Thealvinreport.com led a powerful team of 66 delegates pulled in from various sectors of the economy to discuss leadership issues with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Here is the Editor in Chief of Thealvinreport.com and chief Obasanjo at the summit
Two influential but mid-level bankers reached out last night. They wanted to resign and change careers. They were frustrated and just tired of the system.
I tried to calm them and ask what was the problem. They were just tired. The monotony, the bully, the abuse, and the boredom of pushing the same routine day in and day out.
I once was privileged to attend an MPR session of one of the top five banks by proxy.
I so happened to be with the banker when she was logged in by zoom during the MPR
Words like,’ idiot, you fool, you are telling me rubbish and don’t try this stupidity next time’ were freely used by the divisional head who bereft of any leadership skill resorted to just primitive abuse and threat.
My friend was in trepidation as the swivel was getting to her. I could see that she was physically apprehensive as her voice began to quake. She said,’ Edgar, this woman does not like me, she will kill me.
Truly when it got to her turn, the woman screamed,’ you, you lie a lot. I don’t even know why I should waste my time to listen to you’
My friend greeted her and got a loud hiss. Pls, how much did you bring last week? She barked.
My friend who is a branch head on the mainland of a high profile bank muttered N20m and almost got her head yanked off.
Next was a threat, ‘ pls if you don’t bring in N150m by weekend don’t bother, I am tired’ ‘
After the meeting, my friend burst into tears. She cried like a baby and I began to wonder how she would bring in the N150m in this state.
She had come to me to assist and made me listen to the MPR so that I can be moved to ‘help’
A married woman with kids. Her husband was a fashion designer, she was literally the breadwinner. At this state, she was vulnerable and open to abuse and I must say this is the lot of most bankers worse off the female ones
My other friend is faring better. She is also in a top 5 bank and works out of the head office. Her woe is the series of long, seemingly headless meetings that lead to nowhere.
She is in a ferment and is just looking at a once shining career get rusty. She is middle-aged and with a once in a 5-year promotion circle has come to the realization that it’s over.
My other banker friend Charles once told me that most bankers suffer from high blood pressure and its other brother diabetes as a result of the pressure, unhealthy work hours leading to dietary inefficiencies
Our banks today suffer from a debilitating leadership comprising of hedonistic and opportunistic visionless driven moguls who are in a very unhealthy competition to show leadership without necessarily instilling a robust strategy for growth.
They resort to roadside tactics that deliver really nothing to the table as 80% of the huge incomes delivered are from forex transactions, patronage and other wholesale practices that has nothing to do with the branch manager at Isale Eko
My big aunty who is retiring from a top 2 position in one of the bigger banks had nothing but gratitude to God.
She said,’ Joe, I am going for a long cruise. I am going to Morocco. I will fly by helicopter to the cruise ship and just waste my money
That is the joy she got from getting out of the hell hole. She had given the industry over 35years and although the industry has done well for her, she still would not look back.
Joe, I almost went into a fisticuff with a fellow director. Joe, I can’t do it anymore. It’s abusive and tiring she said.
I am organizing a big party for her.
The banks are wallowing on an inept positioning following their inability to compete favorably with the dynamism of the changing marketplace.
Fintech and technology have brought inefficiencies that the huge banking franchises can not keep up with their ballooning costs.
The almost none existent regulation by the CBN of Finetech allows for easy entry and quick market capture without the red tape of regulatory-led account opening and monitoring activities that the banks have to meet daily.
This has led to a Naira for Naira defeat of the banks in the marketplace by very serious fintech operations.
So firms like Vbank, Piggyvest, and Kuda are taking the banks to the cleaners in the very lucrative and huge millennial marketplace.
The volumes there are massive and although the margins are little, the volumes allow for quick turnover which is the mainstay of the very low-cost feature of their business
The big banks on the other hand carry a huge cost profile esp with the top 5% of their human capital earning almost 80% of their income thus cannot play in that space efficiently
Bogged down by regulatory red tape, critical decision making is lethargic and painfully slow, led by human capital that was trained in the old markets of the 90’s and coming of age in the dizzying age of technology, you begin to understand their penchant for old school banking of ‘go and bring the money instead of a constructive engagement of the evolving market place
So what do you get, a huge catchment of frustrated ‘used to be brilliant people who no longer have the energy to move being led by oligarchs who will now resort to bullying and abuse to coax performance.
