Insights · 2021. 1. 19. · 4 Nextier Insights Vol. 2, Issue 2: November 19-25, 2020 For companies, IB models are an opportunity for growth and competitive advantage. Governments

Inclusive Growth: Catalyzing Last-Mile Economic Development through Inclusive Business

Jump-starting a Failing Economy:A Development Policy Challenge

A Myth, An ActualityREVIEW: “Never Look an American in the Eye: Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts and the Making of a Nigerian American” by Okey Ndibe

Vol.2, Issue 2: January 19-25, 2021

Insights

Delivering the SDGs Amidst COVID-19 (Part 2 of 4):Sustainable Environment and Infrastructure Development

Inclusive Growth:Catalyzing Last-Mile Economic Develop-ment through Inclusive Business

13 Delivering the SDGs Amidst COVID-19 (Part 2 of 4):Sustainable Environment and Infrastruc-ture DevelopmentThe COVID-19 pandemic remains a threat to Nigeria’s attainment of the SDG goal as regards a sustainable environment and infrastructure development. To achieve this goal, some policy measures are imperative.

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Contents

Book ReviewA Myth, An Actuality

Events

Jump-starting a Failing Economy: A Development Policy Challenge Nigeria is in dire need of growth and development in every aspect of its economy. How should the country’s leaders and policymakers approach this?

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21

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With Dr Leena Hoffmann

Analysing the “triple-threats” of power supply

Fighting curruption in Nigeria:Where to start- institutions or citizens

The Ugly, the Uglier and the Ugliest

An analysis of the Inclusive Business (IB) model and its benefits as a tool for economic and social development.

Review: “Never Look an American in the Eye: Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts and the Making of a Nigerian American” by Okey Ndibe

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An analysis of the Inclusive Business (IB) model and its benefits as a tool for economic and social development.

What is Inclusive Business?

Inclusive business (IB) provides goods, services, and livelihood on a commercially viable basis either at scale or scalable to people living at the base of the pyramid (BoP) by making them part of the value chain of companies’ core business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers. This definition by the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN) encapsulates the need to ensure inclusive business models by improving financing opportunities, digital knowledge products, and policy frameworks.

A vital element of the IB business model is the inclusion of the BoPs in the business value chain. Businesses achieve inclusion in the business ecosystem through various means. With the focus on last-mile penetration and integration, there are many ways to involve the BoPs. The retailers can be integrated into the value chains of the companies further up the supply chain. Mom-and-pop shops in village squares, kiosks in neighbourhoods, and mobile door-to-door peddlers and others can improve their livelihoods from

Catalyzing Last-Mile Economic Development through Inclusive Business

Stanley Zebulon

Inclusive Growth

Inclusive Growth:

Nextier Insights Vol. 2, Issue 2: November 19-25, 20204

For companies, IB models are an opportunity for growth and competitive advantage. Governments see it as an effective approach to overall social and economic growth and devel-opment.

the additional incomes that accrue from being part of a larger supply chain. A similar structure is proposed for micro-entrepreneurs operating as mini wholesalers supplying the retailers, smallholder farmers in the agribusiness value chain, farm produce aggregators, and many others.

The Inclusiveness of Inclusive Business Inclusive business models are a unique way of doing business, where all the parties involved win. For companies, IB models are an opportunity for growth and competitive advantage. Governments see it as an effective approach to overall social and economic growth and development. For the population, IB models serve as a source of a better life, social integration, employment, and sustainable livelihoods.

For a business to be termed inclusive, it must create a model that ensures the inclusion of vulnerable segments of the population in the business’ value chain. Thus, the most vulnerable individuals in the population get a chance to become part of the company either as employees, suppliers of raw materials, distributors, retailers, or

service providers. Another option for creating an inclusive business involves the production of targeted products for the BoP.

Supporting Inclusive Business

Inclusive businesses face challenges at different levels ranging from the organizational, operational, ecosystem, and environmental. A hindrance to inclusive business in Nigeria today is the lack of an enabling business environment. Inhibitive policies and hostile relationship between the business

community and the government characterize most business environments. To gain control of these challenges, the IB industry needs support from all stakeholders in the ecosystem. These support systems can be through the provision of market-based information for IBs for adequate decision-making, ranging from businesses’ strategies to the engagement methodology with the BoPs.

