DR ADEDOYIN'S DEMOCRACY DAY SPEECH
Democracy Day Anniversary: Dr Ramon Adedoyin as a metaphor for Nigeria’s development
At 63 years of age (1st January 2020) , Ramon Adedoyin who is slightly older than Nigeria by a mere few years has become one of the richest men in Nigeria and the 89 richest in the Africa according to DPBLOG list of billionaires.
Comparatively,after nearly 60 years of the founding of Nigeria as a nation, and about 18 years of continuously functioning as a multi party democracy, she remains at the bottom rung (169/189) of the world bank’s ranking of countries where doing business is easiest.
In such an inclement business environment why has ADEDOYIN thrived and flourished while Nigeria as a nation has remained a famished land ?
Perhaps tracing the growth trajectory of Ramon Adedoyin, a brand straight out of Nigeria and comparing it to the stunted growth of our country, could help us identify the factors responsible for our nation’s arrested development.
Although the circumstances of the birth and development of Dangote and Nigerian nation are not significantly dissimilar, (products of harsh African socioeconomic climate) it must be emphasized that Nigerian nation started off as a prolific source of agricultural produce such as cocoa, groundnut, cotton and oil palm which were cash crops highly sought after by our then colonial master, Britain.
As history teaches us, after Thomas Newcomen pioneered the industrial revolution in 1712 by inventing the first steam engine, our colonial masters intensified efforts in importing our natural resources massively to feed its burgeoning industrial complexes. The inflow of cash from the British who were dependent on cash crops from Nigeria such as cocoa, cotton, palm oil, rubber lumps, groundnuts, cashew etc ensured a steady flow of funds into the coffers of governments, at the three regional and national levels.
In contrast, ADEDOYIN foresee the future of Education in Nigeria, from whom he tapped the skills of big picture of education which he quickly started from home to home tutorial lesson.
Education bring in civilization at that time, ADEDOYIN could have eaten the candies like the leaders of Nigeria who squandered Nigeria’s riches by embarking on spending sprees , but he did not. Instead,ADEDOYIN steadily accumulated the proceeds from home tutorial to universities which is now a behemoth.
Accounts by former president of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, in his seminal and famous book “ From Third World to First” illustrated the profligacy of Nigerian leaders at inception and accounts for Nigeria’s steady decline in fame and fortune while Singapore catapulted itself from third to first world in a relatively short space of two decades.
It is guts wrenching to think that if our leaders had maintained the discipline of saving up the seed capital from commodity trade with the British in the good old days, as ADEDOYIN did, Nigeria could have been robbing shoulders with the likes of Singapore in terms of GDP which is estimated to be about $300 billion up from about $70 billion in the 1960s and in terms of standard of living of her citizens of which they are in the top ten percentile of the world’s best.
The gap comes into stark reality when it is considered that Singapore has a single digit population of less than six, 6 million people which is just a fraction of Nigeria’s which is in excess of one hundred and seventy,170 million and the GDP of both countries are more or less equal.
However, in contrast with the outstanding leadership qualities of leaders of Singapore and owing to the recklessness or lack of vision of those at the helm of affairs in Nigeria , citizens are now wallowing in abject poverty as her economy remains in the bottom rung of poverty ladder in terms of economic development.
That sad commentary is evidenced by the development indices of the world bank, IMF and even affirmed by the recent report by Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
Before the view above is dismissed as a mere figment of my imagination, allow me remind us that Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, UAE , experienced the type of phenomenal growth that l just envisioned through visionary leadership that Nigeria could have emulated , if we did not have myopic leaders with tunnel vision anchored solely on religion and ethnic sentiments as opposed to economic growth and progress.
Incidentally, Emiratis are as religious, if not more pious than Nigerians, but they are equally as development focused, hence they were able to accelerate the growth of their economy and their well being with phenomenal speed during the same period that Nigeria’s fortune suffered reversals with the future of citizens not so bright.
