Had an interesting long conversation this morning with my friend Chioma Nwigwe on the concept of development plans & empowerment programmes. I need a wider take on her perspective & perhaps, links to available literature on the topic. Kindly follow through.
#Thread.
#Thread.
It started when I complained to her that I recently had a meeting with my community folk where I muted the possibility of setting up a library in the community. It was resoundingly rejected. Loudest ovation was for speaker who said they had to eat 1st to be able to read books 😢.
Community folks basically asked me to share whatever money I intended to use to use for the Library project among them so they can eat as that was their priority for now. Food. And not any useless Library! My friend Chioma took their side. What a betrayed!!
She then went on to school me on why most 'laudable' Govt projects fail; because of a disconnect between what the people ACTUALLY want & what the Govt believe that they should want per time. & the need for stomach infrastructure component in all Govt policies.
Examples.
1. A child of school age hawks during school hours & the family feeds from proceeds of his hawking. If you criminalise school-age hawking, what alternatives have you come up with for that child & his siblings to be able to feed?
1. A child of school age hawks during school hours & the family feeds from proceeds of his hawking. If you criminalise school-age hawking, what alternatives have you come up with for that child & his siblings to be able to feed?
We touched on various dimensions to this. The Fayose/Fayemi conundrum in Ekiti. How in her own words, long-term beneficial Govt policies are formulated by officials who do not worry about their next meal for the benefit of people who are not sure of their next meal.
A theory: Gov Fayemi was what Ekiti State needed for their long term. Fayose is what they needed for the short term. Because there is hunger in the land & the people can't think beyond the next meal, they embrace whoever guarantees that rather than a vague future prosperity talk.
So frighteningly, those who understand this concept of guaranteeing the next meal & therefore offer tokens & handouts are going to be more popular & continue to win elections over & above those with solid plans of FUTURE, LONG-TERM benefits.
There are States in Nigeria that have transcended this milieux. I argued. Again, my friend Chioma with a dampener. 'We are the sum of our total. As strong as our weakest link. We are graded as a whole. Economy, GDP, Outlook, Indices. Lagos can't chill if Zamfara is sub-optimal'.
And no, it's not a North vs South thing. A family in Imo is in turmoil. Young son was sent to UK for Masters. £20K. He's back & jobless. Eldest son that is into trading says the money should have been given to him to expand his trade. What was the value of that Masters? 🤗🤗.
Again, I'm throwing out all the highpoints of that convo here. I too need answers. How do we plan long-term for & get the buy-in of a people who just want to eat their next meal? I guess that's the summary of all of this rambling.
Udo diri unu.
Udo diri unu.
