple flanks and incessant and multi dimensional divisiveness.

Yet, a terrible history and persistent destabilization efforts can’t be vectors that we use perpetually in ‘playing the victim’, or pointing fingers, as tempting as this may be. Rather, history must be used to extract lessons from the past, apply them to the current realities, and in doing so, shape the future. The fact remains that despite the massive revenues earned over decades, corruption has drained development resources away, and has now morphed into a culture across all facets of society. In Nigeria, corruption is now multi sectoral and multi demographic. Greed, desperation for adulation, remorseless pursuit of underserved rewards, addiction to temporal pleasures and insatiable desires continue to compete with, and stymie collective good and development. 

But arguably, technology may be the most potent weapon we have yet seen. With the pervasiveness of social media and bias manipulation tools, it is now possible to distort culture, create echo chambers, generate falsehood at scale, and effectively lead people towards a state of ‘zombification’, where algorithms target biases, until objective ability is decimated. In this state, we become commoditized and exploitable for varying reasons, and are malleable in the hands of many devious politicians, self-serving thought leaders, religious charlatans, and flawed social activists, all able to leverage digital algorithms.  Consensus simply can't be forged against wrongdoing, no matter how explicit. Constructive conversations are becoming extinct, leading to an endless vortex of unintelligent exchanges, fired like missiles from each echo chamber, whilst the bleeding of nation and reason continues.

It was Voltaire again who said that “A State can be no better than the citizens of which it is composed. Our labour now is not to mould States but make citizens.”  One can be forgiven for being sympathetic to his viewpoint. Certainly, citizens, who indulge biases, embrace single narratives, evade patriotic responsibilities, and lie in wait, daggers drawn, for every opportunity to magnify negatives and minimize positives, unwittingly become  potent weapons against their own countries. 

ALGORITHMIC MANIPULATION

Following the introduction of military grade manipulation tools by Cambridge Analytica in 2014/15 to influence presidential elections through fear of Islamization, (as revealed  in whistleblower testimony to the UK digital, culture, media and sport select committee), it seems we have become increasingly etched to inherent biases. As Voltaire, that gifted French writer, philosopher and thought leader noted “The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe. Intellectually endowed people now yield to people they would ordinarily consider ‘chalartans’. And they have been quite successful. The peerless Fela Anikulapo - Kuti, in perhaps his only ‘single message’ song, devoid of artistic dramatization, “Mr Follow Follow”, warned about the zombification of the mind when he sang : “Some dey follow follow, dem close dem sense / I say, dem close sense / If you dey follow follow / Make you open eye, open mouth, open sense / Na dat time / Na dat time you no go fall / Na dat time / Na dat time you no go fall.

END SARS PROTESTS

One of the recent examples of this ‘single narrative’ state of affairs is the endsars protest that rocked Nigeria a few months ago. The initially well intentioned protests would have been a ‘locus classicus’ in peaceful protests achieving a stated aim, if they had ended once the unit was disbanded. However, hubris and manipulation took over. Puerile notions of the UN coming to take over Nigeria ( an invitation to be enslaved) if the sit out lasted for a period were floated and bought, even by many supposedly intelligent people. 

Following the destruction and carnage, attention was focussed on whether a massacre was perpetrated by the Nigerian Army or not in their enforcement of the 'curfew'. Sharply opposing positions divided society at large. Cancel culture bared its fangs. No critical thinking was tolerated and unsurprisingly, many critical facts in plain sight were ignored. Many are only now considering what was always there, because the US has stated that it could not yet find evidence of the massacre. 

Yet, Fanny Facsar, an ‘on the scene’ German reporter  from the respected Deutshe Welle station had to take cover when, according to her detailed report, people wearing camouflage came on motorbikes and started shooting indiscriminately. The report is available online and is important because it affirms that some persons discharged live rounds at Lekki that evening. Unless we are to believe that soldiers came on motorbikes with small arms, the broad minded must consider if some other group shot at people- after all video evidence exists of even hoodlums with pistols at Lekki that day. Hospitals have also stated that ‘pellets’ were removed from many injured persons. However, military grade AK-47 bullets aren’t pellets. They exit the shell casing and barrel at some 700 meters per second and rip through flesh, and concrete even, and are not ordinarily survivable at that close range.