Going back to tracing the lack of growth in Nigeria in comparison to the commendable expansion of ADEDOYIN brand which is indigenous to Nigeria ,owing to his uncommon business acumen, ADEDOYIN’s business has now blossomed into a multinational conglomerate spanning from Nigeria to Ghana to USA
Conversely, Nigeria and majority of Nigerians have remained shackled in the abyss of poverty even after crude oil/gas, also known as black gold was discovered in addition to her existing array of other foreign exchange generating resources such as solid gold, silver,iron ore, cooper,aluminium, bauxite and other precious gem stones/minerals. Instead of using the revenue windfall arising from increased price of crude oil which was a positive fall out of the famous Arab oil blockade in the 1970s, Nigerian leaders wasted its resources in 1977 in hosting Festival of Arts and Culture, FESTAC 77, a recurrent expenditure. Establishing the value creating sea ports like jebel Ali in Dubai or export processing zones like the one in Guangzu, China, could have created jobs and improved the living standards of Nigerians but politicians of those days preferred to host a global soirée and thereafter brand a champagne
It is therefore no surprise and as such an irony that while ADEDOYIN prospered through dexterous and prudent management of his lean and meagre seed capital , Nigeria has been diminishing due to the profligacy and squander-mania nature of her leaders from independence in 1960 till date
In light of the above, ADEDOYIN has proven himself to be an adroit manager of men and resources way beyond the capacity of our political leaders in Nigeria’s chequered political history in the nearly 60 years of existence as a sovereign entity, with PDP at the helm of affairs for sixteen,16 years,and APC in the same position in 5 years.
I therefore hasten to ask:
Could the concept of Donald Trump,a multi billionaire businessman who went on to become the 45th and current president of the USA, be replicated in Nigeria?
It is time to wake-up..
It's time to take responsibility so that we won't die has liability.
We can move Nigeria to better place, better position and better sit.
It's just a scorecard of mind set..
Get your self thinking again, get busy like African foremost business giant DR Ramon Adedoyin..
This message is brought to you by the house of Maye of Yoruba kingdom
At 63 years of age (1st January 2020) , Ramon Adedoyin who is slightly older than Nigeria by a mere few years has become one of the richest men in Nigeria and the 89 richest in the Africa according to DPBLOG list of billionaires.
Comparatively,after nearly 60 years of the founding of Nigeria as a nation, and about 18 years of continuously functioning as a multi party democracy, she remains at the bottom rung (169/189) of the world bank’s ranking of countries where doing business is easiest.
In such an inclement business environment why has ADEDOYIN thrived and flourished while Nigeria as a nation has remained a famished land ?
Perhaps tracing the growth trajectory of Ramon Adedoyin, a brand straight out of Nigeria and comparing it to the stunted growth of our country, could help us identify the factors responsible for our nation’s arrested development.
Although the circumstances of the birth and development of Dangote and Nigerian nation are not significantly dissimilar, (products of harsh African socioeconomic climate) it must be emphasized that Nigerian nation started off as a prolific source of agricultural produce such as cocoa, groundnut, cotton and oil palm which were cash crops highly sought after by our then colonial master, Britain.
As history teaches us, after Thomas Newcomen pioneered the industrial revolution in 1712 by inventing the first steam engine, our colonial masters intensified efforts in importing our natural resources massively to feed its burgeoning industrial complexes. The inflow of cash from the British who were dependent on cash crops from Nigeria such as cocoa, cotton, palm oil, rubber lumps, groundnuts, cashew etc ensured a steady flow of funds into the coffers of governments, at the three regional and national levels.
In contrast, ADEDOYIN foresee the future of Education in Nigeria, from whom he tapped the skills of big picture of education which he quickly started from home to home tutorial lesson.
Education bring in civilization at that time, ADEDOYIN could have eaten the candies like the leaders of Nigeria who squandered Nigeria’s riches by embarking on spending sprees , but he did not. Instead,ADEDOYIN steadily accumulated the proceeds from home tutorial to universities which is now a behemoth.
