Friday, October 8, 2010

Interview With New Nigerian Newspaper: October 7th '10

Excerpt from the interview, heading was - Nigeria 'll be a major tech hub in future.
Published on page 20.


New Nigerian Interview: Nigeria Will Be a Major Technology Hub in Future

1. How did you feel being selected valedictorian for your class at Singularity U.? : We had to give a 1 minute pitch to be selected. We were 6 speakers and I was very nervous because the competition was quite good. So I was very humbled and grateful when my classmates selected me to speak on their behalf.

2. How has your Singularity University experience changed your expectations of Science and Technology? – I now see science and technology as a tool that can be used to solve problems for humanity. A lot of the intractable problems in Africa that we have been unable to solve; poverty, hunger, sanitation, water, health etc can be solved through the use of technology. We should not only be consumers of technological products, we should also be innovators and manufacturers to be able to have sustainable solutions.

3. How can Africans, and Nigerians in particular, derive benefits from these fields considering the dearth of infrastructural support like electrical power and internet connectivity? – We can still derive benefits from nanotechnology, computing, artificial intelligence, biotech and engineering because of our infrastructural problems. The problems of electricity and internet connectivity can all be resolved using technology. In fact in the next decade we will be harnessing solar energy more and more for our electricity needs due to advances in manufacturing and material science. The cars of the future (within the next 10-20 years) will all be electric powered. Experts forecast that the last fossil fuel driven passenger car will be built in 2030. To progress Africa and Nigeria must embrace technological solutions because of and not inspite of our infrastructural problems. We can use technology to leapfrog the limitations of infrastructure.

4. Is there some short cut through the grit of building our technological capacity brick by brick, i.e. some speedy form of knowledge/skill/competence acquisition module that can fast-track Africa along the path of progress?: The answer to that is yes. It is easy but we have to do a lot of hard work. The beautiful thing about technology is that when it is learnt, it becomes almost second nature. Too much is not required just the brain power, tenacity and hunger to solve problems and then ‘viola’ we are there. We don’t need to know all the ‘old’ technology; we can start using today’s technology, modify it for our environment and solve problems for our continent and humanity.

5. What would you say should be the priority of Nigerians, and many Africans, after half a century of post-colonial existence? – Our priority should be taking responsibility for our today and our future. We should stop the blame game. After 50 years we can no longer blame the colonial masters. We should forge our destiny, face challenges, solve problems and evolve into a strong self reliant continent, a partner in the progress of humanity and not just the charity case of the world. We should take leadership as the cradle of not only humanity but also civilization and write a new chapter for a better future.

6. Are there any silver bullets to rid us of recurrent health challenges like cholera, meningitis and malaria? Also, what hope is there for people living with HIV:
I would cautiously say YES. One such silver bullet would be ‘Water’. More than 80% of communicable and deadly infections plaguing Africa is caused mostly by our lack of access to good drinking water and inadequate use of water in sanitation. If we can fix the problem of water, then we could fix most of these diseases and where they might occur we will be able to manage them better with therapies which are available and effective today. Combinations of innovations in biotech and nanotech could produce simple membranes which we could use to desalinate water cheaply. In addition, solar power will help us heat water before usage and reduce the risks of ingesting harmful bacteria.
On HIV, I would want to commend the countries of Europe and United States of America who have been very aggressive in attacking this problem in our continent. It is however strange that in Nigeria and in the continent we do not have any research led by Africans that would produce a cure for this infection. I believe that we will be able to create biovores, tiny organisms that will mimic a human cell and introduce them into the body of HIV infected candidates, these biovores will be more attractive to the virus than the ordinary human cells and the HIV virus will inject themselves into the biovores and will end up being eaten up and ejected from the body. This will be possible within the next 15 – 25 years. We will also have regenerators that will replace dead cells and make them more resistant to virus attacks. In the near term we can be more effective in prevention by creating vaginal rings for women and imbue these rings with hormones and medications which could work to prevent cervical cancer and minimize sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. This could be achievable within the next 5-10 years. There is also ongoing work on a vaccine for the virus so this virus is being attacked from all angles, prevention and management of infected patients. So my encouragement to all my brothers and sisters is if you are positive, live positively, very soon we will beat this virus and if you are negative, use a condom and when the vaginal ring is available, use that too and make intelligent choices when it comes to sexual partners. Remain faithful to your faithful partner. If in doubt, use a condom.

