Thread by @MoghaluKingsley

#BIGVision. #MoghaluSeries

Vision #2: THE WORLDVIEW STATE (CONTD)
Nigeria also needs to become a worldview state so that our government actually advances the REAL interests of 200 million Nigerians in all it does, rather than those of foreign countries or interests.

With this in mind, given the current levels of unemployment, poverty and population growth, does @NGRPresident ‘s announcement of a Visa on Arrival (VoA) policy for all Africans passes this test, especially when we consider the contradiction of @NigeriaGov border closure policy?

The first set of questions a worldview asks and answers are: why is the world the way it is? Who are we as a people (country/nation) in it? Relevant to Nigeria: why have we become the “poverty capital” of the world, how do we change this situation of failure to one of success?

What is the target timeframe to achieve the turnaround and what is the strategy to achieve it objectively and empirically? A real worldview for us must confront three conventional wisdoms: (a) globalization, (b) foreign aid, (c) “international community” (is there truly one?).

Globalization is not an accident. It’s the outcome of a deliberate design by globalizing nations that have “global strategic intent” (worldviews). Technology drives globalization, and a culture of innovation is what generates technology. Countries with culture this rule the world

To illustrate: the push into renewable energy-fueled vehicles that don’t need the hydrocarbons on which @NigeriaGov mainly relies for revenues (when the oil market sneezes, we catch the flu!) will further diminish our place in the world economy. We should become a factory for the

goods of globalization, not just a marketplace for “foreign investors”. We should be drivers, not mere passengers, of the globalization bus. At least we should be bus conductors! This is what East Asian nations achieved with worldview-based, “development-obsessed” leadership.

As for foreign aid, Nigeria should be giving it, not receiving it. Foreign aid is an instrument of power projection that gives potency to the worldviews of donor countries. China, India and Brazil stopped receiving aid and became donors themselves. It saddens me when @NigeriaGov

issues statements and photos celebrating the “achievement” of receiving large amounts of foreign aid. Such aid may be necessary or helpful in humanitarian crisis situations as a temporary measure, or if targeted at such fundamental challenges like polio eradication, but we must

build up our capacity to help ourselves and mobilize resources domestically for that purpose, and not, as is the case today, rely on foreign donors for 80% of funding to combat HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. Foreign aid DOES NOT result in long term economic dev and transformation.

Third, the “international community” is an aspirational phrase. The reality of international life is a society of several self-interested, worldview-based states each pushing their own agenda, and “olodos” tagging along believing they are part of an “international community.

Sure, there’s collaboration between countries in international organizations. But those like us with “inside” knowledge based on experience, know the jostling between conflicting national interests that goes on and results in necessary compromises. There are winners and losers.