Similarly, the support can be through providing information to the BoPs regarding improved products and income generation opportunities. Micro-entrepreneurs will benefit from financial support, capacity development, and enabling rules and regulations to drive business and economic growth in the IB ecosystem. Multiple stakeholder groups provide the support initiatives individually or collaboratively to the enterprises. These stakeholders include government and government institutions, companies, international

organizations, research institutes, non-governmental organizations, development partners, the media, individual philanthropists, multilateral development banks, other financial institutions, and many others.

Mom-and-pop shops in village squares, kiosks in neighbour-hoods, and mobile door-to-door peddlers and others can improve their livelihoods from the additional incomes that accrue from being part of a larger supply chain.

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For maximum impact, collaboration amongst various stakeholders is encouraged. A composite team of government, organized private-sector, multilateral, and development

partners should consider and implement projects highlighting the importance of IB in the government’s economic development strategy. Benefits from Inclusive Business

Inclusive Business models bring about inclusive benefits to all players in the ecosystem. Generally, the IB models provide innovative approaches to lift people out of extreme poverty, offer relevant and affordable products and services needed by the BoPs, create income generation opportunities for the BoPs, and provide new solutions to low-income earners, thus enhancing a healthier and more productive lifestyle. For the companies, it provides access to a market of above 4.5 billion customers globally, translating to a consumer market of over $5 trillion.

As African countries push towards the frontier of international

recognition as developed nations, IB models will serve as a veritable mechanism to fast track the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This reality is feasible because of the inclusiveness across major players in the ecosystem, including the government, companies, investors, the population at the base of the pyramid, and

gender equality.

As a government, IB models will strengthen economic development, poverty alleviation

and create employment opportunities. The promotion of sustainable development in all dimensions (economic, social, and environmental), the pursuit of inclusive growth to bridge the last-mile developmental gap, and achieving national impact objective efficiently through the alignment of support and incentive measures for companies with their social impact can all be accelerated the implementation of IB models.

Similarly, companies will benefit through access to new markets and improved supply chain because of access to new channels (for example, smallholder farmers in the agribusiness industry), improved innovation in distribution as it relates to last-mile penetration strategies, access to new sources of finance and partners, and the transformation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) impact to core business strategy.

For investors conscious of positive

impact, they will simultaneously achieve social impact and financial returns, doing good while doing well (making money). Also, portfolio diversification and economics of scale will ensue as a result of syndicated finance.

At the core of the IB model is the integration of the BoP in the ecosystem. This model will deliver

Inclusive Growth

A composite team of government, organized private-sector, multilateral, and development partners should consider and implement projects highlighting the importance of IB in the government’s economic development strategy.

Micro-entrepreneurs will benefit from financial support, capacity development, and enabling rules and regulations to drive business and economic growth in the IB ecosystem


As African countries push towards the frontier of interna-tional recognition as developed nations, IB models will serve as a veritable mechanism to fast track the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

improved access to affordable and relevant goods and services, a better quality of life, improved income generation ability, and enlarged choices.

With the renewed drive towards ensuring gender equality in all aspects of our economic life, IB models provide an excellent opportunity to create a level playing field for women. Statistics show that women represent more than 60 percent of small-scale

businesses, especially in the agro-value chain. Consequently, support for this group will translate to an improved livelihood for families at the BoP. Approaching IB models with a gender lens will ensure many advantages for women with the larger community spillover effect. These advantages will include providing goods and services tailored towards meeting women’s needs, targeted support initiatives for women-owned and managed businesses, and income generation opportunities for BoP women by involving them as suppliers, distributors, and retailers.

Conclusion

Inclusive business models allow all parties involved to gain mutual

benefit. Such synergies between the public and private sectors and the population lead to several outcomes, such as sustainable solutions to problems, innovation, competitive advantage, better reputation, a market share, and much more. That is why inclusive business models must be promoted as a powerful tool for economic and social development at the federal and state levels, thus opening new growth opportunities for BoP entrepreneurs and corporations.

To learn more about how Nextier has worked with government agencies and international organisations to create solutions to difficult development challenges, kindly contact us at [email protected]

Reference:

https://www.inclusivebusiness.net/ - iBAN

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Development is a measurable objective construction. Approaches to development, however, are broad, dynamic, and varied. The concept of development differs in meaning to different economists and policymakers at different times. To some development policymakers, it is ‘model-based’; to others, it is historically, culturally, or locally based; for others, it is a function of laws and distribution.