7. Your vision for the future?
My Vision For Nigeria - 2060

Energy: Everyone in Nigeria will have access to steady, reliable electricity supply because we will all use solar power. Oil will no longer be the primary source of energy and revenues from oil exports will shrink to 15% or less of all national revenues.
Transportation: By 2040 all the cars in Nigeria will be electric driven, however the road infrastructure will still be inadequate to carter for all the cars. More reliance will be on rail, water and air travel where we can leapfrog expensive road construction. By 2060 most people will live in Mega cities and work from home or satellite office sites near their homes due to the use of technology.
Education: We shall achieve 99.99% literacy as the use of smartphones become ubiquitous, prominent universities like MIT, Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Lagos Business school etc will offer their courses online and for free. The cost of internet connection will be virtually free and everyone will be able to connect and get educated. We will become a hub for foreign students especially Africans in the diaspora who would want to reconnect with their roots.
Poverty: It will be redefined as people living on the equivalent of $8 a day. Extreme poverty as we know it will end. We would have tackled the problems of hunger and water supply through the exploitation of technology in food production and water desalination.
Population: We will be a country of at least 300 million people. Our life expectancy will be as high as 98 years for children born within a decade of 2060.
Technology: Nigeria will be a major technology hub in the world both in innovations and manufacturing. The next Einstein will come from Nigeria or from the continent. Evidence is the current Nigerian kids in Britain all attending high school and universities at record early ages.
Health: Innovations in genetics, biotech and nanotechnology will create biovores that will eat up virus infected cells and also cancer cells, in addition, we will also have regenerators that would replace dead cells. HIV will be a thing of the past just like smallpox is today. Health care solutions will be delivered mostly online and we will have access to the best care possible within and outside our country.
Politics: We will remain a force in the continent and as early as 2019 will have more credible leaders who will chart a new course for Nigeria and the continent. Economic states of West Africa will form a strong EU equivalent by 2030 as African leaders gain more credibility and the people are lifted out of poverty.
Civic Society: As revenues form oil dwindle, government will be forced to raise taxes and aggressively collect taxes to run the country. Citizens will demand more accountability from the elected and will aggressively pursue all 'forgotten' stolen monies of past politicians and military dictators. As African leadership credibility increases, there will be pressure on foreign countries who harbor the loots from Africa and other present third world countries to return these monies and in most cases with penalties and apologies.
Social: Nigerian citizenship will be bestowed on children based on either the father or mother's country of birth, or both could also be used. Laws will prohibit state of origin and only recognize place of birth as place of origin.
Ethics: Society will struggle with acceptance of computer - human interfacing (by 2040, computers will be embedded in the human brain to increase the common intelligence) this will be a more radical change compared to the use of smartphones. Religious organisations worldwide will resist the change but as more people opt to be interfaced, it will be more difficult for individuals to operate and compete without being interfaced.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Nigeria is 50!

Inspite of the bomb - here. We celebrate our 50th year of independence. Nigeria will continue to soar and Africa will rise out of darkness to be a partner in solving humanity's problems.
The labors of our heroes past shall never be in vain.Happy Anniversary Giant of Africa!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Singularity University: Graduation Speech

My classmates at Singularity University honored me by electing me the graduation speaker. View the video on YouTube.

Video Here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmH6C3ZGNQU

Singularity University: Graduation Speech

My classmates at Singularity University honored me by electing me the graduation speaker. View the video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmH6C3ZGNQU

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Entrepreneurship: Harnessing The Igbo Resource

Nigeria is now officially 50 years old. The labours of our heroes past are truly not in vain. Yet we are confronted daily with problems that seem sometimes to be insurmountable. In my opinion one reason why we are not doing so well is that we do not harness our human resources effectively. We have to creatively use what we have to get what we want.
To grow our economy, we have to innovate, build businesses and grow industries. To create jobs, we have to move from depending on government and get to enabling an entrepreneurial generation who can grasp and utilize the opportunities that have been created by exponentially disruptive technologies.

