NIGERIA: Deploying Technology to Solve Our Perennial Problems – Emeka Maduewesi, Esq., LL.M, (IP and Technology Law) – In the past three weeks, I posted some of my thoughts on the infrastructural and governance problems facing Nigeria as a nation. I wrote on data security, electronic voting, power supply, etc. This short note digs deep into my juice to suggest what may be deployed to solve
some of these perennial problems. These problems include security of life and property, wanton corruption, and fraud infested international image.
For obvious reasons, I will only throw out the suggested cures without attaching them to any particular disease:
1. Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID), Barcode and location/position detection device;
2. Biometric Point of Payment and Point of Delivery Verification Solution;
3. Trust and Identity Data Mining and Preservation System;
4. Integrated Vehicle Licensing Scheme;
5. SMS Based Alert Systems; (Banks use it and NAFDAC uses it to verify Fake Drugs)
6. Integrated Payment Processing with Direct Deposit and Automated Clearing House (ACH);
7. Integrated Information Technology Education.
Implementing these five suggestions will drastically reduce or even completely eliminate some of the problems listed above, including giving us a clean image that no amount of propaganda or image rebranding will ever achieve. With these in place, companies like Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Dell, Shopping.com, and most of the powerful e-commerce companies will find Nigeria attractive.
Also, having these technology infrastructures in place will create employment and spur innovative entrepreneurship. Currently, Nigeria has no “eBay”, no “PayPal”, no “Microsoft”, no “Google”, no “Salesforce.com”, no “StubHub”, no “Ticket Nation”, no “Facebook”, etc; the list is endless. Most other countries had these clones, which attracted the original. Ever heard of India’s Infosy or Tata Consulting?
To quote the Right Reverend Akinyemi Odejide, the Bishop of Ifo Diocese of the Anglican Communion, “The present Nigerian political class consists of devilish and anti-people politicians, whose moral lives are nothing to reckon with.” His Lordship forgot to include ignorance. Yes, most elite Nigerians believe that President Obama delivers his speeches off the top of his head! Some have never seen or head of tele-prompters!
With the high level of curuption, crime, including kidnapping, acute unemployment, unemployable graduates, and low e-commerce penetration due to unchecked internet scam, now is the time for our leaders to do the right thing. Rebranding is a joke of grandiose proportion. Technology is the real answer. Unless our leaders have a different agenda or destination in mind, or are simply ignorant of the 21st Century destination of other countries, they should ask for directions.
Emeka Maduewesi is a dual-qualified (Nigeria and California) international lawyer with cross-border intellectual property and technology transactions, licensing, regulatory, complex commercial litigation and antitrust experience. He has a Masters Degree in Intellectual Property and Technology Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, California. He is the Publisher of http://www.nigerianlawregistry.com and http://www.nlid.info