It’s 3am on Sunday morning and I seem to have utilised all the units of sleep that I have allocated for the day. A peep into the last few days (and hours) would give you a better understanding of why a rather tired young man would lose sleep: I arrived Nigeria on the 25th of January just after noon and tried making my way to the Virgin Nigeria desk to get on the 1:30pm flight to Abuja. After enduring the long queue towards the entry point, I ended up with an immigration officer whose sole aim was to deny me a free extra page for another visa — he stamped “Seen on Arrival” on a fresh page of my passport, ignoring my late request that I am guarding fresh pages on my passport (to prevent carrying a rather bulky passport due to renewals ahead of validity expiry). Well, I bounced back to reality and — thanks to forethought — escaped the unbearable wait for luggage because I was able to travel light in spite of my multiple destinations.

By the time I got through the final immigration check (the last before you breathe Lagos fresh air), I had left another drama in my tracks. The last immigration official saw an Indian visa (dated December 2005) on my passport and thought I should be checked for drugs because that (to him) was proof that I had access to their most suspicious route for drug transfer. A few words from an innocent young man in a hurry convinced him that I was innocent, helped by the many Ethiopian visas that made us discuss my UN involvements. We ended the discussion with his promise to vote for Prof. Pat Utomi in the forthcoming elections. You can be sure that the flight had left for Abuja by this time… and it was actually a 1:10pm flight, not 1:30pm as I was informed! The other alternative was to leave for the local wing of the airport to catch another flight… and then the Arik Air option dawned on me. I got the new airliner’s ticket and even though take-off was not on time, the pilot’s continued emphasis on his brand new aircraft was enough to keep every passenger laughing — or fuming.

I arrived Abuja and had to do the Abuja-Jos part of my journey by road (there’s only one flight from Lagos to Jos everyday and its in the morning). After about 4 hours, I arrived at the National Telecentres’ Summit, but the opening meeting had ended. I made up for that by diving straight into getting an update and attending to outstanding administrative tasks on my desk. For the 2 days (all of Friday and half of Thursday and Sunday) we spent on the task, I saw vibrancy and a summit whose timing was rather on time. The telecentre operators from various states of Nigeria discussed the place of telecentres (in their various forms and nomeclature) within Nigeria’s ICT4D space, and held focused discussions on the definition of telecentres (within the Nigerian context), the problems telecentres face, how telecentres can get better, and who can help telecentres. After appreciating the need to work together, participants discussed issues such as How do we begin? (Network establishment and pre-establishment logistics), What can we do together? (Projects and members? collaboration), and How do we work together? (Operational details and logistics).

At the end of the braistorming and focus on practical steps on the way forward, the network was named the Telecentres’ Network of Nigeria (TNN). The summit report and action lines are available, and you can be sure that the process has only just begun. Nigeria now has no excuse with respect to taking adavtage of the ongoing global telecentre movement’s activities, especially in relation to our desire to extend the dividends of ICTs to rural Nigeria. I left Kuru for, Jos in order to catch up with online work, and decided to spend the night so I could rest from the Uganda-Kenya-Ethiopia-Kuru stretch. The night began rather early, with my eyelids falling in love with each other at about 11pm. Initial plans to see the city and have dinner didn’t go beyond thoughts… Stop Press! Guess what, sleep is creeping back into my system and I need to subscribe to the opportune units so I can recharge for the days ahead — meeting with stakeholders in the Nigerian ICT space to discuss the possibility of the Naija 774 dream on a bigger scale than I imagined before the National Telecentres’ Summit at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru…

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Tomorrow is a very important day in my life, and that of Nigeria’s journey towards the appropriate use of ICTs for development — especially for the rural population. A few kilometres away from the city of Jos, about forty telecentre leaders and industry stakeholders will meet to discuss the emergence of a network that can serve as the platform for taking telecentres to the next level in Nigeria. In a recent study of Telecentres in Nigeria, I shared thoughts on what I found out as the cross-cutting issues among telecentres in Nigeria (especially the energy/power, access and manpower challenges). In that research report, I agreed with the Wikipedia definition of telecentres:

“A telecentre is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet and other technologies that help them gather information and communicate with others at the same time as they develop digital skills. While each telecentre is different, the common focus is to support community and social development ? reducing isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic opportunities, reaching out to youths etc. utilizing appropriate technologies. Telecentres exist in almost every country on the planet, although they sometimes go by different names (e.g. Pallitathya Kendra, Rural Information Centre, village knowledge centres, infocentres, community technology centres, community multimedia centres or schoolbased telecentres). You can learn more about telecentres on the telecentre.org web site.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecentre)

The NTN Summit is supported by Telecentre.org, and will feature the participation of Microsoft and UNESCO. It is being co-organised by Lagos Digital Village, Fantsuam Foundation and Coseo Limited. While the major focus on the meeting is to develop strategies on the operationalsation of the network, there will be focused post-meetings with partners and potential collaborators who can share the dream and enhance the process. If you ask me, I would easily state that Nigeria should, by now, have at least 774 telecentres across the country (in each local government) to meet the needs of the rural population. Through these telecentres, they can connect with ICT opportunities; meet their information needs (e.g. market information, farming facts, etc); promote their communities and involvements (by uploading data — possibly to fuel toursim interest or seed eCommerce relations); connect with education/learning opportunities and more.