Here then enters the entrepreneur. Who exactly is this person; the entrepreneur? She is the unreasonable man.. not my words but Bernard Shaw
"Reasonable men adapt to the world. Unreasonable men adapt the world to themselves. That's why all progress depends on unreasonable men." George Bernard Shaw.


Some say such a person is to some extent slightly hypo-manic(thus the "unreasonableness") but to succeed, the entrepreneur must have the following:
A cultural environment that supports risk taking. This means an environment that rewards success and does not overtly punish failure in business (economic failure not treated as a crime for example). In addition, the individual should be exposed to role models whom they can look up to and emulate.They should also be exposed to problems and opportunities where they can provide solutions to the problems. In addition it never hurts to get good and targeted training.

This is where the value proposition kicks in. The Igbos of Nigeria are recognised to be highly entrepreneurial and they have perfected training systems and role models where mostly young men are trained in business and then assisted to startup their own enterprises. This resource and knowledge is highly specialised but unfortunately has not been well documented. An opportunity exists here in documenting the process, studying it and optimising them so that they could be easily replicated and scalable in other areas apart from commercial training.

There is a wealth of knowledge and opportunity here where entrepreneurial Nigerians can be coached formally by Igbo businessmen(currently the proteges are mainly kin and kith of established traders) to develop their skills. The program can be incentivised by government with training grants and certification could be a basis for access to seed capital to start up businesses. This form of business incubation could fast track innovation and spread a business revolution in our country.

Disclosure: As a student of Singularity University,though some of my ideas are influenced by lectures and contributions from my colleauges, the expressed ideas here are totally formed by my personal convictions.
Photo Credit : http://www.noulakaz.net/weblog/2008/09/19/mind-of-an-entrepreneur/

Friday, July 30, 2010

2030: The Year the last Petrol/Diesel Powered Commercial Car Will Be Built

Just had a lecture by Tony Seba of Stanford University and author of the book - Solar Trillions - and came out thoroughly convinced that the end of the gas powered vehicle is near.

Two http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthings:
Battery Storage: The cost of a battery bank to power an electric car today stands at $25,000. By 2030 that cost will be $3,600. A fully electric vehicle costs $5/month to charge in San Francisco. Imagine the cost savings in gasoline!!!

Solar Energy:The cost of solar panels and thus solar generation today is higher than that of all fossil fuels. But by 2020, following Moore's law, the cost of solar energy generation will be at parity with the cheapest fossil fuel - coal.



President Obama Test Driving the VOLT

Please take this link to read more.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Financing Green Energy Growth

I grew up as one of the lucky 250,000 Nigerians that had a NITEL land line before the advent of GSM and cell phones in Nigeria. Today, everyone who can put N2,000 together can get a line and a cell phone.

The Obasanjo administration deregulated the telecommunications industry and Nigeria is now awash with telecommunication companies, a booming industry and happy citizens who can now 'complain' about poor service. We need to achieve the same growth and liberalization for the energy sector, particularly electricity. It appears that anything that can be 'pay-as-you-go' would scale in Nigeria.

To translate this to electricity and clean electricity at that; we can achieve scale with the right government policy. A first step would be to allow anyone to generate and sell electricity as long as the source of generation is 'clean'. This way we could have neighbourhood estates and villages generating solar power (using concentrated solar panel technology) or wind power to produce energy at source with minimal transmission losses and plant maintenance costs.

A second step and one that could create huge demand and a new industry would be the creating of a legislation that would treat green energy home improvements as a mortgage. If there is a government policy is instituted that would allow citizens or businesses that install solar generation or wind generation systems to get tax credits at a better rate than current mortgage tax credit, we would immediately unlock bank funds and harvest the low hanging fruits of rich people who currently use N2-N3M silent generators. By providing financing and tax credits, these customers will be the early adopters of the technology on a large scale and progressively wean us off fossil fuel generating sets.