But the item that should have triggered Fela Kuti’s warning was a video made by DJ Switch- a central character - in which many assertions were made as a ‘fact witness’, Perhaps, the most startling is the assertion, in explaining the absence of dead bodies that a massacre would yield, that she and other protesters carried dead bodies to soldiers and dumped them at their feet. The curious mind would wonder why anyone would destroy evidence of their co-protesters asserted murder in this way, and then resort to “scrambling” with the same soldiers for bullets and shells on the floor, in the dark, as she asserts. The intelligent mind would ask why and how an avalanche of well curated graphic and video content, later identified as fake, emerged across social media to reinforce the narrative, when the evidence of bodies could have been pictured or filmed.

Another troubling aspect is the description by the DJ of how a shell casing landed behind her ( suggesting she was a target in this crowd, despite the darkness and mayhem). This should have alarmed objective and knowledgeable folks. An unexpired shell, called a round contains explosive gases and gunpowder. It can have a lead tip called a bullet, or just a wadding seal, as in the case of a blank shell. Both will make terrifying bang and yield bright flashes, but in the case of a blank, there is no lead tip (bullet) to project forward, so it can’t kill. Blanks are used in the action movies watched across the world with ferocious shooting scenes. In both live and blank rounds, gravity makes the shell casing fall to the ground near the shooter after exiting the side chamber.  A shell casing simply can’t travel forward as she described. It defies science. Bullets travel for about 900 metres before losing velocity, so it is not likely that they will be picked near the shooter, or easily seen in the mayhem of darkness 900 metres away, assuming they hit no target and fall to the ground. Science. Facts.

And she goes on to say that a boy jumped on her back to protect her, as people were shouting “cover her , cover her", and asserts the boy was shot dead, on her back, whilst protecting her. An AK47 bullet, at the sub 350 metre distance, would likely rip through two or three proximate bodies with ease. The blood evidence one would expect to see on her clothing was never discussed. The predictable pool of blood that would accompany such a ‘massacre’ was simply not there. The curious mind would have started wondering if she was laying the foundations for claiming she was a target, and using this as justification to evade any questioning of her assertions. Despite our ethnic leanings, we also simply can’t ignore the incitements of an IPOB leader urging the killing of people and destruction of properties, which did occur. These are facts. 

Those on the other side of the argument also refused to acknowledge that mixed messaging deepened distrust and confusion. In the first place, the curfew had been shifted, meaning that the protesters were not yet in breach of the curfew when soldiers arrived. Why the army wasn’t notified of this postponement is perhaps a costly oversight in the unprecedented events of that day. Comparisons were also drawn with what happened  in neighbouring Mali only a few months earlier. Protests had been ongoing since June 2020, with calls for the resignation of President Keita over mismanagement of insurgency, corruption, COVID-19, and a stunted economy. Following 11 deaths and 124 injuries, a faction of the Army stepped in and forced his resignation. An interim president was appointed and new elections scheduled. Effectively, a democratically won tenure had been truncated, for another throw of the dice at the election polls. These are facts.

At the heart of the endsars protests was technology, moving real and fake content at pace, enabling incitement to violence, funding through cryptocurrencies, and serving content to citizens, based on their biases. This is a fact.

INSECURITY, MARGINALIZED REPUBLICS, AND FULANI 'BORN TO RULE' OVERLORDS’

As endsars died down, leaving in its wake death and some estimated N2 Trillion worth of damage, the murder of a popular businessman/ political farmer, allegedly by Fulani herdsmen triggered a series of events in the South West, reviving talks of marginalization and slavery of the Yoruba’s in the Nigerian federation, and a desire to cecede. Instructively though, The Oyo State governor remarked as follows: Everybody said Fulani killed Dr Aborode, but when I went to his father, he said what happened had political undertones. The police have now arrested and arraigned an 80 - year old politician to court in respect of the businessman's killing. 

