I just heard about an African American scholar (this guy had a PhD in Economics from Heidelberg), who had a four hour conversation with Adolf Hitler;

In summary, Hitler told him "he belonged to a race of humans so inferior, that they would never build anything worthwhile". Hitler neither said anything new, nor original to him. (The conversation was held in 1932).

Lugard, in his 1923, "Dual Mandate" echoed the sentiments.

Anyway, f**k Hitler and Lugard.

My problem is many Nigerians have internalized this; "we're never going to make it".

Babangida did a lot more to prepare Nigeria for his "Structural Adjustment Program", than this current crew.

There was a public debate on accepting/rejecting an IMF loan.

Kalu Idika Kalu, Olu Falae and Chu Okongwu spent a lot of time explaining the journey ahead. Along the way, Babangida abandoned all desire for debate, and reverted to repression.

The mantra was, "there is no alternative to SAP".

Gani Fawehinmi (may God bless his memory) countered, "there's even an alternative to living; dying - so there's an alternative to SAP".

In the 1960s, Lee Kuan Yew had a problem;

Singapore's economy depended on a British naval base, and the Brits were pulling out.

He figured out that he had to woo Americans - who didn't even know Singapore existed. He had to educate them on Singapore's strategic importance to the US first - they bought it, and a relationship was built.

He also realized that young Singaporeans were better off studying in the US, learning how the US worked (he studied at Cambridge).

Some of you cannot read, many more of you will not read.

This is clear evidence of Oxford University soliciting for funds from Hope Uzodinma of all people.

So what does an African kleptocrat get in exchange for funding Oxford? Your guess is as good as mine. You people don't know Oxford, and its history of accepting money from all sorts of shady characters.

I mean, they accepted money from Cecil Rhodes, a thoroughly nasty piece of business. (Please read up on him, and what he thought of Africans).

I watched Yvette Cooper tear Suella Braverman to pieces.

Many Africans haven't fully appreciated what the UK Conservative Government's singular on focus really Rwanda means.

It means the UK Government prefers African authoritarians, who do their bidding, to African democracies. Trust me, this isn't the time for shallow thinking.

If you extrapolate, you'll understand the implications.

Some of you believe "Kagame is smart" by accepting the offer. Trust me, he isn't - he's cementing Africa's reputation as a dumping ground for Europe's problems.

Christianity was introduced to Africans with the idea of "generational curses" - and since then, African Christians have been obsessed with that idea.

It started with the "Curse of Ham" - which was a cynical ploy to justify slavery, and many Blacks fell for that nonsense. When the "Curse of Ham" failed, "Nimrod", an obscure figure from thousands of years ago, was dredged up as an excuse for our position as the slaves, servants and wretched of the Earth.

After that came the syncretism of "ancestral curses" - borrowed from our traditional beliefs.

I saw a video titled, "Africans shouldn't blame colonialism for poverty", and I yawned.

Never going to watch it.

This is a pointless debate (designed for Western "culture wars"), as most Africans don't wake up every morning, blaming all their problems on colonialism. But a few questions;

1. Did Europeans colonize Africa with the express intention of making Africans rich?
2. Were Africans rich under European colonialism?
3. Was a system designed for resource extraction ever going to make Africa rich?

The answer to these questions, is no.

I live in Lagos.

I'm amused about all the talk about Lagos "being the biggest city in X or Y, buy 20X0 or 20Y0).

The biggest question is whether Lagos will be livable in 20 - 30 years time.

In reaction to this, firms are increasingly putting staff on flexi-work schedules. The rationale for increasing flexi-work (don't come to the office every day), are work-life balance challenges.

Rather than lose the most talented staff, firms are adapting.

With better Internet connectivity, we'll see people living outside Lagos & working remotely.

The rest of the World is never going to have a positive stereotype of Black people.

Learn from African Americans, after 400 years, the most enduring stereotype of them is "lazy good for nothings".

Same applies to the way Arabs view Black people. So believing that some time in the future, they'll have a "positive stereotype" of you, "if you put your house in order", is a bloody waste of time.

What this World respects is not "good behaviour", or "positive stereotypes";

This World respects "power".

The British did not set out to "empower Ndigbo". In fact, the historical record is out there - the fiercest resistance to colonial rule came from Ndigbo and the Niger Delta.

First with long campaigns like the British/Aro War and the "Ekumeku Rebellion". Secondly, there was resistance to indirect rule, taxation etc. typified by the Aba Women's Protests (1929).

A lot of the advances Ndigbo made during British Colonial rule are attributable to the "Igbo Town Union Movement" of the 1920s & 1930s. (Will discuss this later).