It will like the mobile phone business create new companies, jobs, innovations, businesses and added services that we do not have now because electricity does not exist. The cost for early adopters will be high but as the technology and services become more available, we will naturally follow Moore's law; the same way mobile phones followed Moore's law, service and phones became twice better but cost twice cheaper every 18-24 months.

If we can make it relatively 'painless' for early adopters to afford green energy in Nigeria, then we will be well positioned to leapfrog to the new 'green' energy world and bring on board virtually all Nigerians to reliable, available energy in the next 10 years, the same way the mobile phone industry has provided communication to virtually all Nigerians within the same time frame.

Monday, July 26, 2010

BOP: Designs for 2 X10^9 People

BOP = Bottom of the pyramid. More than 40% of humanity live on less than $2 a day and this population lacks access to the marvels of technology and the opportunities this access brings. As technologies explode and prices halve while efficiencies and speed doubles, we are entering into an era of abundance where products and services are becoming more affordable.

India is taking the lead in this arena by designing specifically for people with low incomes. The Nano car and the newly unveiled $35 laptops (http://bit.ly/9RqF5a) are just examples of this new wave. As products become cheaper and more accessible, people have the opportunity to have more control over their lives and increase their capacity to do more for themselves.

The role of governments therefore in this era is to provide the basic services that are necessary for the citizenry to avail themselves of these technologies. Energy again is the core. We must provide universal access to energy at an affordable and environmentally sustainable price. Making available 1KWHr of energy for every household for at least 10 hrs pay day would power 6 LED light points, 2 ceiling fans or 1 room heater, 1 refrigerator (for food preservation), 1 television, 1 radio, 1 computer that would connect every individual to the world.
On this platform, a youth in the remotest village in Nigeria could get a world class education on Wikipedia or at MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm or other available open source education portal, for free and without having to leave his village!

But to achieve this we must provide access to electricity for all. Not by declaring a state of emergency but by clearly defining targets, communicating these targets and working together to achieve them. By 2012, the $35 laptop will be available around the world, by 2015 we might be struggling to get kids to use pen and paper because laptops will cost $20. But will we in Nigeria and Africa have the electricity to power them on?

Energy should be at the top of all developmental goals for developing countries. Providing energy is the bedrock for designing for the BOP. It is a huge market and India leads the way in recognizing this, Nigeria as a NET energy Exporter needs to lead in providing energy solutions for the BOP.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Energy The Key: To Unlock the Benefits of Exponential Technologies for SubSahara Africa.

The statistics are alarming and heart breaking. More than 50 years after independence and despite numerous development projects, 79% of people in sub-Sahara Africa do not have access to electricity. And most of the 21% that have access do not have constant reliable 24hr a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year access.
It is estimated that the amount of energy consumed in one day in all sub-Saharan Africa, minus South Africa, is approximately equal to the daily consumption in New York City. The problem is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa, with several entire nations there effectively non-electrified. In 11 African countries, more than 90 percent of people go without electricity. In six of these -- Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone -only 3 to 5 percent of people can readily obtain electric power.

Energy drives everything and without access to electricity, people will be unable to harness the full benefits the exponential technologies that is changing our world and would accelerate more changes in the near future. African countries should therefore focus on providing access to energy for all citizens. Opportunity exists in green technology to provide decentralized off the grid clean energy solutions. The success of the cell phone revolution in sub Sahara Africa points to the viability of standalone decentralized systems in the region. This model be deployed for energy and the use of solar, wind and biomass energy sources for home and community power generation should become ubiquitous.

Approximately every two years, the cost of a laptop is halved while the speed is doubled, observing and utilizing this trend, it is possible that solutions in the clean energy space could mimic this growth. Sub-Sahara Africa cannot afford wait until a solar panel costs $10 but we should start now to utilize this solution and build our economy so that in the future we too can contribute to technology and benefit from the growth of technology. Without addressing the energy problem, we cannot fully participate in the development trends and opportunities available to the world at this time.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Exponential Technologies and Sub Sahara Africa

Today I made a presentation at Singularity University, NASA Ames California about the 6th goal in the MDG. Target 6B states in summary: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals) As of today, it is estimated that only 42% of people worldwide who are living with HIV/AIDS have access to treatment.
In sub-sahara Africa, there are many USAID and other NGO initiatives to grant access to treatment but most candidates do not avail themselves of the opportunities because they do not know their status. Most people only get tested when they already have symptoms of full blown AIDS. Despite the spread of the disease, people living with HIV/AIDS experience stigmatization and inadequate support from society and even loved ones and thus they sometimes lose the fight for their lives when they need it most.

