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Brazil On My Mind! - A Nation On A Fast Track To Becoming Another Super Power By Dr. Wumi Akintide

September 26, 2013

I am doing this piece as part of the events marking the 53rd anniversary of Nigeria’s independence which will be celebrated on October 5th with a parade on Second Avenue in Manhattan by Nigerian Americans drawn from all parts of the United States. It is a parade Sahara TV based in New York encourages and celebrates with pomp and pageantry befitting the most populated country in the West African sub region with so much potential but so little to show for it. Sahara TV an NGO based in the greatest city in the world, to borrow a cliché from Dr. Damages, has a mission to be the catalyst for change in Nigeria by all means The SaharaCompany is therefore leaving no stones unturned to celebrate Nigerian diversity and culture while at the same time drawing attention to all of the shortcomings of Nigeria that need to change or be urgently addressed by our leaders and citizens.

I am doing this piece as part of the events marking the 53rd anniversary of Nigeria’s independence which will be celebrated on October 5th with a parade on Second Avenue in Manhattan by Nigerian Americans drawn from all parts of the United States. It is a parade Sahara TV based in New York encourages and celebrates with pomp and pageantry befitting the most populated country in the West African sub region with so much potential but so little to show for it. Sahara TV an NGO based in the greatest city in the world, to borrow a cliché from Dr. Damages, has a mission to be the catalyst for change in Nigeria by all means The SaharaCompany is therefore leaving no stones unturned to celebrate Nigerian diversity and culture while at the same time drawing attention to all of the shortcomings of Nigeria that need to change or be urgently addressed by our leaders and citizens.

Nigeria has the potential to become the Brazil of the future if only our Nigerian leaders could learn something from Brazil. I have just returned from a 3 week vacation to that country, Guyana and the Caribbean  and I came away with very positive impressions of that country I must not fail to share with the fans of this column. I feel qualified to do this piece as a former  Secretary to the Joint Economic Commissions of Nigeria with other countries of the world when I served in the Nigerian Federal  Ministry of Economic Planning in the 80s under two powerful  permanent secretaries. I am talking of Allhaji Abubakar Alhaji (Triple A) and Ogbuefi Gilbert Chikelu who are still alive and could issue a rebuttal  to this write up if I am wrong.

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Looking back in time I can now see that Nigeria made a mistake up till now by making Africa the cornerstone of our foreign policy. That policy in many ways has handicapped Nigeria from reaching out to a country like Brazil and Singapore instead of  countries like the Gambia, Niger, Chad and other West African countries which had more to gain from us than we do from them in terms of infrastructural and economic development. I remember Nigerian Economic Mission meeting several times in Niamey and Maradi to work in collaboration with Niger that has gotten Nigeria nowhere. Nigeria had to do business with Niger based on the friendship of Yakubu Gowon and Hamani Diori and not so much because of what the two countries could learn from each other. A joint economic mission with the Gambia at the time under Dauda Jawara was a complete waste of time because Gambia was in no position to help Nigeria be the best she could be. An economic commission with a country like Brazil would have made more sense .

My 3 week vacation to Brazil following my second retirement from the New York State Public Service was an eye opener. My first retirement was from Nigeria way back in 1986 before my relocation to the United States. I used to think more of Brazil only as the home base of the world’s greatest footballer, the one and only Pele and not so much as a tiger in South America. My 3 week odyssey to Brazil has changed all of that perception. I will be failing in my duties to not share some of my experience on that trip with all of the fans of this column in the Nigeria world and many of the websites like Google and Chat Afrik which often carry a reprint of this column from the Nigeria world much to my surprise and quiet delight. 

Brazil has definitely come along way if you know how long she has operated and survived as a sovereign state. Brazil was a former Portuguese colony. I know some of you reading this may view the comparison of Nigeria with Brazil as comparison between David with Goliath and therefore unfair. The comparison is called for in my judgment because the two countries are richly blessed by God or Nature by way of their limitless natural resources which include Oil and Gas among others. Brazil today is the worlds largest producer of Ethanol. Quite apart from efficiently managing her oil resources better than Nigeria, Brazil is one of the leading countries in South America to think of finding alternate sources of energy to Oil by  producing bio fuel from renewable sugar cane to run a new brand of automobile. Brazil unlike Nigeria does not depend on a one product economy. She promotes Agriculture like no other country in their hemisphere and she is making a pretty good job of it just like she does with tourism which is one of the backbones of Brazilian  economy. Brazil is doing all of that while actively promoting her culture and history like no other country I have had the privilege to visit.