Accounts by former president of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, in his seminal and famous book “ From Third World to First” illustrated the profligacy of Nigerian leaders at inception and accounts for Nigeria’s steady decline in fame and fortune while Singapore catapulted itself from third to first world in a relatively short space of two decades.
It is guts wrenching to think that if our leaders had maintained the discipline of saving up the seed capital from commodity trade with the British in the good old days, as ADEDOYIN did, Nigeria could have been robbing shoulders with the likes of Singapore in terms of GDP which is estimated to be about $300 billion up from about $70 billion in the 1960s and in terms of standard of living of her citizens of which they are in the top ten percentile of the world’s best.
The gap comes into stark reality when it is considered that Singapore has a single digit population of less than six, 6 million people which is just a fraction of Nigeria’s which is in excess of one hundred and seventy,170 million and the GDP of both countries are more or less equal.
However, in contrast with the outstanding leadership qualities of leaders of Singapore and owing to the recklessness or lack of vision of those at the helm of affairs in Nigeria , citizens are now wallowing in abject poverty as her economy remains in the bottom rung of poverty ladder in terms of economic development.
That sad commentary is evidenced by the development indices of the world bank, IMF and even affirmed by the recent report by Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
Before the view above is dismissed as a mere figment of my imagination, allow me remind us that Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, UAE , experienced the type of phenomenal growth that l just envisioned through visionary leadership that Nigeria could have emulated , if we did not have myopic leaders with tunnel vision anchored solely on religion and ethnic sentiments as opposed to economic growth and progress.
Incidentally, Emiratis are as religious, if not more pious than Nigerians, but they are equally as development focused, hence they were able to accelerate the growth of their economy and their well being with phenomenal speed during the same period that Nigeria’s fortune suffered reversals with the future of citizens not so bright.
Going back to tracing the lack of growth in Nigeria in comparison to the commendable expansion of ADEDOYIN brand which is indigenous to Nigeria ,owing to his uncommon business acumen, ADEDOYIN’s business has now blossomed into a multinational conglomerate spanning from Nigeria to Ghana to USA
Conversely, Nigeria and majority of Nigerians have remained shackled in the abyss of poverty even after crude oil/gas, also known as black gold was discovered in addition to her existing array of other foreign exchange generating resources such as solid gold, silver,iron ore, cooper,aluminium, bauxite and other precious gem stones/minerals. Instead of using the revenue windfall arising from increased price of crude oil which was a positive fall out of the famous Arab oil blockade in the 1970s, Nigerian leaders wasted its resources in 1977 in hosting Festival of Arts and Culture, FESTAC 77, a recurrent expenditure. Establishing the value creating sea ports like jebel Ali in Dubai or export processing zones like the one in Guangzu, China, could have created jobs and improved the living standards of Nigerians but politicians of those days preferred to host a global soirée and thereafter brand a champagne
It is therefore no surprise and as such an irony that while ADEDOYIN prospered through dexterous and prudent management of his lean and meagre seed capital , Nigeria has been diminishing due to the profligacy and squander-mania nature of her leaders from independence in 1960 till date
In light of the above, ADEDOYIN has proven himself to be an adroit manager of men and resources way beyond the capacity of our political leaders in Nigeria’s chequered political history in the nearly 60 years of existence as a sovereign entity, with PDP at the helm of affairs for sixteen,16 years,and APC in the same position in 5 years.
I therefore hasten to ask:
Could the concept of Donald Trump,a multi billionaire businessman who went on to become the 45th and current president of the USA, be replicated in Nigeria?
It is time to wake-up..
It's time to take responsibility so that we won't die has liability.
We can move Nigeria to better place, better position and better sit.
It's just a scorecard of mind set..
Get your self thinking again, get busy like African foremost business giant DR Ramon Adedoyin..
This message is brought to you by the house of Maye of Yoruba kingdom
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