I believe that we are experiencing exponential growths in technology and the dissemination of these technologies would be global because to global access to the internet. As Sub Sahara African (SSA) countries fix their energy problems, the use of internet services including smart phones will become ubiquitous.

Sub Sahara Africa is uniquely positioned to benefit from the green energy revolution due to the lack of on-grid electricity in most areas. By 2020, solar and wind energy solutions will come cheap and in a box. Solving the energy problem will grant SSA cheap access to internet networks and platforms where people can get world class education from the comfort of their homes.

Innovations in 3-D printing and rapid automated manufacturing (http://www.weareacasa.com/) would revolutionize home construction and by 2025, the average time to build a functional home in SSA would be seven (7) days.
Trends in bioinformatics and biotechnology will produce biovores- disease eating cells- which will work with white blood cells to actively target and destroy disease bearing viruses and organisms. Respiravores - red blood cells- and regenerative cells will be created by bio engineering to replace damaged cells and speed up healing and regeneration of damaged tissues. By 2025 crowd sourced platforms like GoogleHealth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Health) would have user reported health information and high value medical information that people would make intelligent medical decisions on common problems.

Building off these technologies, artificial intelligence through robotics and super computing, would allow the creation of intelligent primary care doctors who can diagnose illness with the aid of reports from user home test kits and symptoms analysis over smart phones. All these and more would be available by mid 2030's but to be part of this revolution SSA has to make tremendous progress in fixing her energy problems within the next decade.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

UPCYCLE: Using Technology To Make Waste Management Profitable For Africa

We have had many initiatives in the management of waste. From waste conservation, reuse to recycle. The more recent and innovative approach to waste management now is Upcycle. A process where the end life of a product is planned before the product is manufactured.
For instance before a new paper sheet is manufactured, the manufacture could arrange for the buyer who would get the used paper for recycling into storage cartons and also ensures that the consumer is able to (with minimum effort) effectively manage the intermediate role of buyer and seller.

This process seems difficult or impossible, but with the use of technology, this is actually achievable. Africa with a non manufacturing economy could utilise this niche to become a middleman for producers and recyclers to complete the upcycle process. We could also early on design our manufacturing and distribution processes to be more waste efficient and Upcycle ready. This could be an advantage for us as a late entrant to the economy as we can use newer and more efficient technology to operate greener, cleaner and more efficient systems.

Full Disclosure: I am a student of Singularity University GSP10. This post draws from some discussions and ideas shared among fellow students at the institution.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Heading To Singularity University

Awesome and unbelievable. I am heading to Singularity University in NASA Ames California for the GSP 10 summer program (http://singularityu.org/). I am one of four Africans in a class of 80 young leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world.

I got to hear about Singularity University (SU) through an Alumni of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) in the USA - Dr. Ndubuisi Ekekwe. This guy is an awesome lover of Humanity and Africans in particular. He has been running a series of Technology workshops to promote technology use for problem solving in Africa.

We had an interesting conversation on how technology could be used to solve Africa's problems from hunger to poverty, ethics, human rights to housing and I was really excited to learn how we could use this to impact our continent and the world. I understand from the GSP09 alumni that the school is a mind blowing experience.

My visas are in order, tickets bought, attending teleconferences and heading out to California to change the world!!! Will keep you all posted on my progress. Hope will get to watch the world cup while changing the world!!!!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dirge of The Praise Singers

In recent times, the good governor of Akwa Ibom state, His Excellency Obong Godswill Akpabio has been deluged with praise singers both at home and abroad. He has been inundated with sycophants who have praised him to high heavens, commended him for building roads and completing abandoned projects. What these praise singers have not told him is that it is expected of him to build roads. If he does not build roads then what would he spend the $2 Billion state budget on?