Economic development strategy in our local context needs to feature all relevant approaches adapted to the Nigerian framework. Development is based on a series of progressive model-based actions, applied to specific historical and cultural considerations, and codified in the institutional and legal system. Development entails value-add by skill and knowledge. It improves on an available resource by combining technical knowledge and skill to create finished goods and services of enhanced value and desirability.

Industrialisation plays a central role in development. Paths to industrialisation and development have differed dramatically between economists and across countries. China led a radically different socialist-based industrialisation approach, different from the Indian approach to industrialisation.1

Certain economic theorists2 believe that export-led growth based on tropical products and raw materials has the propensity to fail. They propose high tariffs on cheap imports to encourage the purchase of domestically produced goods

Jump-starting a Failing Economy:A Development Policy ChallengeOnyi Iyizoba

Nigeria is in dire need of growth and development in every aspect of its economy. How should the country’s leaders and policymakers approach this?

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Jump-starting a Failing Economy


and stimulate the local market. Other economists3 argue that countries can only grow through savings and investments. They proposed that countries that wish to grow should do so by saving and investing. They encourage increasing the rate at which income is saved and invested in physical capital.

The Neoclassical economic theory proponents believe that development policy is to get people to save, identify idle funds, tax them, and reinvest the proceeds. Alternatively, policy leaders can charge high public utility rates, reinvest the money,

and have it recirculated. Development for them depends on the spending of savings on reorganising physical and human capital, rather than on things already produced.4

Nigerian Context

Nigeria has evolved through the ‘historical books’ of economic development. From attempts at industrialisation to import substitution shots, modifying tax systems to mop up liquidity from the population by incessant tax increases, and reinvesting them by distributing low-interest loans for entrepreneurial ventures, Nigeria appears to have had a full measure.

These have yielded minimal or no

developmental values in the near past and foreseeable future. A fundamental change of approach is required. Economic development policies must shift focus from conventional western economics to localised economic realities and

concepts to address development problems more successfully.

There is a flaw in assuming that all countries share some fundamental aspects. That is the danger of universalism. Nigeria should develop in its own sense, identifying which questions are central to the country and their answers. Many western

economic concepts and theories assume attitudes, institutions, and cultural phenomena that are uniquely western, and to apply these theories to the Sub-Saharan African context or even the South Asian context would be a mistake. Effective development policies inculcate the use of contextual adaptation. A good example is China’s growth strategy. Although the West advocated liberalised free markets and strong democratic institutions as the key to development, the Chinese Communist system and their idea of government intervention in market systems have surpassed development and growth expectations. Institutional emphasis is crucial in developing a customised approach to development in Nigeria. One of the essential first steps towards understanding the Sub-Saharan African countries’ problems is discovering how they function and regulate their performance - an understanding of what is possible in specific contexts and an appreciation

of each society’s endogenous features.

Nigeria’s peculiarity is in understanding the crucial need for industrialisation and its deep-rooted institutional problems. Pursuing

Industrialisation plays a central role in development. Paths to industrialisation and development have differed dramatically between economists and across countries.

Economic development strategy in our local context needs to feature all relevant approaches adapted to the Nigerian framework.

9Jump-starting a Failing Economy

industrialisation while addressing Nigeria’s institutional dysfunction is crucial for economic growth.

Industrialisation in Nigeria may take

two forms. An initial adaptation of the import substitution industrialisation or identifying the economic aspects with the most linkages and giving it the ‘big push.’

Why Industrialization and How?

Historically, industrialisation is the go-to means through which countries realise economic transformation. It is the basis of endogenous economic growth.

Industrialisation offers a complete transformation of the social and economical way of life. It creates a three-part necessity - guaranteeing higher income levels, setting the stage for structural transformation of import/export patterns, and offering endogenous growth effects - higher labour productivity and GDP growth.

In Nigeria’s current economic state – import-dependent and raw material (crude) export-oriented; development requires a progression from a set of resources based on

primary produce exploitation to a set of resources enhanced by the application of knowledge and skilled labour. According to renowned Economists, Prebisch and Singer, no producer and exporter of only primary products can sustain benefits in the long run. This theory is evident in the Nigerian system.

Import Substitution Industrialisation seems most suitable for the vast unskilled labour force in Nigeria. The type of labour required to produce Import Substitution Industrialisation

(ISI) goods is shallow and can absorb unproductive labour far more quickly.

Therefore, policy leaders in Nigeria should encourage the establishment of private domestic firms within the economy that produce previously imported goods. Simple industries - for producing non-durable consumer goods, clothing, toys, shoes, beverages, and similar items are usually most suitable for initialising import substitution strategy.