Yet, by 2023, under this political dispensation, Yoruba’s would have held the presidency for 8 years, the Vice Presidency for 8 years and the legislative leadership of the house for 8 years, and countless critical positions central to National development and symbolism of political participation. By 2023, Southerners would have had 13 of the 24 years as Presidents ( Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan), with Northerners ( both of Fulani extraction) 11 years ( Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and late Umaru Yar'adua). Economically, the South West boasts a vibrant and indispensable economic bloc within Nigeria, with huge assets investments in seaports, infrastructure and diversity of people. These are facts.

Make what you will of the data, but if we go back to 1957, the year in which Abubakar Tafawa Balewa took power as Prime Minister designate, to date, the computations categorized into major ethnic groups and minorities are as follows:  Middlebelt ( Balewa / Gere, Gowon/Angas, Babangida / Gwari, Abdusalam  / unsure) - 18 years / 2 Months.  Fulani ( Murtala, though often contested / Shagari / Buhari / Yar’adua/ ) -  15 years / 8 months, Yoruba ( Obasanjo / Shonekan)  - 11 Years / 8 Months,  Ijaw ( Jonathan) -  5 years /1 month,  Kanuri (Abacha) - 4 years / 5 months, and Igbo (Ironsi) -  6 months. Christians have spent 26 years / 4 Months, and  Muslims 36 years / 9 months, respectively, in the presidential saddle.  These are facts.

Between 1999 and 2018, no Northerner (Fulani or otherwise), occupied the post of DG NIA, our own equivalent of the American CIA. Between 1999 and 2015 - a period of 15 years, one Northerner occupied the DG, DSS seat, and it was for 3 years under President Yar'adua.. And even if you go back pre 1999, the longest serving DG was Chief Peter Nwaduaoh who served for 6 years. Colonel Kayode Are served for 8 years under President Obasanjo. The other Northerner was Ismaila Gwarzo who served for 4 years upon inception of the service in 1986. These are facts.

In 2013, when Boko Haram was bombing the capital almost at will, and seizing territory in the North, there wasn't one core Northerner in the operational hierarchy of the security forces. The Minister, Erelu Obada was a Yoruba woman. The DG, DSS was from the South-South. The COAS (for 5 years) was from the South - East and replaced by another from the South -South. The CNS was from the South - South. The CDS was from the North - Central though he had a Yoruba name- Ola Ibrahim, and he was replaced by someone from the South - South. The CAS was from the South - South, and was replaced by someone from the South West. The DG NIA was from the South-West. These are facts. I may be mistaken but can't recall cries of marginalisation in security matters at that time.

As it stands today, the positions of service chiefs have been divided between the South and North in equal measure. Two zones at any time will be left out, though this should perhaps not be the criterion for security appointments. The two men at the top of the hierarchy since 2015 have been from the South -West, and now the South -South. It is also a fact that no-one from the South East has not been given a tactical leadership role in the distribution of security appointments. However, The highest security body remains the National Security Council and that body constitutionally mandates the President, Vice President, Foreign affairs Minister and Interior Minister, amongst others to be members. The foreign Affairs Minister, ( our own Secretary of State) from the inception of cabinet, has been from the South East. The newly appointed Chief of Defence intelligence, an all powerful role in the security architecture is Major General Samuel Adebayo, He replaced a Northerner. These are facts, even if they do not influence our perspectives.

But instructively and significantly, the revitalized DICON (Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria) has a mandate for producing and are producing MRAPS, machine guns, grenades, bullets, rifles modelled on the AK 47 - Notably the OBJ 007, Rocket propelled grenades, pistols, and other military use weaponry. DICON’s strategic objective is to ensure local production of most of the core needs of the Nigerian Army. In 2018, President Buhari appointed the highly qualified Major General Ezenagu to head the outfit. He is from the South East.  Non - Northerners also head, and have headed many critical aspects of the country's affairs  including the powerful CBN (SS), Budget Office (SE), Sovereign Investment Fund (SE), Bureau of Privatization (SE), Trade and Industry Ministry, with 23 parastatals (SE / SW), Works & Housing with one of the countries largest budgets (SW), Science & Tech Ministry (SE), Interior (SW), Niger Delta (SS) to mention a few. The first dual role GMD / Minister of State for the oil sector was a southerner. But for the complications with NYSC compliance, the Finance Minister was from the SW. These are facts, but Technology and fact avoidance have played no small role in pushing divisive narratives persistently across social media, entrenching biases and fanning division.