On completion of abandoned projects, we could first debate if such projects were abandoned in the first place. Just because a former governor could not complete the construction of a particular project within 4 years of his term does not mean the project was abandoned. If we retain this mental attitude, then we will not be able to deliver ambitious projects like London’s Heathrow terminal 5, which was conceptualized in 1989 but completed 17 years later in 2006! And became operational two years later in 2008!!!!

We will always have praise singers and jesters in the king’s court, but the danger lies where the king takes his jesters too seriously especially the one who keeps telling him that he will conquer all his enemies. The king should however keep close that jester who once in a while reminds the king that he has a large nose and his ears might be a bit too small!!!

For all the praise singers, I have only advice for His Excellency Godswill Akpabio - Remember Abacha's wife. I was a fresh university graduate when I went to Abuja to look for work. I was told that to get anything in Abuja you must belong to the Kanu led youth for Abacha club. Every young person in Abuja was talking about the first family, the first lady, Abacha the redeemer, the savior, the man with the cap that fits etc. And every single visible space was filled with his pictures and that of his wife. Just like AKS is filled with yours now. I left Abuja convinced that I could not do a civil service job. I was not created for such levels of ass licking.

Barely a month after my Abuja trip, Abacha died. Across the country young people went on the streets to celebrate. People closed down streets and partied till daybreak. The next morning Abuja was in confusion. But I will never forget the statement attributed to Mrs. Abacha (reported by the various youth leaders who rushed to Aso Rock to console the first family) ' So Nigerians Hated Us this Much'. That is what she said.

Your Excellency Sir you shall live a long and prosperous life to serve your people. Your story is one of a man who has overcome great adversity to achieve outstanding leadership. You have been given a unique opportunity in history. Your story is a consolation to every struggling mother in Ibibio land. People say 'That was the son the family rejected, if he can be governor, then my child will be something in this life'. When we hear your story how you struggled with lack but held on to your believe in education and kept going to school even when all odds were against you, we are encouraged to keep striving for literacy. We admire you Sir for promoting free education in our state and we are encouraged by your advocacy for relief for pregnant women, children and the elderly by providing free health care to this vulnerable group of people. Your audacity to stand against and win the mighty political machinery and the conventional wisdom in Nigeria that the incumbent leader (governor or president) is the only one that can anoint his successor, proved that indeed democracy has come to stay in our land and we will keep improving the process and continually reap the benefit of having a form of government that is of the people, by the people and for the people.
In this brief discuss, you can see Sir that history has already painted you in a good light and you shall be remembered fondly by many. Yet Sir, your falling under the spell of sycophants will undo all this good work. Cloak yourself with the humility of Fashola. Put your nose to the grindstone. Hire a few real critics especially those who live in Nigeria. People whose job it is to tell you on a daily basis the truth…… That you are not doing enough considering the billions that enters the covers of AKS on a daily basis. That creating a privileged class of people who are personal Assistants (PA) to a PA who is a PA to a PA of the PA who is the governor's PA is not empowerment. It is enriching people without allowing them create value and it is a sheer waste of human talent not to speak of the state money!!!

And you will do well Sir to hold a town hall meeting to address those young folks that pelted you with pure water sachets. They I believe have an answer to how you can win our hearts again. We AKS people want to love you, we connect with your story and we believe in you but we think that you are wasting time and resources campaigning for a second term while leaving the work of the first undone. Execute the Mandate that we gave you. Write your name in the sands of history of our state and our nation, as a minority in Nigeria, I understand the challenges you face as a minority in AKS. But dear Sir times have changed. The youths will deliver the votes and we don’t care about Ibibio or Annang, we don’t even understand what it means, we care about our future and a lasting legacy and dear Sir contrary to whatever your praise singers will tell you, in AKS the great governors of our state still remain: Dr. Clement Isong and Idongesit Nkanga.

You need to up your game to be included in this list and you will not achieve this feat by plastering your face across the landscape of our land and the praise songs of sycophants is a dirge in the ears of the citizenry.

God bless Akwa Abasi Ibom State and Long Live the Federal Republic Of Nigeria.