The recent launching of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) and other activities across the nation (may I mention those that have been in the news a lot of late — i.e. efforts spearheaded by Zinox’s Leo Stan Ekeh and AfriHub’s Manny Aniebonam) provide the opportunity to harness prevalent energies to facilitate a nation-wide rollout of telecentres. After the 27th of January — and follow-up meetings — it would be great to know if my long-term dream of Naija 774 (not an airliner but the existence of at least one telecentre in all of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas) will come to pass. I can’t deny the influence of my December 2005 visit to India (during which I was able to learn more about the Mission 2007 project) on this dream, but I am excited about the fact that after various months of discussions, et al, the NTN Summit will hold from tomorrow!

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I had a brief stop-over in Lagos on Sunday (January 21) before my onward journey to Ethiopia — the last of the 3 East African countries I’m visiting this January. By the way, I have come to see Ethiopia as a second home because of my frequent travels to the country’s capital city, in relation to my involvements with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and must confess that the city is beautiful! … Our flight from Nairobi was delayed for 2 hours, during which I made god use of the airport Internet terminals which offer services at the rate of $2 for every 15 minutes spent. It was also good time to reflect on the last few days and to realign my plans for the month of January with the emerging realities of the year. I thought the five-hour flight ended too soon because I only remember waking up to have a meal and waking up on arrival. The Lagos airport looked a bit different as there are evidently some ongoing renovation work — visible from the exit point and the relocated restrooms.

My stop-over afforded me the opportunity to receive the plaque which was presented to me in absentia during the 2007 The Future awards. The award is increasingly becoming the de facto youth celebration event, and the promos were everywhere just before I left for Uganda. Kudos to the entire RedStrat team that keeps increasing the tempo of the award while keeping the desire to be better on the minds of young Nigerians. I had won the Best Use of Technology category at the maiden edition last year, and was surprised at my nomination this year. After the event, I got eMail messages from friends congratulating me on winning the Youth Advocacy category for this year’s award — during which Tara Fela-Durotoye won the Young Person of the Year prize.

I told a friend that the award (coming in a nice glass plaque set on a marble stand) means a lot more to me than the reward and recognition, as it really goes to challenge the need for me (and of course lead others) to move from the level of advocacy to proof-bearing action. Advocacy is excellent, but I have come to learn that whatever cause we stand for can be further supported when we show proof in relation to the things we ask for. I have spent a few years seeking improved participation of youth in ICT-led change processes, and look forward to sharing information with you on appropriate action towards producing undeniable results. Technopreneurship (here defined as youth-led ICT-enabled entrepreneurship) is one key area I’m looking at, and hope to finalise ongoing discussions in order to share news about a platform on which Africa’s youth can maximise ICT opportunities to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills and create wealth. We can address the unemployment issues on the continent through active social technopreneurship that provides a double bottomline — with economic and social values.

But, how would you value an opportunity that allows you(th) to own your own online-driven business?

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I’m on my way to Nairobi for meetings that include the World Social Forum. After days of meetings in Uganda, which had fun-filled moments unlike most of my previous trips when I have had to go directly to meetings venues from the airport and depart the same without a chance to see the new city. I am now in the second phase of the three-nation working visit in East Africa and my Ugandan visit provided the opportunity of meeting fellow blogger Ore Somolu whose intellectual and physical charm can’t be ignored.

I arrived at the Entebe airport quite early to continue my search for access close enough to the airport — as I have since learnt that last minute access at the hotel is a sure invitation to a missed flight. I found what should have been the answer to my desire at the airport’s post office but it was closed at 4:30pm even though the sign said it was open until 6pm! That meant Plan B was next — getting something to eat and checking in to search for access close to the boarding gates. This proved to be useful even though I had to pay throuh my nose to use the access point at an elite longue, whose access chose to freeze just before I started using the system (or how do you explain the fact that all I could do in 1 hour was to clear my inbox and wait for eMail windows to open).