Franchises like Wema, GTB, Zenith, and Access have built competing platforms that are taking the fight to the millennial fintech moguls.
They have restructured their human capacity in that space, acquired technology, and have adequate branding that has made them play right in that space
And brilliantly have also positioned themselves as the funnel inflow channel for all the massive retail collections by the Fintech giving them the last laugh positioning on the new market
But that said, banking as we used to know is ‘dead’. Our major banking franchises would have to embark on a serious soul searching and professional didactic engagement if they are to survive the next ten years.
Let me boldly state that any major bank today that does not evolve very strategically according to the dictates of what the market is saying will be dead in 10years no matter the size.
We can see that Titan a small franchise of just 150 people just swallowed a giant Union Bank with over 3,000 staff.
This I will boldly say is as a result of Union Bank not being able to achieve a war boat turnaround in market positioning and I dare say, the prognosis for the new bank as a result of this merger is not bright.
I give it five years at the max. If not well-curated and trimmed and repositioned, it will die. Simple.
My advise, is for the industry to evolve and very quickly so. It’s training, its a strategy for market penetration and acquisition, it’s leadership and ethos must immediately reflect the engagements of the new markets.
Pushing 90s strategy of expansionist banking isn’t working today.
Let’s not see how huge franchises die In our very eyes.
Joseph Edgar
Editor in Chief
Thealvinreport.com
As a young boy in Shomolu, far removed from his birth culture, I used to be fascinated by the Ekpe masquerade. The lone and scary creature that would just appear on the dusty streets of slummy Shomolu used to hold my fascination.
I would run behind it and try to look into its eyes and be totally amazed by its beauty.
As a grown man, I lost the appeal. Enmeshed in the struggle to survive, I lost my fascination with the Ekpe masquerade and all that came with it.
Then I met Oten Ita. Oten is the beautiful daughter of Retired Justice Ita of the Cross River State Judiciary, and she started talking about the Efik culture and its affinity for the Expe Masquerade and the ceremonies that go with it.
In search of funding for my Play-Ufok Ibaan, I now had a meeting with the inspiring Larry Etah, the former Managing Director at UACN. He invited me to the Akpe Iboku and Etongko Mkpe Uruan Festivals.
According to him, the festival, which was a maiden one organized by Efe Abinde in collaboration with Mme Efe in Uruan, presented very rare and assorted Ekpe in all of its finery, royalty, and splendor.
He further went on to state that the festival provided the younger generation a unique opportunity to witness the significance and roles of the Ekpe masquerade in the culture and traditions of the Uruan people.
Let me just leave you with the excitingly powerful images from the festival.
As the play, Ufok Ibaan, opened at the famous Ibom Hall yesterday, the elites of Akwa Ibom came out in their numbers.
Everybody was there. From top politicians to media executives, to academicians and world-famous businessmen,
The hall was glitzy, and the absence of the First Lady didn’t even dampen the enthusiasm and energy the hall was radiating.
As I moved to welcome my guests to the all-VIP show, something strange was evolving.
I must seat at the front. I am the protocol officer for Mr. Xxxx and he is coming with his wife and four in-laws, and they normally seat at the front.
Welcome to Akwa Ibom’s top society, I told myself.
Now we have finite seating in front. At best, 50 seats were at the outer limit, and here I was struggling to seat 200 people. A group of citizens who mostly lent their support in the front lines.
In frustration, I went to my brother Tony Ndah and said, “I will run away.” I couldn’t take it any longer, and he said, “This is a COVID-compliant event; people must sit in the front.”
As I was begging and pleading, one protocol officer walked up to me and asked, “Are you the Duke of Shomolu?” I said yes, irritated by this point, and he said, “My principal is coming, and he usually sits in front.”
I say, “Who is your principal?” and he mentions his name. A top academician I wonder if he has a protocol officer too.
Isn’t he somewhere negotiating an ASUU strike or something?