Policies and regulatory frameworks aimed at addressing liberalised access to a capital system, providing essential infrastructures, and delivering vocational/technical skills acquisition are critical to successful industrialisation efforts. Previous mass industrialisation efforts in Nigeria had made little impact because these three enumerated factors are hardly present simultaneously. The majority of the private sector, who may have access to capital, lack the technical skill to establish functional manufacturing

firms. For others with crude vocational skills, opportunities to scale up and sharpen their skills were non-existent because of a lack of capital access.

For the vast majority of Nigeria’s private sector industry, manufacturing is highly unappealing

Many western economic concepts and theories assume atti-tudes, institutions, and cultural phenomena that are unique-ly western, and to apply these theories to the Sub-Saharan African context or even the South Asian context would be a mistake.

Import Substitution Industrialisation seems most suitable for the vast unskilled labour force in Nigeria. The type of labour required to produce Import Substitution Industrialisation (ISI) goods is shallow and can absorb unproductive labour far more quickly.


because of its enormous production costs. The lack of requisite infrastructures like electricity and access road networks, to mention a few, drive production costs to

uncompetitive levels compared to imported products. Such that they become reliant on government policies to promote and protect home industries.

It can be a challenging path to tread with the country’s level of dependency on imports. Tariffs had been the go-to remedy – infant industry tariffs, a total ban on certain imports, and other acts; but these measures only seem to engineer smuggling, revenue leakages, and inflation increases.

Therefore, it is vital to subsidise domestic firms, lower average costs of production of new enterprises by enunciating policies that will facilitate the development of much-needed infrastructure, create access to finance for entrepreneurs to establish and expand their manufacturing; then provide the same degree of promotion as a tariff for a certain transition period. How long this transition period is to be supported depends on the complexity of the

goods produced. Cynics have argued that some of these protections do not phase out due to institutional failures and corruption.5 However, that is a different discourse.

Sustainability?

The Import Substitution Industrialization drive was historically unsustainable in Nigeria. This is primarily because of infrastructure

deficiency, uncoordinated actions and planning, and lack of execution between different institutional mandates/agencies. The dysfunction in the execution of various agency

mandates also played a role in its failure. Import Substitution Industrialisation is a process dependent on finding an exceptional, synergistic combination of new ideas, new leaders, and new institutions.

To sustain industrialisation in Nigeria, infrastructure, technical skills, and finance access play a considerable role. Effective reforms in critical infrastructure like electricity and transport systems are fundamental to the success of any industrialisation model or theory adopted. The role of development banks in creating access to finance is also crucial.

In the recent past, Nigeria has initiated many industrialisation efforts, from monetary policy decisions of lower interest rates for manufacturing to establishing a Bank of Industry specialising in funding manufacturing.

Most recent development strategies like the CBN-NIRSAL microfinance bank initiative and the Finance

Act increase in taxation schemes are worthy of mention. They aim to extract money and increase the investment ratio for establishing manufacturing and factories. The NIRSAL scheme aims to identify who the ‘would-be capitalists’ are and fund their ideas for establishment or expansion. This initiative is in line with many economists’ thinking in the mid-20-century – the Heterodox Economic Theories of Development6

Policies and regulatory frameworks aimed at addressing lib-eralised access to a capital system, providing essential infra-structures, and delivering vocational/technical skills acquisi-tion are critical to successful industrialisation efforts.

Import Substitution Industrialisation is a process dependent on finding an exceptional, synergistic combination of new ideas, new leaders, and new institutions.

11Jump-starting a Failing Economy

- who propose mobilising society’s resources and placing them at the disposal of the people who can productively use them to initiate manufacturing and employ surplus labour.

However, the fundamental issues of backward institutions and informational problems blocking growth in the Nigerian context persist. Funding without the relevant infrastructure and technical skills can hardly produce export-quality finished products and create the global competitiveness we seek.

The Big Push

Like the Economists –Burke and Hirschman said, jump-starting a failing economy requires an overall rapid industrialisation framework and diversified growth. Resource limitations make it impossible to push across all sectors. Nevertheless, there must be a more significant emphasis or ‘the big push’ in specific vital sectors, which would create pressures for new investments.

The task, therefore, for current policy leaders is to identify the key sectors to prioritise. In identifying key sectors, emphasis must be on the backward and forward linkages

in the domestic economy, prioritising initial investments with the most linkages. It is imperative to identify the sectors that can stimulate the most economic activities for their operation and those whose operations and products will accelerate economic gains.