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What I witnessed in Rio has made a huge impression on me as I ponder the future of Nigeria as Nigeria takes 2 steps forward and 4 steps backward under a one party dictatorship that continues to rig and win elections from one election circle to another despite their abysmal performance. President Goodluck Jonathan, the first Ph.D holder from the South to ever win the presidency on his own merit came to that job promising to chart a new course for Nigeria. But if you compare his leadership and performance with that of the powerful  woman, President Dlima Rouseff who  currently leads Brazil, you  have to wonder like me why Nigeria  is so unlucky to be led by “idiots and sycophants” as eloquently framed by Pastor Tunde Bakare in his recent diatribe against past and present Nigerian leaders minus our pre and post Independence leaders which includes, Obafemi Awolowo arguably the best of them for his clear vision and strong leadership. The list has to include Ogbuefi Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sardauna Bello and even our first Prime Minister,Tafawa Balewa for all his low profile style as compared to Ghana’s Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, the leader of the pack in that era.

Why Brazil has made the best  of her limitless resources and blessings Nigeria has literarily squandered her own. President Good luck leading a delegation of more than 600 to the current session of the General Assembly in New York is a big proof of Nigeria’s insanity. The schism currently rocking the PDP the ruling party which has kept the country in bondage  in the last 14 years and their still gloating about wining again in 2015 despite the corruption and insecurity currently facing the nation are simply mind-boggling to say the least. Wole Soyinka has rightly described our generation as a wasted one in recognition of this observation. Nigeria is worse off today than she was on October 1st 1960 if you see what I see. Power outages in the few towns that had electricity was unheard of. Crime and violence has now taken hold in all our cities and urban centers. The few Universities we had at the time were centers for excellence. A threat to national security and instability has not become a daily occurrence. Corruption has become the rule and not the exception in Nigeria.  I am writing all of this not to submit that there is no corruption in Brazil. There is. But anywhere it is found it is never condoned or tolerated. The perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the Law to serve as a deterrence to other culprits.

Brazil fully understands that she cannot create the future by clinging to the past but she also understands that she could hardly know where she is going if she does not know or fully understands where she is coming from. Brazil unlike Nigeria  defines Progress not just by where she has been, but where she is going. The emergence of Brazil as one hell of a dynamic country is a “fait accompli”. Brazil is now the 5th largest economy in the world following the  heels of America as the first, China as the second, Japan as the 3rd, and Germany as the 4th. Great Britain which used to be the 5th largest economy has  been quietly edged out by Brazil.  I was in Brazil on September 7 when she celebrated her 191st anniversary of her independence. It was a beautiful ceremony showing what a serious and responsible nation Brazil has become.

If you are planning a vacation any time soon, one of the countries I would recommend to you is Brazil which, to all intent and purposes,has become the most dominant country in South America not just by her sheer size in land and population, but by her creativity and resourcefulness based on the amazing strides she has made. I flew out of beautiful  Rio, the second largest city in the country with a population of 6 million thinking about Lagos and Abuja and how the Federal Government has totally failed to measure up to Brazil in every index of development.

Like the United States, Brazil is a huge country  and a conglomeration of cultures where the Blacks among them especially those with their roots traced back to the Yoruba nation in Nigeria still cling to some of the Yoruba religion, tradition and cultural heritage with understandable pride and passion. Brazil is the biggest Catholic country in that  hemisphere with a very high literacy rate and a desire to excel in every thing the country has set  her mind upon. Little wonder that the country has been picked to host not only the 2014 Soccer World Cup and the Summer Olympics in 2016.

I was particularly intrigued by some of her black citizens whose founding fathers came to Brazil because of the dominant role played by Portugal in the African slave trade. Many of them from the West Africa sub region in particular were Youbas who have not forgotten up till now their cultural heritage and history as they struggle to maintain their identity in the melting pot that Brazil has become. Many of them who are not Catholics still identify with and worship some of the Yoruba deities till tomorrow. The great progenitor of the Yorubas, Oodua, has been elevated to a local deity and worshipped by a cross section of Brazilian Yorubas just like they do in Cuba. I was pleasantly surprised to find among them devotees of Ifa Orunmila, Aterere K’Aiye, Obatala, Olokun, Ogun, Yemoja just to mention a few.