“I’m sorry he has to sit behind,” I said. In the second row, The protocol man says no. He usually sits in front of me, and I always say, “No sir.”
Was I going to ask the man who gave me N2.5m to stand up for an academic who didn’t take my calls for 3 months to soothe his ego and save the job of this hapless protocol man?
I’m sure you know my answer. There was no seat for HIS Excellency Gov. Udom’s representative, the Hon. Commissioner for Culture, Oman Esin, when he arrived.
I begged him. He, being a paddy man, understood and took me outside, ‘Edgar, you don’t work with us, make sure we give you protocol people. This thing is very important in Akwa Ibom. Your protocol list is very key for things like this.
By this time, I was almost done. I was tired of fighting and begging. This was just a play, albeit a very powerful depiction of a strong story. I shouldn’t be fighting protocols.
Then it gets worse-the Duke, who is the brother of the Emir of Kano, must sit in front. I just gave up and shed tears.
Finally, by some miracle, everybody sat in front. The whole two hundred of them, and the show started, and we had a wonderful time.
Then I went to my hotel to sleep and was woken by a text from a young TV CEO whose station had supported the play.
… I was irritated that I was forced to sit two seats back from the front row, on a red chair rather than the black chair on which other VIPs were seated, and even beside the drummers…
This was the next generation, and she had already imbibed the egotistical posturing of our elders.
I told her I was sorry and next time I would ask Senator Udo Udoma, whose family was being celebrated, to stand up from his seat for her.
Akwa Ibom, this was an experience.
Despite this, I still thank you all for the wonderful show of love and support. It’s good to be with your people. Irreplaceable.
The Duke of Shomolu
Super influential entertainment personalities and long time partners of the Duke of Shomolu, Olisa Adibua, and Bikiya Graham Douglas have both been tapped to front the highly anticipated Documentary Emir Sanusi
Emir Sanusi is a powerful play centered on the intrigues surrounding the dethronement of Emir Sanusi’s grandfather drawing a parallel to his own dethronement all from the eyes of the dogari’s who served both Emirs.
Written and Directed by well respected Prof Ahmed Yerima the Play will showcase the Fulani culture in a way that audiences have never seen and would for the first time ever play two cities- Abuja and Lagos at the same time and also come with three versatile Directors- William Benson – Abuja, Makinde Adeniran – Lagos and Segun Adefila supporting Director.
Prof Yerima will serve as Coordinating Director.
Emir Sanusi will historically come with a highly designed fly on the wall type Documentary which will see Olisa Adibua and Bikiya follow cast and crew as they struggle through the challenges of putting together a production of this size in an environment like Nigeria
He will engage the actors, costumiers, and all stakeholders throwing up the challenges and opportunities as they emerge within the Nigerian Theatre landscape.
The Documentary will be expected to tour international film festivals after a private viewing in Lagos.
Already talks have commenced with both local and International Documentary makers in a bid to secure an award-winning product.
Discussions with Amazon Prime as a veritable outlet will commence in the new week
Nigeria’s largest video showing platform Ogelle is co Producing the multi-million Naira Multi media sensation.
Olisa Adibua and Bikiya Graham Douglas both bring to the table a varied and glittering career that has seen them traverse the landscape with unique authority and presence.
Thanks
Duke of Shomolu
The music industry is not for the faint-hearted. It is a double-edged sword and those who are bold enough to venture into it must be ready to treat those two imposters the same as Mr.Kipling said.
Most music careers globally have a life span of 4 to 5 years at best, especially within the popular music genre. The core center of this genre is made up of 15 to 25-year-olds who thanks to modern technology are easily distracted and have short attention spans. Those artists whose careers go beyond are anomalies and are to be commended for their ability to remain relevant in a fast-paced industry with a high turnover
Those who are smart make good use of the height of their popularity to build a foundation for the next phase of their lives and their future
While the rest watch helplessly as their fame and relevance wane ever so surely into oblivion.
It is for this reason that adequate care is taken to surround oneself especially at the peak with Quality professional advisers who will guide the career into more post ‘hot’ credible platforms which would ensure some level of longevity
Dr . AKintoye Akindele to give the breakthrough speech at the inaugural Thealvinreport.com’s Chief Emeka Anyaoku prize for Impact thru writing.
