Happy New Year to all my readers. Even if you happen to stop here to kaka, it is okay. 2016 is already shaping up to be an interesting one. Breezed in home on New Year's day to an excited SMS from colleagues congratulating me on a new appointment which needed verification. Be it as it may, there was no alert - just hard work. The reward of hard work seems to be more hard work. Ask Fashola. I'm starting the year off elected as the brand new chairperson of AfriLabs, the network of incubators and accelerators in Africa. My headquarters of course will remain Abuja, and I'm looking forward to using this bully pulpit to attract jobs and technology investments to Africa and of course Nigeria. Wish me well.
Another wave of messages came from comments on the last article on the budget I dropped before the New Year. It is an interesting read...hopefully, someone is reading. I prefer this NIA version to the SaharaReporters version that needed some work.
This page has been somewhat haphazard in the past 3-5 years largely because those have been building period. While I come in here to express my views every now and then, it has largely taken a back seat to my public commentary persona on such platforms like Sahara Reporters, Nigeria Village Square and NigeriansInAmerica. The proliferation of social media outlets also mean you're more likely to hear from me on the fly on my Facebook Page and Twitter Page (@busanga) than on this blog. But I think I will turn a fresh page in 2016. There will be a new view on here. This pages will be dedicated in bringing to bear the web of relationships and endeavours I have woven in the past five years; the breadth of which is wide- spanning inclusive but obviously not limited to technology and entrepreneurship development (AfriLabs, Wennovation), Energy Development (NCDMB, Amazon Energy), Project & Business Development (LoftyInc), and Health and Safety (OHSEC) as well as political.
We will still continue to explore expanding the horizon on this pages, highlighting projects and exploring themes on monthly basis that provides answers to the burning question of: how do we develop Nigeria? Please join me on the journey.
What are we reading?
Books are still of peculiar interest on these pages. My reading palette have no changed much in the last few years. May be I read a whole lot more electronic (kindle) books, and my hard book collection have slowed but I still try to do 4-6 titles every year, and loads of articles in between with Fortune, Bloomberg and IEEE Spectrum. I will continue to share on these pages. The toughest read of 2015 got to be "God's Bankers" - it is about the Vatican Bank and money laundering by the world's largest Church. Thrilling details but one can get lost in the weeds of Pius this and John Paul that who used to be Vitrolli Magarati or something like that. I finished it off on the 31st of December after many months of tough reading. Best read though was Straight to Hell, about Investment Banking deviance - in this instance an expat point of view in SE Asia, instead of the same old boring Wall Street gist. You should pick it up. Biggest disappointment? Putin's Kelptocracy. I couldn't even finish reading beyond a chapter. Poorly written and blabbing. I need my money back.
What are we reading?
Books are still of peculiar interest on these pages. My reading palette have no changed much in the last few years. May be I read a whole lot more electronic (kindle) books, and my hard book collection have slowed but I still try to do 4-6 titles every year, and loads of articles in between with Fortune, Bloomberg and IEEE Spectrum. I will continue to share on these pages. The toughest read of 2015 got to be "God's Bankers" - it is about the Vatican Bank and money laundering by the world's largest Church. Thrilling details but one can get lost in the weeds of Pius this and John Paul that who used to be Vitrolli Magarati or something like that. I finished it off on the 31st of December after many months of tough reading. Best read though was Straight to Hell, about Investment Banking deviance - in this instance an expat point of view in SE Asia, instead of the same old boring Wall Street gist. You should pick it up. Biggest disappointment? Putin's Kelptocracy. I couldn't even finish reading beyond a chapter. Poorly written and blabbing. I need my money back.