I was mystified and impressed by Brazil’s preparations for the World Cup and Summer Olympic as I hinted earlier. The Rio Airport, an architectural wonder in its own right, is being expanded and modified to cope with the demands of the Olympic as well as the influx of visitors to the two world events. The hotel market and industry are expanding rapidly. A handful of 5 Star Hotels are being built. The sea facing Copacabana Palace Hotel built in 1920 has undergone a massive renovation with more rooms  and a dazzling outdoor pool and Cypriani Restaurant added to the mix. There is the 245-room Marriot Hotel and the  388-room Sofitel in Copacabana, the 89-room ocean front Fasano in Ipanema and the 44-room Relais and Chateaux Santa Teresa in downtown Rio. Other 4 star hotels include Sheraton, Golden Tulip and Novotel. The fastest growing chain of hotels includes the Windsor Hotels with 11 venues in Rio and The Miramar Hotel reopened in May after a a two year renovation, I was told.

No less than 70 new hotels are in the pipeline more than half of which are four or five-star. That means 18,000 rooms in addition to the 29,000 already in existence. Hyatt and Hilton are confirmed to open in time for the Olympics. There is the” Barra da Tijuca” on the southwesterly shores of Rio which is the site for the Olympic Village. The Windsor chain is building 2 more hotels to be completed in 2014 before the World Cup. Barra has one of the biggest beaches in Rio and the biggest Convention Center in South America. There is Riocentro plus more than 20 shopping malls and the newly-opened Cidade das Artes, a 90,000 square meter entertainment venue and an 1800 seat concert hall. Rio Olympic Park will host more than 20 sports during the Games and the Olympic Arena Maria Lenk Aquatic Center and Olympic Velodrome are all new additions to a bubbling city of 6 million people.

There is also the building of the Binary Highway, 4 kilometers of tunnels and 650,000 sqm of new pavement plus the unveiling of a central light rail transit system and two museums. The Rio Art Museum opened in March and the 15,000 sqm Museum of Tomorrow is due to open in 2014. Brazil is seeking to revolutionize urban mobility in a way that will make Abuja and its planners feel ashamed about what they have done with the limitless resources of Nigeria which are being squandered or stolen by a cabal of useless parliamentary leaders led by our so-called Senate President, David Mark who may one day run for President.  Nigerian parliamentarians are the highest paid in the world for doing nothing. Leaders who seek electoral power in Brazil do so not to make money but to make a contribution and to leave their foot prints on the sand sof history.  I take off my hat for Brazil and her leadership, past and present whose dedication and patriotism are totally unimpeachable.

The 78,000 capacity Olympic Stadium a key venue for both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics is an architectural wonder to behold.  Rio’s sea front promenades and the space-age VLT tram connecting 42 stations in downtown Rio is designed to solve the problems of traffic jam in Rio by complementing the Rapid Bus Transit system. Rio has partnered with IBM to create a high tech “mission control” fed with live footage from 900 cameras around the city enabling authorities to monitor roads, tunnels, buildings and bridges and to react immediately when there are landslides, flooding or other problems such as overcrowding during public events like annual Carnivals. There was an old saying in Europe “See Paris and die.” I guess Rio de Janeiro is going to  steal that epithet from Paris in no time if her current level of development and beauty is sustained.

Late Justice Akinola Aguda my townsman who presided over the panel for the building of the new capital for Nigeria in Abuja will be turning in his grave if he is able to see what the Nigerian leaders has made of his blue print for Abuja. The city is built with an Hausa mentality which believes in living for today while believing that God will take care of tomorrow. Any nation that shares that kind of mind set in the 21st century has boxed herself into a corner for underdevelopment for years to come. Nigeria has a whole lot to learn from Brazil as we celebrate another anniversary of Nigerian Independence with little or nothing to show for it.

I look forward to meeting some of you at the parade in New York. Stay tuned for the piece on Guyana in the coming weeks.

 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

 

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