He is also sponsoring the prize.
The Emeka Anyaoku prize for Impact thru writing is a prize instituted by the Editorial Board of Thealvinreport.com to further encourage intellectual and Impactful discussions around business, finance, economy, and Impact with the hope that we could begin to achieve a tugboat turnaround in policy initiation and execution.
The winner will be the writer that garners more page views over a one-year period and he will select one of his essays to read and discuss at the venue.
The prize is named after Chief Emeka Anyaoku erudite statesman and international figure who remains one of the most accomplished Nigerians alive.
Chief Anyaoku has accepted that the prize carries his name.
The prize will be presented at a glittering Award ceremony come July 2022.
Keep writing.
Edgar Joseph
Editor in Chief
Last night at the expansive Hall within the beautiful Landmark complex, my brother Fidelis Anosike delivered the first Ms. Nigeria from the Northern part of the country in a long while.
It took him about 15 years to achieve this feat especially from the deepest pool of some of the most beautifully brilliant young ladies that I have seen in a while
The panel of Judges which was itself a study and which included my former client Mrs. Hellen Prest Davies, my super beautiful and elegant sister Ada who is now the acting MD at Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Insurance, and the elegant queen, Rita Dominic amongst others faced a herculean task in choosing the eventual winner.
Beauty pageants have lost their pull for so many reasons some being of their own doing. The quality of participants gives audiences headaches especially with their lack of coherence and barely literate stature.
Last night was different. As Fidelis brought the most beautiful Girl in Nigeria to seat beside me at my privileged table, I watched these super-intelligent vixens strut their stuff on stage to very sweet music.
I was proud of what my brother was doing. The class, the elegance, and the quality attendance could only be a testament to his legendary doggedness and ‘can do’ spirit.
I have known Fidelis for a bit. We had tried to do one or two things together which didn’t quite pan out but in all, I still retain my respect for his hard work and talent.
I had first met him at BGL when he was in the process of buying the humongous Daily Times Group. Daily Times was a National Institution that had spurned so many offspring from the Ms. Nigeria Franchise to a huge Real Estate portfolio which included the giant Stock Exchange building
It was a Monumental attestation to Nigeria’s past glory and here was this young Igbo man wanting to buy it and own it.
I loved the hunger. The unbridled ambition and his coming to BGL, a house founded by the most ambitious of them all Albert Okumagba showed his clarity of purpose.
He succeeded. The battle was hard and grueling. He took it with ease and like a gazelle ran with it.
Last night, as I watch him in a black ensemble move from table to table, engaging his guests, making sure everything was going smoothly, I marveled at his spirit.
You will not even know he had just buried his dear mother. It didn’t show, the show had to go on
Then the Akwa Ibom contestant came out. She was anything but. Where did they get her from? Painfully skinny and not representative of the Akwa Ibom woman who is usually lush with curves and big blossoms that could distract the UN General Assembly. This was not from us. Maybe she went to do NYSC in Uyo and decided to stay
Anyways, as the show progressed, I began to wonder why the reigning Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria was on my table. What he wanted me to do to her, I am still wondering 12 hours after.
She was lithe, skinny, and yellooooo. She wasn’t wearing a mask and gleefully announced that she had just come back from Israel.
I said welcome and changed seats as I didn’t want to risk anything allowing my other friends on the table which included Mrs. Chioma Okigbo my client and sister to engage her in a volley of contending American accents.
I had to leave. It was edging towards midnight and I had to rush back to Shomolu before either the police or our brothers from underground grabbed my testicle.
I had seen enough to be proud of Fidelis and his team. He had brought down the roof and had delivered on a promise which aligns very powerfully with the new mandate of a resurgent Nigeria.
This morning he calls for feedback and to announce, ‘Edgar, let’s bring back Business Times, would you want to be the Chairman of the Editorial Board’
I smile as I walk towards the toilet for my morning pee as I listen to him…..
Only Fidelis would deliver over 18 beauties on a stage and another 8 on the panel of judges with the most beautiful girl on my table and not call to console me for not going home with one but instead starts talking about Business Times
Only Fidelis.