Numerous algorithmic bias magnification tools deployed across social media are also helping us look away from the real issues. Such is the power of technology when it meets ‘a fertile mind” to nurture. We are confronted by morphing and very serious problems exacerbated from a vast SAHEL region destabilization. We are not dealing with Boko Haram alone. From Mauritania to Sudan, an influx of thousands of battle hardened ISIS and Al-Queda terrorists some of whom made it out of Syria in 2017, are running riot. Yet, we are playing deadly ethnic games to profile, stigmatize, when unity against a common enemy is what we need. It is as if we gave another 'space' to run into if conflagration comes. Many do. Most do not.

The intensity of Fulani - herder farmer conflicts peaked before the 2019 elections. Post elections they seemed to move from the North Central zone to the South West , acquiring the toga of kidnapping. It is amazing that many of the alleged Fulani atrocities turn out to be non - Fulani related. The data is there online for those who wish to delve into fact finding. One case in 2019 typifies this. A Methodist church Pastor, Adegoke went missing in Ekiti State. The kidnapping was blamed on Fulani herders with the news travelling like wildfire on social media. Churches boiled. Spiritual curses were hurled at the Fulani. I personally listened in shock as the MC of an event rained curses and castigations on the Fulani kidnappers in Ekiti - similar to what one had read about in the beginnings of the Rwanda crises. The pastors accomplice was however monitored by the police and he eventually led them to a hotel room where pastor Adegoke had secreted himself, whilst awaiting the N3m ransom demanded from, and contributed by the church. When interviewed on TV, he claimed the devil took control of his senses. Such is the exploitation of bias. 

This is not to minimize the criminal destruction of farmlands by herders, murderous activity of some herders turned kidnappers and killers, or the threat posed by armed Fulani herders regardless of there reasons. There is a shoot at sight order which then became contested as an 'extrajudicial instruction". Vested interests have seemingly continued to conflate cattle herders of Fulani extraction with criminals of Fulani extraction, stigmatizing an ethnic group and their occupational expertise, and seemingly trying to stoke a cycle of attacks and reprisals - the precursor to civil strife and war, when the solution lies in commercial ranching, as the Lagos, Ondo and Ekiti governments now seem to have embraced. The National plan was always there, but studiously ignored. Rwanda is also a case study, as is the stigmatisation of Jews by Nazis.

But again, the curious mind must wonder about the cow economy estimated at some N6B daily across the South west. What is the multiplier value to a state and businesses by the time the beef lands in cooking pots and tables at restaurants, bukkas, suya stands, hotels, and even owanbe’s?  Who owns these cows and who profits from the extensive value chain of abattoirs, markets, transporters, etc; given that the herdsman is often a mere caretaker? The curious mind must wonder if there is a possibility of the issue being used as a political vector. Destabilization thrives when there is disunity.

We have even turned the derision of our Army and security forces into a hobby, despite the terrifying battles they face, and the losses they sustain to stand between us and potential annihilation. It may surprise many that whilst no American F-15 has been lost in combat, over 123 have been lost with 52 fatalities, as of 2014, according to wikipedia. You won’t find Americans using this as a vector of political attacks or derision. They stand as one behind these warriors and mourn their loss. The swedes don't present a mono narrative of doom despite 250 bombings in their cities in 2019. The Americans are facing rising levels of police killings and mass shootings at alarming rates in addition to over half a million covid 19 deaths, yet they remain that destination many want to escape to. We use such incidents and the rumours of some bad eggs to insinuate political incompetence, and demean from our armchairs, when indeed the risks taken by military and security personnel are unfathomable to average minds. 

A DEAD ECONOMY?

