By Chinenye Anuforo, [email protected]
Dr. Olugbenga Adesida is the Lead Advisor, Imagine Nigeria and Co-founder of Bonako and Africa Innovation Summit (AIS).
Adesida who consults widely across African continent on foresight, innovation and strategy issues for governments, international organizations and companies in this interview with Daily Sun, spoke on recently launched Imagine Nigeria report and how building a culture of innovation would be the key to the nation’s transformation.
He said, “We must ensure that innovation permeates all aspects of our society. It is about ensuring that we build an innovation driven society. This is not simply about tech but including the way we do things from policy making, the way we manage our society, to the way we teach and everything else in between.”
Excerpts…
About Imagine Nigeria Report
The Imagine Nigeria report is the output that we produced after an extensive consultation with Nigerians and experts, both inside and outside of the country, on the future of Nigeria. Where is our nation today, what are the possibilities of the future, where do we want to go, and how do we get there. These are the simple but strategic questions that guided the Imagine Nigeria team in producing the report on the future of Nigeria.
The first phase of the exercise is done and the outputs were launched by H.E. Professor Yemi Osinbajo in August this year. Imagine Nigeria is a partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and it was led by the High Level Panel, composed of distinguished personalities and chaired by H.E. the Vice President of Nigeria.
Following the public presentation of the outputs, we have now switched focus. In this phase, our plan is to engage Nigerians in a national conversation on the future using the Imagine Nigeria report as a starting point. The goals are to begin the process of building consensus on the critical issues of the future as well as mobilize stakeholders for action.
As such, we are organizing various events, including briefing the media, briefing civil society organizations, holding what we termed “Imaginate Events” on the key recommendations, building partnerships with existing institutions to ensure that the process is sustained over the long time. For example, we have organized Imaginate Events on Catalyzing Green Economy, Leading Africa and Building Narratives across the country. We are planning more of such events on Building Trust and Creating a Culture of Innovation. We are also inviting all to begin to organized their own events on the future, using the outputs of Imagine Nigeria as a starting point.
In short, we want to mobilize the nation around some key ideas and to encourage them to begin to drive the change needed in order to ensure national transformation.
Fintech
We now live in a world in which the only option for us is to compete in the global marketplace. The days of the petro-dollars have passed. Even if oil continues to be valuable (not likely in the long term), we are simply too many and are facing too many challenges for it to be sufficient. Let me repeate: oil is not the future and even if it continues, it is not a sufficient basis for our economic diversification or transformation. As such, we must innovate and strive to build a globally competitive economy.
Fintech is leading the way in what we have to do. In looking at fintech, there are some lessons. Fintech did not come from thin air. It happened due to developments in the financial sector which were propitious for the takeoff. These include many factors from a more enabling environment; policy decisions such as the one that led to consolidation in the banking sector, the embrace of technology, local financing for firms to initiate, and the huge funding that came from the US venture capital firms that were ready to take advantage of the African market.
The challenge now is how do we replicate the example of innovation in fintech in the all sectors, including but not limited to education, agriculture, health and industry. It is possible and we can. The Imagine Nigeria consultations with stakeholders and experts was clear on the need for Nigeria to bet on innovation. It is what led to the team recommending building a culture of innovation as a pillar of transformation in the Imagine Nigeria report.
Yes, building a culture of innovation is the key. We must ensure that innovation permeates all aspects of our society. It is about ensuring that we build an innovation driven society. This is not simply about tech but including the way we do things from policy making, the way we manage our society, to the way we teach and everything else in between.
In all, it will require us to invest in strengthening our national innovation system and ensuring that the different elements of the ecosystem are robust. One key aspect is policies that enhance the educational system to train people that are needed in the emerging economy, place emphasis on research and development, and facilitate linkages between academia and industry.
We must also ensure that our entrepreneurs and innovators have access to funding. This can be solved by ensuring that financing startups is made a profitable activity for individuals, funds and firms through fiscal incentives. Our government must put in place incentives that promote linkages between big firms and innovative startups/SMEs. The government as the biggest consumer must also use its purchasing power to promote local solutions and enterprises. These are some of the things that we can begin to do to ensure we place innovation at the center of our development agenda.
Innovation crucial in fostering economic growth
Building a culture that encourages creativity is crucial if we are going to build an innovation driven society as a way to diversify and ensure structural transformation of our economy.
The good news is that we are a creative and innovative people. We have to marvel how people solve problems and deal with survival in environment where social services are largely absent. Just take a look at our informal sector. They are involved in many innovative activities. Or take a look at our entertainment sector. We talk a lot about music and films (Nollywoood). But also emerging today are small startups producing digital/video games.
So, it is not that we are not creative or innovative. It is that our innovation ecosystem is weak. It is not supportive of creatives and innovators. As I alluded to in response to your earlier question, we must focus on building a robust innovation ecosystem. This will require establishing and upgrading our institutional framework, addressing the challenge of financing, and putting in place policies that will allow us to build an environment that is more propitious to innovation. I always say, America is not necessarily the most creative country in the world. But their firms dominate everywhere because what they get right and better than all is building a national innovation system that is far superior to most countries.
For me, to sum up, we have to invest in building our innovation ecosystem. If I can mention one more thing, I will suggest that within our national innovation system we must refocus our educational system. The curriculum needs to be reengineered in light of where we are in the world today; our focus must shift to train students at all levels on how to learn, how to think, how to identify and solve problems, rather than how to memorize facts.
Shaping the narratives
The future belongs to the youth as they say. We took this seriously I the team, and in my view, today belongs to the youth as they have to be active in helping to build the future. The fact is the future is a choice and the youth must play a significant role in both thinking about what future and in engaging to create the future.