I walked into an old Ugandan friend I had met in India in 2005, also on his way to Nairobi. We discussed the 3-nation network that Celtel supports and I thought it was really cool to have a SIM card that worked in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania — hoping that it would one day be possible across the continent. Did I also mention that the flight was delayed for a few minutes because of a young man who left his book at the waiting longue (please don’t ask who ). Once inflight, I had to make a decision between two newspapers that were avaialble for passengers — The Standard and Nation. I was trying to guess which was a better option through the frequency of request but sitting at 6C meant I had only 1 row ahead of me.

I chose The Standard and must thank the guys who work on the Education section for giving me the opportunity of meeting Kenya’s 20 year old President-in-Waiting. George Gachara’s story was featured on page 7 of the newspaper and I was thrilled to read that he said, “Someday, I am going to be the president of this country…” I would not have been moved by the quite popular phrase (don’t we all dream) but could not avoid the description of the author (Maryanne Waweru) on George: “At his youthful age, Garacha already has a vision of his rule as president”. Trust me on this one, this young man is one of the new generation of young men and women who will take the continent by surprise when we ascend their desired thrones for which we spend endless hours planning and working hard at.

George is a recipient of many public speaking awards and deliberately enrolled for a degree in Communication (Public Relations and Electronic Media) towards the fulfilment of his leadership dream. A good sign was also his election to his university’s governing body as the first year representative only four months after he resumed at the school. George’s mother (a single parent) died when he was very young but there is no way you can stop an idea whose time has come — especially one that has a man and his dream in action. In spite of his humble background, George is busy making others better. “I have a passion for my generation, and I try to inspire, motivate and encourage as many young people as possible” was how he put it. By the way, he is also CEO of Delserv Synergies along with website designs and bakery that help pay his tution — plus he’s also not missing out on the stock market.

Just listen to him: “Youth need to be original and think beyond what is expected of them. They should never think of things as out of their reach…. I create time for all my engagements, and only undertake activities that add value to my life. I am not the kind of person you will find idling around campus. I work by prioritising issues, working on only what is important”. You can bet that Gachara reads widely — with Stephen Covey and John Maxwell leading his favourites’ list. The need to plan for the future cannot be over emphasised, and you can also predict how a leader’s youth was by the way he carries out his leadership duties today. Africa hasn’t been very blessed with good leaders because those who spend their youth pursuing other pleasures can not grow up to make the best of leadership that is often stolen on their behalf!

In my local language, we say “omo to ba maa je asamu, kekere lo ti n’senu samu samu.” You can predict a child’s future by his present livelihood is the closest that translates to in English. George may not even become president, but I will not be surprised if he does — and if he enjoys relative ease when he launches his presidential campaign, and when he eventually sets down to the task of governance. Watch the news, and when you hear his name and how his days as president keeps Kenya on international headlines, remember that he said so many years ago (even when many of us laughed off his youthful dreams. The future only belongs to those who can dream and hold on to the value in such dreams. This inspiring story was so strong on me that I had to write the draft of this blog on kenya Airway’s Air Sickness Bag — another event that made me miss my stolen laptop, which was always a ready companion anytime I had a brain-wave, regardless of location or altitude.

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Just before leaving Lagos on a 3-nation working trip (Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia) on Thursday, I had the opportunity of sharing thoughts with students of Awori College on how their lives can be the source of positive change that the world badly needs. Discussions started with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which helped explain what the United Nations-led discussions just before the turn of the millennium identified as the worlds eight most urgent needs. I continued with a quick description of Nigeria’s National Economic Empowerment and Development (NEEDS) strategy, focusing on wealth creation and value reorientation.

The discussion then focused on what role individuals can play in translating these strategies and goals into action, and the opportunity that arises for individuals who are able to meet existing needs. Noting the age bracket (14-19), I discussed the need for progressive preparation to avoid future disappointments and also used their forthcoming final examinations as a descriptive scenario for success that arises from planning and goal-setting. I spoke about the need for personal development to help with an enviable career choice, nation building and the role of light in darkness, and global participation that goes beyond just being a local champion.

The incident that trigerred my conclusion involved a lady who spoke (in response to my question) about where she would be in 15 years only to enjoy the mocking laughter of her colleagues. I insisted that it was okay to have people laugh at you (for various reasons) now, but that would change only if you’re diligent enough to ensure that your future story changes to one that makes those who laughed at you green with envy. I told the story of 20 friends who had various attitudes towards planning for the future and how the focused few ended up as the envied ones.

In conclusion, I shared (in a language they very well understood) a formula that explains how to arrive at the enviable furture we all dream of:

Future = Present + Opportunitiesⁿ

There may be nothing you can do about the present situation (background, status, etc) but you can change the future by identifying opportunities. I however emphasized the fact that opportunities abound for all, but the n factor (the variable that amplifies opportunities in the formula) refers to the extent to which we are able to identify and utilize these opportunities.

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