A Night in Obajana
I was thrilled to see the panorama outside my bedroom window, rain drops were shinning like pearls in the white street light against the pitch black colour of the night. Green leaves of the trees were dancing and singing at the whim of the wind. Sound of the rain droplets falling on the roof in unison with the drumbeat of the roaring clouds and symphony of the wind was creating a perfect orchestra for the music connoisseur.
Night has just begun to grow darker and still in the village of Objana. It is small a place located in the central Nigeria far away from the capital city of Abuja. Objana is known for the Dangote Cement manufacturing plant –It has large sprawling complex, captive mines for the raw materials, dedicated power plant and two colonies for the employees and official guests. Roads in general are dilapidated and the primary mode of public transport is motor bikes that carry the men, women and children manoeuvring through the lanes and highways to their desired destination. Presence of Chinese bikes all around was telling the story of the shift in economic power(According to report ‘Digital Megatrends 2015-The Role of Technology in the New Normal Market’ published by ‘Oxford Economics ‘China will surpass the US to become the world’s biggest economy by 2018, when measured by purchasing power parity)
I am staying in a decent apartment with slanted wooden roof in the guests’ colony, surrounded by the brick wall and barbed wire; streets are well illuminated though gets shrouded in the layers of silence as the night descends; lush green lawn along with the trimmed shrub and trees spread around makes it a perfect place for soothing morning walk. Visitor’s colony also has a cafeteria that serves the Indian food along with the local delicacies.
Hands of the clock seemed tired, it was not even 9.00 pm and I had already finished my dinner and the ritualistic post dinner snooker practice followed by some lazy walk. Switched off the television as the screen was hazy and shaking probably because of the heavy rain. Sleep was still far away and the night had not covered even half of the distance, after enjoying the visual treat of the African monsoon through the transparent window panes, I got into the silent conversation with my best companion – the books.
Triple Bottom Line
I am reading the book ‘New capital Manifesto by Umair Haque’ which I bought at the airport while coming to Nigeria. It is an interesting book that talks about the constructive capitalism and has been written in the hindsight of great American economic crisis triggered by the toxic loans like the aptly named NINJA (no income, no job and no assets). Author states with the fine blend of ardour and anguish that ‘The unvarnished truth is that capitalism is past its prime .It’s an ageing paradigm that has hit the point o maturity .It was built in an industrial age, and the rust and iron on its weathered iron and battered rivets are beginning to show’ .He passionately suggests that ‘It’s time to replace it with a better kind of capitalism, that is intelligent, just, virtuous – and that does deliver the goods’. It is just a sheer coincidence that I started reading the book by an ardent advocate of the capitalism just after finishing the Arunadhiti Roy collection of essays ’Broken Democracy’. She has tried to draw the attention of the collective conscience of India about the appalling and alarming social conditions of the tribal and adivasis whom we have conveniently chosen to ignore for the years immemorial. She explains the phenomenon of industrialization (being described as the panacea for the ills and sufferings of the poor adivasis) that is bound to displace and rob off the millions of the adivasis of their living deity. She goes further and asserts that ‘There is an MOU, on every mountain ,river and forest glade .While for adivasis the mountain is still a living deity , the fountain of death and life , key stone of the ecological health of the region, for the corporation , it’s just a cheap storage facility Goods in storage have to be accessible’.
Every model of development (Invisible Hand of the market or the iron hand of the government control) designed to bring prosperity to the nation and its people (classes or masses) has and will always be debated, deliberated and challenged. There will be people on the either side of the rope, all making supposedly cogent, intelligent and intellectual argument to substantiate and strengthen their view points.
Irrespective of the development model chosen by the government of the day for the common good of its people – its results have to be measured and evaluated using the concept of ‘Triple Bottom Line’ (corresponding to people, planet and profit).This phrase was coined by John Ellington in his famous book ‘Cannibals with Forks’ for an accounting system that records and reflects the social and ecological performance along with financial performance of the organizations. Development model that fails on any of the three dimensions would not be sustainable and ultimately would lose faith and credibility of the people.
Nollywood
Nigerian cinema industry is popularly known as ‘Nollywood’. It is one of the largest film industries in the world in terms of the number of movies produced each year. I am yet to comprehend the science and art of the naming convention of the film industry that always ends on ‘wood’.
Nigerian PidginNigerian Pidgin is the lingua franca used across the Nigeria for the informal conversations. It is a made up of ‘British English’ alloyed with the local words and is spoken in the regional dialects.