With a laundry list of needed reforms, policymakers may attempt to fix all of the problems at once or start with reforms that are not crucial. Sometimes, reforms have gotten

in the way of others, with reforms in one area creating unanticipated distortions in another area.7

Weak institutional systems play a huge role in hindering economic systems.8 There is a need to

consider how to reform the Nigerian institutions to bring about increased growth. Regulatory institutions should aim for high specialisation in their various fields of regulation. Technical training, assessments, and specialisation certifications are crucial for recruiting and retaining roles in these institutions. Funding made conditional on verifiable outputs may be necessary in this regard. There is a need for total institutional restructuring to create more powerful and efficient institutional systems.

Conclusion

Only radical institutional reforms allow for development.9 The development expert has to internalise all cultural and institutional factors in proposing specific amendments to each institutional and regulatory framework.

Improvements in necessary infrastructural frameworks are crucial to development—paying attention

not just to opportunities that already exist but those that might exist given specific interventions. There might be a need to remodel relevant policy and regulatory frameworks for investments in crucial infrastructures like electricity and the various transport networks.

Concurrent with institutional strengthening must be technical skills transfer. The manufacturing aim is to be globally competitive and to produce finished products of

Effective reforms in critical infrastructure like electricity and transport systems are fundamental to the success of any in-dustrialisation model or theory adopted.

Like the Economists –Burke and Hirschman said, jump-start-ing a failing economy requires an overall rapid industrialisa-tion framework and diversified growth.


export-quality. The dearth of skilled workers in Nigeria’s labour force makes it imperative to focus on the educational sector, encouraging technical and vocational training investments to create a technical/industrial class. A skilled labour population will complement any industrialisation effort with a ready, affordable, and able workforce.

Therefore, there is a need to identify our country’s industrialisation niche and leverage our comparative advantage to compete globally. The government’s role will be to enable laws and policies that encourage investments, massive technical training, promote access to finance for small and medium-sized manufacturers of export-quality products, support the most promising sectors, and integrate them into the global value chain.


1Amsden, Alice. “The Rise of ‘The Rest’ – Challenges to the West from Late Industrializing Economies” (2001)

2Classical Development Economists -Ragnar Nurkse

3The Neoclassical economists (Pre-WWII) like Robert Solow

4Ibid.

5Cypher, James. “The process of Economic Development”. Routledge Publishers, 4th ED.Chap 3.

6Arthur Lewis model of economic development.

7Brazil and El Salvador implemented wholesale reforms, following standard international best practices, disappointing with low growth turnout. On the contrary, the Dominican Republic implemented reforms on such a limited scale, yet it exhibited strong growth in the 1990s until the global financial crisis. Ricardo et al. “Getting Diagnosis Right, A new Approach to economic reform”, Finance and Development Magazine IMF, Vol 43, No. 1 (2006).

8Stiglitz, Joseph “Whither Reform? Ten Years of the Transition” Keynote Address delivered on the Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics, Washington, D.C April 28-30, 1999.

9Myrdal, G. “Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations”. Prologue Vol. I Pantheon, Random House New York (1968)

13Delivering SDGs in Africa Amidst COVID-19 (Part 2 of 4)

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a threat to Nigeria’s attainment of the SDG goal as regards a sustainable environment and infrastructure de-velopment. To achieve this goal, some policy measures are imperative.

When the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were unveiled in 2015 at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, they were widely lauded. Built on a transformative promise of leaving no one behind, the SDGs were widely considered as the most robust and inclusive set of goals ever-designed for global development. In 2019, the SDGs Index and Dashboard report for Africa indicated that, in varying scales, regions were making progress. Individual countries recorded different levels of success on each of the 17 goals. On account of the report, states track their performance rating on achieving the SDGs. The flurry of activities is announced by the individual countries based on their positions to re-calibrate. The present decade started in 2020, as the Decade of Action, with calls to turbo-charge the race to the finish line, 2030. Subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic happened. With it, there have been ricochet effects that threaten the attainment of the SDGs by 2030. This essay examines how the COVID-19 pandemic foretells significant threats to the SDGs’ attainment concerning the sustainable environment and

Delivering the SDGs Amidst COVID-19 (Part 2 of 4):Sustainable Environment and Infrastructure Development

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infrastructure development in cities and communities. It also draws up a roadmap for action in Nigeria.