For many of us, Nigeria will only be considered as working optimally when access to education, justice, healthcare, sanitation, power, transportation, property, and economic opportunities are widely available; affordably and qualitatively. Adjunct to this is the decimation of slums, environmental pleasantness ( like the Dubai we love), world class quality standards in all we do, free & fair elections, and of course security from internal and external perspectives. This will require focussed planning and execution, and decimation of corruption, as these aspirations require funding, and will always be eroded as long as our filthy hands are dipped into the till of development resources. It is sad that those who even dipped their hands in the military till are now vocal 'thought setters' in our society. These are facts,

These development aspirations are yet unmet. But all 36 Governors, and their political supporters will claim their own enclaves are doing fine. They fill out stadiums and are praised by gaily dressed supporters. It is a mind bending conundrum to behold. Yet, in the same vein, virtually everyone asserts frustration and misery. It is a contradiction that deserves the attention of sociologists, and perhaps psychiatrists too. Every Nigerian lives in one state or the other or the FCT. The touted solution is fragmentation and breaking up, a deflection from the real issues of character and probity of both leaders and followers, who exist in an incestuous, destructive and yet reinforcing relationship, with collective development and dignified living conditions as the opportunity cost.

But notwithstanding, the ‘economy is dead narrative’ must stir the objective mind when basic indicators are examined, because it appears the politics of demarketing, reinforced across social media platforms, may be hurting Nigeria more than the intended political targets. You can have partisan bias or even despise leaders and government, but Nigeria is bigger than everyone. A topical example is Twitters choice of locating its regional HQ in Ghana. This has become the latest vector of demarketing of Nigeria, never mind the fact that many other tech companies including Microsoft, Google and Facebook are here. And never mind the fact that Nigeria’s economy attracted a total of $570m into three Fintechs, within a window of 14-months, when we know investors do not put money into payment system related businesses, if they think the economy is bound for stagnation. 

Crypto currency is central to the wealth of Twitters owner, and he is an unapologetic proponent of Crypto. But Crypto is increasingly considered as problematic because of its opaqueness and use for ransom demands, fraud, arms trade, human trafficking and other illicit transactions. Janet Yellen, the US secretary of Treasury recently opined on bitcoin, and by implication crypto that : “To the extent it is used I fear it’s often for illicit finance. It’s an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that’s consumed in processing those transactions is staggering’. Many weeks ago, leading United Kingdom financial regulator, the FCA issued an advice on crypto investments stating that:  “Investing in crypto assets, or investments and lending linked to them generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. If consumers invest in these types of products, they should be prepared to lose all their money,” 

On Sunday 18th April 2020, market sentiments reacted to rumours that the U.S. Treasury is planning to charge several financial institutions for money laundering using crypto. According to Nairametrics, top cryptos such as XRP lost as much as 21.17%, Polkadot and Litecoin were down by 20%, bitcoin cash down 20% for the day, while dogecoin lost about 15% in value. Nigeria have since imposed a ban on crypto, as have many countries. Turkey, recently joined by imposing a ban. China, India, Qatar and many others have restrictions of varying degrees on crypto. India is now considering criminalization. Ghana currently embraces crypto. It's probably that simple even without factoring Twitters alleged role in fuelling, and enabling to some extent the velocity of falsehood that attended the endsars protests.

The curious and objective mind must also wonder whether an economy with a 33% unemployment rate (when over 80m are under 15 and classified as economically inactive), can expend so much on importing non - essentials, especially from China too the extent that we maintain an import bill of some $13 B from China alone.  Can such an economy see significant rises in cement production if  construction -  a good indicator of economic activity -  isn’t going on? The curious mind must wonder how in a covid depleted year, BUA increased revenues from N175 B in 2019 to N209 B in 2020, and profits from N82B to N95B on volume increase of 4.5MT to 5.10MT. In the same period market leader Dangote Cement produced 15.9MT from 14.01MT in 2019, and generated N 719 B in revenues up from N610B in 2019. This ‘deadbeat’ economy is also seeing the actualization of the world's largest single train refinery that has consumed some $12 billion in investments, even as BUA only last week announced its finalization of plans to build a refinery in Akwa Ibom State. Many Chinese and Indians are investing at pace in Agric and other sectors, even as we continue with the chants and counter chants of doom and gloom.

And we have seen ‘continuity” in the positive things, with the completion of many laudable projects initiated by The Jonathan administration, and augmented by new ones initiated by the Buhari administration, especially in rail, road, power and aviation infrastructure. Infrastructure underpins economic productivity, though other inputs like qualitative education are vital. These are facts.