I was thrilled to see the panorama outside my bedroom window, rain drops were shinning like pearls in the white street light against the pitch black colour of the night. Green leaves of the trees were dancing and singing at the whim of the wind. Sound of the rain droplets falling on the roof in unison with the drumbeat of the roaring clouds and symphony of the wind was creating a perfect orchestra for the music connoisseur.
Night has just begun to grow darker and still in the village of Objana. It is small a place located in the central Nigeria far away from the capital city of Abuja. Objana is known for the Dangote Cement manufacturing plant –It has large sprawling complex, captive mines for the raw materials, dedicated power plant and two colonies for the employees and official guests. Roads in general are dilapidated and the primary mode of public transport is motor bikes that carry the men, women and children manoeuvring through the lanes and highways to their desired destination. Presence of Chinese bikes all around was telling the story of the shift in economic power(According to report ‘Digital Megatrends 2015-The Role of Technology in the New Normal Market’ published by ‘Oxford Economics ‘China will surpass the US to become the world’s biggest economy by 2018, when measured by purchasing power parity)
I am staying in a decent apartment with slanted wooden roof in the guests’ colony, surrounded by the brick wall and barbed wire; streets are well illuminated though gets shrouded in the layers of silence as the night descends; lush green lawn along with the trimmed shrub and trees spread around makes it a perfect place for soothing morning walk. Visitor’s colony also has a cafeteria that serves the Indian food along with the local delicacies.
Hands of the clock seemed tired, it was not even 9.00 pm and I had already finished my dinner and the ritualistic post dinner snooker practice followed by some lazy walk. Switched off the television as the screen was hazy and shaking probably because of the heavy rain. Sleep was still far away and the night had not covered even half of the distance, after enjoying the visual treat of the African monsoon through the transparent window panes, I got into the silent conversation with my best companion – the books.
Triple Bottom Line
I am reading the book ‘New capital Manifesto by Umair Haque’ which I bought at the airport while coming to Nigeria. It is an interesting book that talks about the constructive capitalism and has been written in the hindsight of great American economic crisis triggered by the toxic loans like the aptly named NINJA (no income, no job and no assets). Author states with the fine blend of ardour and anguish that ‘The unvarnished truth is that capitalism is past its prime .It’s an ageing paradigm that has hit the point o maturity .It was built in an industrial age, and the rust and iron on its weathered iron and battered rivets are beginning to show’ .He passionately suggests that ‘It’s time to replace it with a better kind of capitalism, that is intelligent, just, virtuous – and that does deliver the goods’. It is just a sheer coincidence that I started reading the book by an ardent advocate of the capitalism just after finishing the Arunadhiti Roy collection of essays ’Broken Democracy’. She has tried to draw the attention of the collective conscience of India about the appalling and alarming social conditions of the tribal and adivasis whom we have conveniently chosen to ignore for the years immemorial. She explains the phenomenon of industrialization (being described as the panacea for the ills and sufferings of the poor adivasis) that is bound to displace and rob off the millions of the adivasis of their living deity. She goes further and asserts that ‘There is an MOU, on every mountain ,river and forest glade .While for adivasis the mountain is still a living deity , the fountain of death and life , key stone of the ecological health of the region, for the corporation , it’s just a cheap storage facility Goods in storage have to be accessible’.
Every model of development (Invisible Hand of the market or the iron hand of the government control) designed to bring prosperity to the nation and its people (classes or masses) has and will always be debated, deliberated and challenged. There will be people on the either side of the rope, all making supposedly cogent, intelligent and intellectual argument to substantiate and strengthen their view points.
Irrespective of the development model chosen by the government of the day for the common good of its people – its results have to be measured and evaluated using the concept of ‘Triple Bottom Line’ (corresponding to people, planet and profit).This phrase was coined by John Ellington in his famous book ‘Cannibals with Forks’ for an accounting system that records and reflects the social and ecological performance along with financial performance of the organizations. Development model that fails on any of the three dimensions would not be sustainable and ultimately would lose faith and credibility of the people.
Nollywood
Nigerian cinema industry is popularly known as ‘Nollywood’. It is one of the largest film industries in the world in terms of the number of movies produced each year. I am yet to comprehend the science and art of the naming convention of the film industry that always ends on ‘wood’.
Nigerian PidginNigerian Pidgin is the lingua franca used across the Nigeria for the informal conversations. It is a made up of ‘British English’ alloyed with the local words and is spoken in the regional dialects.
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