Pre-COVID Performance Scorecard

Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Global Social progress Index report, Nigeria scored 49.20 and ranked 121st out of 149 countries in achieving the SDGs. By this performance scorecard, Nigeria fell within the range of a developing country, even though it aspires to become a middle-income country. At the continental level, according to the 2019 Africa SDG Index and Dashboard report, Nigeria scored 47.03 and ranked 43rd out of African 52 countries. These scorecards and rankings indicate Nigeria has much to do, at the global and continental levels, to achieve the SDGs by 2030. From a comparative prism, Nigeria performed worse than African countries with comparable economies, such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya. It also performed worse than African countries with similar security challenges and protracted conflicts like Mali, Cameroun, Niger, and Sudan. Instructively, Nigeria’s performance scales vary on each goal.

Impending Doom and Gloom

Considering SDG’s goal 6, “Clean Water and Sanitation,” pre-COVID-19, 66.9 percent of households in Nigeria had no access to clean water sources, and only 33 percent have access to sanitation. Significantly,

access to clean water and sanitation varies across the 36 states and between rural and urban settlements within each of the states. Based

on World Bank estimates, Nigeria needs to triple its budget or allocate at least 1.7 percent of the current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. The ambition is highest for rural sanitation, where the gap for improved services is 64.1 percent. This action requires extraordinary efforts to meet. With inadequate funding for the provision of clean water and significant household efforts needed to eliminate open defecation despite low family incomes, access to clean water and sanitation by 2030 will be significantly derailed. The outbreak of COVID-19 has reemphasized the importance of clean water and sanitation facilities

Similarly, amid COVID-19, the attainment of Goal 7, Renewable Energy by 2030 in Nigeria, as in many African countries, will be immeasurably undermined. Pre-COVID-19, energy infrastructure in Nigeria was still in infancy. For example, 43 percent of the Nigerian population, representing an estimated 88 million people, had no access to the national power

grid. Also, 176 million Nigerians had no access to clean cooking fuels or technologies. The situation will worsen with border closure and quarantine measures, which affect the importation of renewable energy components and gadgets. China, the most significant source and

At the continental level, according to the 2019 Africa SDG Index and Dashboard report, Nigeria scored 47.03 and ranked 43rd out of African 52 countries.

From a comparative prism, Nigeria performed worse than African countries with comparable economies, such asAlgeria, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya.


leading supplier for renewable energy infrastructural facilities to Nigeria (Powanga and Reich, 2019), is where the virus was first confirmed and spread worldwide. As part of the restrictive measures to curb the virus, several companies in China have been shut down. Such actions will

disrupt the renewable energy supply chain, and there will be rebounding effects for access to renewable energy in the country.

Also, achieving Goal 9, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure in the pandemic era, by 2030, will be far-flung in Nigeria. With the combined vibrant population and socio-economic institutions, cities are reference points in industry, innovation, and infrastructure. However, the cities were the first to be affected and have continued to suffer the virus’ vast spread. Many small and medium business enterprises in the towns collapsed due to the lockdown occasioned by

the pandemic. Some transformative innovations adopted in response to the pandemic, such as e-learning, raised fundamental questions concerning structural imbalance and inequalities. With only a few people with internet access, the SDGs doctrine of leaving no one behind will be derailed.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic portends a fatal threat to achieving Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and

Communities. Over half of the population resides in the dense formal and informal settlements and neighbourhoods, in cities and communities. This situation will bode a high risk of disaster in this pandemic era. Also, COVID-19 induced lockdown measures; the

closure of schools, public space, tourist sites, and related income has profoundly impacted cities and communities. According to Proshare economy, travel into Nigeria reduced by 3.5 million, resulting in a revenue loss of $ 0.7 billion with the risk of 91,380 jobs lost and $0.6 billion, contributing to Nigeria’s GDP. Again, sexual assaults rose as lockdowns froze men out of work and trapped women and girls indoors. Nigerian police reported 717 rape cases between January and May 2020, a dramatic increase over the same period in 2019. This situation sparked off demonstrations by many gender groups. It also occasioned outpourings of outrage by prominent figures, including

President Muhammadu Buhari, state governors, and members of the National Assembly (Osumah, 2020).

As pertains to Goal 13 - Climate Action, SDGs Index and Dashboard report for Africa pre-COVID-19 indicated that African countries, including Nigeria, due to interventions, performed well comparatively across the board in terms of climate action than in other goals. Similarly, efforts to curb

Considering SDG’s goal 6, “Clean Water and Sanitation,” pre-COVID-19, 66.9 percent of households in Nigeria had no access to clean water sources, and only 33 percent have access to sanitation.