We have seen the elimination of almost permanent fuel queues we once accepted as normal. Fertilizer frauds have been muted. Uche Orji, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, says massive fraud in the fertiliser subsidy programme has been eliminated since the introduction of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, PFI. This was NSIAs biggest investment to date though it has built state of the art cancer centres aim some zones across Nigeria. We have seen elimination of the fraud schemes designed around swapping crude for product, and invoicing of subsidies - often for thin air, with heists of billions of dollars secreted and invested in London, Dubai and other places.

We have seen reduction of regulatory lapses that occasioned domestic air crashes under every other civilian administration. No commercial aircraft has crashed since 2015, despite increase in aviation activity. We have seen revitalization of local agriculture production backed by unprecedented support from the Central Bank ( even if there are complaints of attendant underhand practices), amongst other catalytic interventions.

We have seen a seemingly impossible return to Jan - December budgeting (even if releases are still subject to variations), elimination of the dark hole into which trillions of Naira hitherto vanished due to non- implementation of TSA. We have seen massive government to government procurement of military hardware, including latest generation aircraft like the J-15 fighters and super tucanos - investments that if made at the appropriate time, instead of sharing billions of dollars amongst politicians for election purposes, would have prepared and positioned the military to confront morphing challenges. These are facts

We have seen the recovery of almost a Trillion Naira stolen by a few, and reportedly diverted to fund budgets. Some criminally acquired properties now serve as government offices. We have seen the strategic promotion and bedding of Nigerians into critical positions at The UN, the Afdb, and now the WTO, coincidentally perhaps with an ethnic spread. Can such a deadbeat economy see shopping malls springing up in urban cities across the country at a blistering and perhaps concerning pace as this evinces our proclivity for consumption rather than production, and filling up with shoppers, in a non - credit economy? Can a relatively small number of people living above $1.90 cents per day be responsible for expending N4 trillion on data ( though we do not know what quantum is productive and what quantum is expended on sharing jokes, vain pictures, pointless videos, porn and all sorts of unproductive and value depletive activity)? Can such a stagnant economy be generating daily revenues upwards of N2m for even bukka style 'Amala' joints and recreation gardens in many cities across the country?

Whilst one must consider that the wasteful excesses of urban dwellers, organised government and private sectors probably impoverish rural dwellers, one must ask if a grounded economy still affords people with the ability to expend upwards of AN ESTIMATED $6b per annum ( according to US Dept of Agric / NBS 2018 REPORT, though this figure seems to oscillate) on alcohol consumed in entertainment spots that seem to spring up daily. Can it support N2 billion per day on sports betting according to NLTF?

Can such an economy spend on illicit activities like transactional sex in the trillions per annum, or consume psychoactive drugs to the extent that it is now accepted as an epidemic? The average expenditure exceeds the $1.90 per day defined as the poverty line, and over 15m confess to the use of opioids and all sorts of psychoactive drugs. Whilst we can debate whether poverty leads to drug use, or whether drug use and other illicit activity leads to and sustains poverty, we can’t deny the existence of these realities and the attendant depletion of financial and moral value. Nor can we deny the fact that many users are not frustrated people, but relentless pleasure seekers who want to be "high" and slip into addiction in the process. Ditto prostitution. Many simply don’t want to work, as the revenues generated from sex simply can't be earned from the gradualism that hard work entails. Again, sociologists and psychologists may be needed because many were led into this by abuse, trauma and all sorts of ugly episodes that should shame us all as a society, but they stay in oftentimes as a choice and the multi trillion Naira value chains must tell us a lot about economic activity, for these illicit and criminal sectors also generate, distribute and exit money from the economy at scale. We can't be complaining about paucity of committed people to employ and unemployment at the same time. Technology enables the perpetration of crime and wasteful expenditure significantly These are facts. 

Can such an economy yield congested airports despite more aircraft and airlines (even if we discount ARIK's fleet depletion), motor parks, roads, seaports and hotels reporting over 85% occupancy when many countries are averaging 30 - 40% even as more boutique hotels and large ones are springing up? Can only 20m people earning over $1.90 people, spread across 36 states and the FCT, be the ones generating all this expenditure value chain, and customs revenue of N1.5 trillion in a covid year? But for Covid, and even as we open up, the pervasive owanbe parties, with the attendant aso - ebi economy have resumed with fury. Tailors are kings and queens as demand always strips their capacity. These are facts.