Do take a look at our report. The first few ages are full of quotations from some of the young men and women that participated in the Imagine Nigeria exercise. Youths were involved through all aspects of the exercise. We had many workshops with the youth. We have some in our technical secretariat. We are fully involving them in this new phase of national conversation. They have the challenge of building a better future for our nation and must be an integral part of any strategy to be successful.
Things to do for faster transition to green economy
The first is attitude. Our nation needs to be more audacious, strategic and foresighted at all levels. Second, as noted earlier, we must ensure that we invest in building a more robust and highly performing innovation systems. The ecosystem for innovation will need to be strengthened substantially.
Third, we need to build a supportive environment for startups in the green space and forth, we must put in place programs that will enhance their capacity to scale in order to go global. Fifth, this requires a government that understands how the world is changing and to be able to ensure that we put in place the right institutions and institutional framework to support, nurture and help our enterprises in the green space to grow and plug into global value chains. Part of this must include improving the business environment, including removing excessive bureaucracy; significantly reducing corruption and putting in place fiscal incentives to support the sector.
Our industrialists, elites and philanthropists will also have to see green economy as a strategic agenda for the nation. They need to invest in and support emerging startups through mentoring and coaching their founders; they must also become investors in the green space, and help catalyze funds to invest in scaling innovative green enterprises.
We also have to invest in our educational system; ensure that people are trained and that they acquire the necessary skills; and that research and linkages with industry is a key part of the educational institutions in Nigeria.
Lastly, we must celebrate excellence. We must invest in excellence and ensure support and investment is based on the best ideas and people. We must abhor mediocrity and nepotism. If we want to compete with the best in the world and win, we must bring our A game; bring the best among us.
Nigeria’s future
The future of our nation does not have to look like the past. We have a chance to transform our nation and to build the nation that our founding fathers and mothers dreamt off.
Despite the challenges, we can change our trajectory and write a new story. As the saying goes, the future is not destiny; it is a choice. It is our actions and inactions that will determine our future as a nation.
So rather than telling you that I dream of a Nigeria that will be like paradise in our lifetimes, my call to Nigerians is to get engaged, get involved at all levels, and in all parts of society. All of us must lead from our own little corners and push for the transformation that we all would like to see.
Perception of Nigeria outside
Narratives are important element of nation building. As the saying goes, perception is reality. The stories we tell about ourselves to others and ourselves matter. They drive the perception of others about us around the world with significant implications for our nations in Africa.
The perceptions drive investment decisions. Do you invest in African countries which are largely painted as basket cases or in Asian countries where the perceptions are much more positive, at least on the economic side.
Do you visit a country in Africa when the whole continent is perceived as war torn when in reality only a handful of the 54 nations have problems? Perceptions drive tourism; one of the fastest growing sectors in the world pre-COVID19.
Are we seen as markets to do business or places for charity? These are issues which have implications for us now and for our future in Nigeria and across the continent. It is important.
Without deceiving ourselves, we must begin to tell our stories. We must not simply focus on the negative but also point out the beauty of the continent and what is good about our countries. Charity begins at home. We the people, our media, our cinema must begin the process and we can then challenge the global media and opinion makers.
As part of the efforts, we must define who we are as a people. What our values are and what it means to be Nigerian. It will be crucial to defining and presenting ourselves to the world. Importantly, we must live the values.
Nigeria value system
I happened to have studied in the USA. The American dream is as prevalent as air. It is a national ideology: the pursuit of individual happiness and the idea of manifest destiny. But this was constructed over centuries. It did not happen by chance. It was carefully curated. In Europe, it is not necessarily communal in the sense of “communism” but the emphasis is on an agenda that society’s wellbeing is very important and policies are made to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to get a good start in life and where there are issues the government steps in with strong social support system.
For us as a nation, it is not clear. While we have made progress on many fronts; we continue to lag on many issues. There are still some basic issues that are not settled in our country. For example, who are we as a people? What are our values? What kind of a nation do we want to build? How do we want to live together or organize ourselves?
These are issues which we are yet to resolve or reach consensus on as a country. The consensus cannot be decreed or promulgated. It has to be constructed over generations. The challenge is we need to start. It is time to begin to engage on these issues and it is why one of the five pillars of transformation that we recommend in the Imagine Nigeria report is to build national narratives.
Diversification of the economy
In varying degrees, the idea of economic diversification has been a challenge for Nigeria and its successive governments since independence. It will be for some time to come. What Imagine Nigeria aims to do is to uncover the underlying issues and challenges so that we can begin on a path of national transformation.
On the issue that the government is passing the buck, it is not so. Imagine Nigeria is not a government report. Government was involved but the exercise was driven by independent experts and it was a fruit of consultations with experts and stakeholders in Nigeria and outside.
It is a fallacy to think that development is something to be done by the government and delivered to the people. It does not work like this. The fact is that all stakeholders have to be involved and engaged in the process of national transformation. The private sector has a critical role to play. They start businesses. The create and seize opportunities. They invest. They do research and development. Academia also has crucial roles to play in human capacity development and in research and development.
The members of the civil society are key stakeholders in the process of national transformation. In fact, everyone has a role pay. We the people are supposed to select our leaders especially in our democratic dispensation. The people and their civic organizations can act as the watchdog and hold leadership accountable. Additionally, civic groups can serve as pressure groups and lobby for the right policies and programs.
In sum, this is not to say government does not have a role to play. In fact, it has an outsized role to play in the process of economic diversification. Government must formulate and implement robust strategies. The government must do what is necessary to create the enabling environments for economic development. As the main convener, government can help facilitate the engagement of the various stakeholders in the process of economic diversification. The issues of ensuring peace and security as well as stability can have an important impact on economic development. But all these do not mean that the people have no role to play. We all have a role to play and we must act as citizens.