Duke of Shomolu
President Olusegun Obasanjo is arguably one of the biggest contributors to national development in Nigeria. By national development, we mean building the very fabric of society – the economy, infrastructure, national unity, the entire gamut of the Nigeria project.
So when The Alvin Report pitched an essay competition in honour of President Obasanjo, it was not surprising that there was a flood of entries in tribute of him that saw four finalists emerge namely: Charles O’tudor, Emmanuel Ajao, Femi Asu, and Yemi Iskilu Ojo.
There can be no gainsaying the fact that the four finalists are excellent writers as the judges of the competition admitted the extreme difficulty of identifying the best essay. It was a competition with a result too close to call. Indeed, a few technicalities respecting the rules of the competition distinguished the winner.
The four finalists, among other things, talked about the national icon’s nation-building exploits to include being the first modern-day Nigerian president to hand over the authority of the country to a democratically elected civilian president, Shehu Shagari.
But before then, in 1977, he had started building enduring institutions when he formed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), organized the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC ’77).
It was President Obasanjo who introduced the National Pledge to stoke up Nigerian nationalism and indigenized the lyrics of the national anthem. He set up the Constitution Drafting Committee and the Constituent Assembly; introduced the N20 currency in honour of his friend and predecessor, the Late General Murtala Muhammed and introduced the Land Use Decree on March 29, 1978. Then General Obasanjo also confirmed the movement of the Federal Capital from Lagos to Abuja in accordance with the Murtala-Obasanjo policy programme.
Under Obasanjo more recently, significant improvements were also recorded in the following areas: The Space Technology Programme – the launch of two satellites, SAT 3 and NICOMSAT, the Energy and Nuclear Programmes, Education Sector ICT Programme, Bio-Technology Programmes Agriculture Programme Poverty Eradication Programme Niger Delta Development Commission, Universal Basic Education and the general improvement of infrastructure amongst others.
He established the Egbin, Ughelli and Afam thermal power stations in an effort to bring to an end the perennial power shortage being suffered by the nation.
Workers welfare after retirement, according to the competitors, would have remained uncertain if not for his establishment of the Pension Reform Act in 2004.
He initiated the privatization of the power sector leading to the unbundling of NEPA into Generation, Transmission and Distribution companies that we have today.
Under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo (GCFR), he recognized that small and medium enterprises are major contributors to the diversification of the Nigerian economy, and a vital tool for the creation of wealth, poverty alleviation, employment generation and rural development and as such created the Small and Medium Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
To combat corruption in Nigeria, Obasanjo established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), as well as strengthened the Code of Conduct Bureau, after inheriting a deeply divided, indebted, corrupt, and insecure country.
It was arguably the transparency and good governance demonstrated by the Obasanjo administration that convinced the Paris Club of creditor nations to forgive Nigeria her huge external debt in 2006. He was relentless and undaunted in his efforts to tackle the country’s external debt burden of about $36 billion, most of which was owed to the Paris Club creditors.
If there is one thing that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo will be remembered for, it will be his part in ensuring that Nigeria’s telecoms sector thrived. He gave licenses to telecommunication operators to roll out GSM SIM cards for Nigerians thereby breaking the monopoly of NITEL. The current tech development in Nigeria could not have been possible without GSM.
A few months ago, the country celebrated the passage of the much-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill, which seeks to reform the oil and gas industry. That process was initiated by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He established the Justice Oputa panel to reconcile Nigerians who were aggrieved and it helped in healing a lot of wounds.
Out of office, Obasanjo has continued to show his commitment to the country’s development in word and deed.
He has written at least one letter to every president after him, voicing his concerns about critical national issues. Love him or loathe him, Obasanjo has distinguished himself as one of Nigeria’s, nay Africa’s, living legends.
Those and many other encomiums were showered on the former president for his nation-building efforts.
In the end, by a narrow margin, Yekini Iskilu Ojo emerged as the winner of the essay competition.
The Alvin Report salutes the writing skills and deft knowledge of the achievements of all the writers who participated in the competition, but especially the four finalists. The Alvin Report is appreciative of their effort at recognizing and bringing to the fore the achievements of this national icon, nay global icon.