The curious mind must at least yield to the evidence of its eyes, even if our optics of existence remain disorganized and shabby in many aspects ( and we are right to blame government for this) , rather than indulge in the narratives peddled to sell cynicism and loss of belief in our own country, as if there is another place to migrate to if we destroy it. That is the power of bias weaponization. It obliterates facts, magnifies negatives, excuses our value depletive habits and also disables those on the other end of the spectrum from seeing any lapses or negatives in governance. Nigerians are talking Nigeria to death, and it appears this is because of the crude nature of our political and societal existence which weighs heavily on demarketing, rather than constructive fact based criticisms and polished alternative ideas. 

It is valid to say that Nigerians voted for change. it is also valid to say that change won't happen at the desired and required pace, with a buccaneering, greedy elite class, living out lifestyles they dare not contemplate in any western Nation, and frothing at the mouth daily, as they continue to indulge their poverty stricken minds with 'shiny things', acquired often to ameliorate their often corrosive state of inferiority complex.

CONCLUSION

At the base of embracing digital evolution must be an understanding of intent. Government must understand they are competing for cultural retention against borderless spaces.They must understand that the technology enabled asymmetric warfare for minds and mindsets have assumed almost kinetic nature. We are even seeing how the tech companies themselves are morphing from collaboration platforms into censors; even muting a US President for fake and inciting comments, but leaving the same type of content when it serves their purpose. Recently, the Venezuela President was muted on Facebook for 30 days for touting a herbal cure for Covid -19. That should tell us all a lot about what the future holds, who may really control it, and how those powers may be used and misused.

However, everything a society is and becomes has its roots in the cultural orientation of that society. With 70% of the population under 35, it is fair to say that the future is firmly in the hands of the youth. That their forbears have been subpar in many aspects of national development is not in contention. We have failed , and continue to do so in many aspects.

To worsen matters, technology has enabled an undeniable cross -cultural confusion. We see an attempt to be everything unAfrican including bleaching of skin colour, fake often undesirable accents and acquisition of Brazilian or european looking hair. All imported, all sapping hundred of millions of dollars, and all purposed to aid vanity. We see gangster-like dressing, yob culture behaviour presented as “wokeness”, a desperation to be as naked as possible; and we see indulgence and excuses from a harangued and morally yoked “adult” generation. Whilst a lot of your Nigerians are doing phenomenal things, we do not see positive anger to do much better and shame the corrupt adults in the required quantum, despite the unprecedented availability of technology and democratisation of knowledge.

Rather, the failings of forbears are used by far too many as excuses not do any better, and not to disdain the ostentatious values, under-productivity, and addiction to vanity and adulation. To worsen matters, we see them wanting the UN to come and take over Nigeria, and an incessant cynicism that evades anything positive, and tethers to all the negatives. Such is the power of reflexive bias and social media based echo chambers. The new DIGITALLY ENABLED colonization will target a society that feels inferior with goods, services and even culture. 

With the ‘influencer economy’ growing at pace, and ensuring people can earn millions from their bedrooms using platforms like instagram, even the vestiges of parental control, often anchored on financial leverage are disappearing, as technology platforms become the go to place for news and peer reinforcement. Used positively, the potentials are almost unquantifiable, and already success stories abound. Used negatively, the implications can indeed devastate any nation. Governments will need to decide whether they are resource managers who simply serve the wishes of society as elevated servants, or whether they are also custodians of rationality and shapers of positive culture.  

This is what may truly define how the benefits of digital technologies are harnessed for collective good in the long run. If our inclination is to leverage social networks, devices, apps, and payment systems to orchestrate division and indulge in excessively wasteful habits, we should not expect the same results as those who orchestrate the same resources to deepen knowledge about nationhood, history, healthcare, agricultural, arts, culture and scientific discovery. The digital age will proliferate, empower and disempower over time. There are indeed opportunities, as there are grave perils. avoiding 'Zombification' is now an individual choice.