Pre-COVID-19, energy infrastructure in Nigeria was still in infancy. For example, 43 percent of the Nigerian popula-tion, representing an estimated 88 million people, had no access to the national power grid.


the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in reduced industrial carbon dioxide emission and human mobility. As a corollary, there has been reduced pollution and improved quality of air. However, it is believed that when industrial activity and human mobility expand, there will be a reversal of these modest improvements. According to the UN Secretary-

General Antonio Guterres, reduced carbon dioxide emission linked to the economic recession is temporary. Simultaneously, climate change determinants such as drought, wildfires, floods, and extreme storms remain for a long time.

Roadmap for More Glowing Accounts

Given the potential and real threats of the COVID-19 pandemic to the prospect of achieving the SDGs, the following policy measures are imperative.

1. Investment in Critical Infrastructure: As Nigeria battles with the COVID-19 pandemic, beyond the health sector, it is imperative to also pay adequate

attention to investment and operational needs in critical infrastructure for clean water and sanitation, renewable energy, industry, and housing. Infrastructural facilities in place should be maintained and not allowed to fall to rot.

2. Integration of SDG into National Development programmes: The

SDGs should be integrated into governance traditions, budgets, development programmes, and government plans at various levels – local, state, and national. Botswana is taking the approach of integration for the attainment of specific SDG targets. Nigeria should follow suit.

3. Stakeholders Involvement: Apart from the government, other relevant stakeholders, including youth, grassroots organisations, private sector, civil society organisations, and development partners within the limit of their capacity, should be involved in enactment, execution, evaluation, and monitoring of discussions and activities for achieving the SDGs. Experience from the Caribbean and Israel suggests relevant stakeholders’ involvement in shaping a shared vision, a practice Nigeria should adopt.

4. Policy for enabling environment: Establishing national mechanisms for achieving the SDGs should be anchored on knowledge derived from rigorous research

rather than narrow considerations. This mechanism will help to obviate the effects of the knowledge gap in their implementation. Scholars and policy entrepreneurs should aid in formulating government policies and programmes for achieving the SDGs to achieve this task. In Israel, activities on achieving each SDG are anchored on a Voluntary National Review. Nigeria should

Over half of the population resides in the dense formal and informal settlements and neighbourhoods, in cities and communities. This situation will bode a high risk of disaster in this pandemic era.

As Nigeria battles with the COVID-19 pandemic, beyond the health sector, it is imperative to also pay adequate attention to investment and operational needs in critical infrastructure for clean water and sanitation, renewable energy, industry, and housing.


adopt this model.

Conclusion

The prospect of Nigeria achieving the SDGs by 2030 with respect to a sustainable environment and infrastructural development has been made more untenable by the COVID-19 pandemic. To be able to accomplish this goal, specific policy measures are imperative. These must include investment in critical infrastructure, integration of the SDGs into national development plans and programmes, stakeholder engagement, and a policy framework for an enabling environment.


References

Powanga, l., and Giner-Reich, I. (2019). “China’s Contribution to African Power Sector: Policy Implications for African Countries,” Journal of Energy, Osumah, O. (2020). “The Victims and the Villains: Gendered Norms and Insecurity in Nigeria,” Mimeograph

The SDGs should be integrated into governance traditions, budgets, development programmes, and government plans at various levels – local, state, and national.


In recent times, there has been a renewed covet for overseas migration, among young Nigerians, with the intent of landing a better nick for themselves - they frequently cite the precarious economic and social conditions besetting the country an excuse for their avowed quest. A Twitter user with the handle @MrFrancisWhyte posted a comment on December 30th, 2020. “Goodbye, Nigeria, the evil you have done is enough” to signal his successful voyage to Canada after five IELTS attempts (an English test). He concluded by saying, “Please do not sleep on the Express Entry program. CANADA needs you! His comment generated mixed reactions among Nigerians on the social platform. Either positive or negative, it registered the topical nature of relocating from Nigeria - while also exposing the severe loss of energetic young professionals. Whatever the case may be, this memoir is one repository of the dream, myth, and reality of relocating abroad.

Though his migration was by providence, Okey Ndibe’s childhood reverie about the western world was, regaled, with tales of how the streets abroad were paved in concrete, or perhaps, gold—interacting with a classmate,

REVIEW: “Never Look an American in the Eye: Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts and the Making of a Nigerian American” by Okey Ndibe. Soho Press, Inc. (October 2016) Length:224 pages.