The war for talent is raging in Corporate Nigeria.

The most talented Gen-Zs are no longer content to brave the Lagos traffic, every single day - for a pittance.

When they can spend a couple of months acquiring skills & earn in foreign currency from their homes. Dinosaurs in Corporate Nigeria (there are many of them), are yet to figure out what is going on, but a few nimble firms are adapting - like providing work at home options, and moving office locations from the Island to Mainland.

But even at that, attrition rates are high.

How did Japan rapidly catch up with the West during the "Meiji Restoration".

If you can answer this question, you will understand why investment in higher education and research is not about "profitability", but catching up with the West. Making up the lost ground. You have to also understand how the West prefers to relate with us.

Our relationship with the West began in the mid 1400s, with Portuguese adventurers interacting with the Benin Empire and other Southern states.

So it is close to 600 years old.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out a few things.

These young ones do not fit into the strict, hierarchy driven "you must respect your elders" mindset that governs previous generations.

And in an increasingly globalised, networked world, they don't have to. Nigerian corporate culture, is rigid, master-servant relationship driven and retrogressive - and they are having none of it.

"You must have a 2:1, be less than 26 years, be prepared to carry your oga/madams laptop bag when he/she arrives office".

No time for that nonsense.

The middle class African youths who emigrate to the West, do so for the same reasons as their less fortunate/educated brethren who sneak in to the West illegally.

The first group is celebrated ("Nigerian Americans are the most educated, all of them have masters degrees). The second group is despised; they are the target of xenophobic Western politicians - and the trigger for "Camp of the Saints" style hallucinations.

But what is the essential difference between both groups? Education/opportunities.

One group has them, the other does not.

My mother has memories of "Empire Day" (one of her uncles was named "Empire", because he was born on "Empire Day");

But for my generation of Nigerians, neither the British Empire, nor its legacy, nor the Queen - means much to us, or is viewed as a "positive" aspect to our lives. The allure of the British Monarchy has lasted as long as it did - because Elizabeth II carried it with a quiet dignity. (I.e. she was disciplined enough to keep her mouth shut).

I can't see that outlasting her.

In my dad's generation, if you "believed in Nigeria" you meant it.

Many of them passed over opportunities for foreign citizenship, or giving their children foreign citizenship, or investing in property abroad.

They were fully committed to building Nigeria. People attended the best universities abroad - and were determined to give back to Nigeria. A retired biochemistry professor said he was some committed, he spent his own money completing a lab (he was laughed at by some of his colleagues).

I am not saying there was no altruistic motive to Britain's push to end slavery - but it is important to note that they were the first nation to industrialize, and hence had less need of slaves.

When the late Professor Ukpabi taught my mother history, he made this point. When the British abolished slave trade, the focus was on compensating slave owners, not rehabilitating former slaves - billions of dollars were spent on compensation.

Once again, these facts are not in dispute, they are easily accessible.

I think it was Awolowo who said, "if you think education is expensive, try ignorance".

When discussing education, cost CANNOT be the primary consideration.

Education should be needs driven - first determine what the nation needs, then find a way to pay for it. Higher education should not be "exclusive and rare".

Remember that a university degree is the basic requirement to teach in a secondary school.

Have you bothered to ask this simple question, "who will teach your kids in secondary school if higher education is inaccessible"?

Meiji Japan;
1. Expanded access to primary and tertiary education.
2. Expanded access to female education.
3. Heavily invested in tertiary education and research.

The results were obvious; Japan's rapid industrial rise. You can't separate the success of India's IT Industry from Government investment in world class universities like the Indian Institutes of Technology.

China and South Korea also invested heavily in tertiary education and research.

The wahala between ASUU and the Federal Government began in late 1980s.

I will not bore with the details, but will just inform you that the Federal Government stopped caring about higher education in Nigeria in the 1980s.

This is not to say ASUU is blameless. Now, it is very easy to blame ASUU, but what started as a principled struggle against IMF mandated underfunding of higher education in the 1980s, has degenerated to a struggle for narrower interests.

You see, in Nigeria, we either fight for narrow interests, shut up or emigrate.

In August 1941, when Churchill was eagerly prodding Roosevelt to enter the war on his side, both signed the "Atlantic Charter".

At that point, Churchill would have signed anything Roosevelt presented to him, he was that desperate. Roosevelt ensured that this was inserted in the Atlantic Charter.

"All people had a right to self-determination".

Gandhi was ecstatic. Churchill claimed that it referred to "areas liberated from the Germans, not British colonies".

British Empire subjects were not amused.