Charles Asiegbu

A Myth, An Actuality

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who affluently spent two weeks in London. Okey Ndibe recounted the anecdotes of crowded shoppers milling on London streets with rows and rows of fashion stores; of meat and fish stores where there was no

single fly to be, seen, everything neatly cut and nicely laid out on glass shelves. A spike to the curiosity was the affirmation by his classmate that “Everywhere you look, as far as your eyes can go, all you see is concrete. There is no patch of grass in London - you cannot see any sprout of grass” this was not to be so, years after visiting London, himself to discover “tree - rich” parks and a “rolling greenery.” The entrenched picture and keenness to see a ceaseless carpet of concrete remained alive. In this memoir, the author delineates his journey towards becoming an established writer and scholar after gaining admission into the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos to study business administration. His interest in American wrestlers and America launched him into the world of novels by several American writers and, after that, fueled his desire to write. Apart from the restless and

adventurous lifestyle the vista of writing offered him, it also became an escape route from the regular eight - to - five corporate job he despised. Like many other writers, Okey regarded Chinua Achebe as a model. From admiring Achebe from a distance to summoning the courage to exchange pleasantries with the literary icon. It would not be out

of place to say Okey Ndibe “Never looked Achebe in the Eye”; this is owing to his stance of not talking to his friends with the same mouth with which he communicated with Achebe.

The actual contact established with the profound author of “Things fall apart” was facilitated by a friend years after graduating and becoming a journalist with African Concord. Graciously, Achebe agreed to grant an interview. Hell, let loose when the tape recorder did not record a single word from the interview. According to his account of the scenario, “A few friends were waiting for me at Hotel Presidential Enugu, where I lodged when I arrived from interviewing Achebe. They were eager to listen to Achebe’s voice. Happy to oblige them. Fetched the tape recorder and pressed play. We waited - not a word. Put in two other tapes, the same futile result.” A second chance: Okey Ndibe negotiated to hold another interview - this time, He took notes and double-checked the recording tape at intervals to foreclose lobbying for a third chance.

Chinua Achebe recommended Okey Ndibe to spearhead a new press outfit in the United States, a dream come true. The author of this memoir did not spare a thought in accepting the offer – His visa was denied, but his friend Nick Robertson appealed for a review of the decision. The decision was reversed, and his failed trip came to life.

Though his migration was by providence, Okey Ndibe’s childhood reverie about the western world was, regaled, with tales of how the streets abroad were paved in con-crete, or perhaps, gold—interacting with a classmate, who affluently spent two weeks in London.

A Myth, An Actuality

His interest in American wrestlers and America launched him into the world of novels by several American writers and, after that, fueled his desire to write.


Chinua Achebe recommended Okey Ndibe to spearhead a new press outfit in the United States, a dream come true. The author of this memoir did not spare a thought in ac-cepting the offer.

In the events culminating in his travel, one piece of advice stood out, “When you get there, you must be on your guard,” “And the first thing to remember is this: never look an American in the eye. They take it as an insult. It is something they do not forgive. Moreover, every American carries a gun. If they catch a stranger, looking them in the face, they will shoot.” These were his uncle’s words. He later credited the taboo to American movies that had sown the idea in his uncle’s mind. Nevertheless, it turned out to be both a myth and a reality. Okey Ndibe stared inadvertently at a police officer waiting in his cruiser. Upon remembering his uncle’s words, he whisked his eye away to avoid being shot. Nonetheless, He was accosted by the officer who insisted that Okey fit the description of a bank robber. Perplexed, the author managed to present his case and ID to certify his innocence and gain

freedom. While his stay in America turned out to be fruitful some years after his exodus with citizenship, an academic career, and perhaps, marriage - the differences in cultural norms, climatic conditions, and insufficient funding for the magazine “African Commentary” posed significant challenges at the initial stage. He recalled that the magazine’s financial woes led to dead phones and no electric power in the office - including personally incurring eviction notices and devising means to get free meals by visiting friends. This memoir is an exciting read for writers, journalists, and story lovers—persons who consider relocating, either for professional or academic reasons. Though traced from the ‘90s, the insights are timeless and still very relevant today.

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Insights · 2021. 1. 19. · 4 Nextier Insights Vol. 2, Issue 2: November 19-25, 2020 For companies, IB models are an opportunity for growth and competitive advantage. Governments