Nigeria and neo-feudalism

In it’s classic sense,feudalism refers to the hierarchical relationships between lords and vassals,and between the vassals and the peasants, that held sway in much of medieval European societies.Under this arrangement,the lords who ‘owned’  the lands(fiefs),granted possession of the lands to the nobles(vassals) in return for which the nobles pledged to provide military service to the lords,and the peasants provided the nobles with physical labour in return for  protection.This set of reciprocal agreements between lords and nobles was used to maintain  ‘order’ during this period.

Neo-feudalism is used  to describe a society or policies that are reminiscent of feudalism.A neo-feudal society would also boast  a very wide gap between the haves and the have-nots.For me,every society remains feudal,until it has fully enthroned the rule of law(equality before the law for all)  and attained real, not formal,democracy.It is only when the dispossessed can be succoured by the justice system,and the people can vote out miscreants in power,that a society is on the path to end feudalism.

In Nigeria today,although elections are held,the results are predetermined and the people’s votes do not count.What really count here are  the reciprocal agreements between those in power and the electoral officials  appointed by them(in return for their appointment,these electoral officials are required to influence ‘elections’ in favour of their masters).The people’s  participation is necessary only to validate the process.Given that the people’s votes do not count,those ‘elected’ are not likely going to feel any need to be accountable to the people, as they have no need to fear a backlash from the electorate.In such a formal  democracy,’elections’ do not serve to rotate power but to entrench it and promote  unbridled corruption in government thereby  increasing further the gap between the rich and powerful on the one hand, and the masses on the other.

The rule of law cannot take place in a vacuum.I believe it can only take root through the mediation of certain public institutions.A constitution is a mere document,unless it’s provisions are religiously enforced.To achieve this happy  state of affairs, the judiciary and police forces have to be more than mere levers of power ,the control of which is feuded over by the rich and powerful.By definition,public institutions are mechanisms designed to perform  specific functions in the interest of the public.When such an institution is suborned to protect the interests of the powerful to the detriment of the masses,it becomes a mere lever of power.In this regard,it is used to maintain and widen the gap between the powerful and the rich.Such a lever is the Nigerian police.

Measured by the above yardsticks,it should be no surprise that Nigeria is labelled as neo-feudal.

Resource control in Nigeria

Resource control,hereby defined as the control and management of resources by state or local governments from whose jurisdictions the resources are extracted,is key to the emergence of a modern federal Nigeria.The states or local governments would manage the resources from their territories under federal guidelines(especially,environmental ones) , and then remit taxes to the federal centre.For me, a truly federal Nigeria would have a centre which is almost fully dependent on taxation for it’s running.With it’s income much reduced,it would be  far less attractive to political entreprenuers,thus reducing competition for it’s control and the attendant problems.

Make no mistake about it Nigeria as presently run is a trustfund state:Like most countries in Africa,the central government commandeers  the process of extracting it’s natural resources,and then having this pot of money,dispenses patronage as it pleases(allocation to this states or local governments).Having unlimited income as a result of it’s total control of the extraction process,the federal government has no great need to look towards taxation as a source of income.My theory here is that no government can be accountable unless the people demand it,and the people will not demand accountability and probity unless their taxes  almost solely pay for the running of the government.In other words,no representation without taxation.

Resource control will also help curb corruption at every level of government.At the centre,with greatly reduced income,profligacy is bound to fall.At the state and local levels,once people come to realise that the shots are been called from their local capitals, which are accessible,rather than Abuja which is not accessible,they are bound to impose themselves, eventually.

Resource control will also accelerate the process of development,by forcing the states and local governments,with allocations from the centre greatly reduced or non-existent,to develop the resources within their jurisdiction in other to survive.Every state has something.They just have not been given the motivation to explore their riches.The need to survive,in the face of limited or zero allocation,would prove ample incentive.

The argument that these communities cannot manage their resources, because of the performance of certain elected officials, is spurious.Extremely so.First,the period of time in question is too short.Second,the shots are still be called from Abuja,so the people do not feel moving against the guys in Port-harcourt or Yenagoa would change anything.Finally,can anyone say,with a straight face,that the guys in Abuja,over the years,have been better stewards than the guys in Port-harcourt or Yenagoa?I think not.

 

Age cheating in Nigerian sports

Just right now,barrister Adokie Amiesiemeka,a former Nigerian international footballer,is not very popular with the average Nigerian football fan over his protest,that the  captain  of Nigeria’s team at the ongoing Fifa under-17 football world cup beign hosted by Nigeria is over-aged.Amiesiemeka has been roundly abused and labelled as unpatriotic,not only on the streets but by some representatives of the sports-governing authorities.

Make no mistake about it,Amiesiemeka is the real patriot here.The others are self-deceived.I believe that Amesiemeka recognisess that Nigerian sports will never reach the heights,until the problem of age-falsification is fully dealt with:age-cheats are usually senior athletes who step down to under-age levels,crowding out the real juniors and denying them the opportunity and exposure that come  with participating in these junior tournaments.Usually,these age-cheats have only a limited ability to benefit themselves from these tournaments,given their lower  teach-ability.As everyone knows,you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

So the question is this:could Amiesiemeka not have been more “patriotic” by not making this protest in the full glare of the world during  this tournament?I think  his timing is brilliant. It would take something signal to concentrate minds in this country.Perhaps a Fifa ban is what is really needed here.A ban would force us to take a long look at  sports adminstration and conception in this country.

From where i am standing,the two reasons driving dysfunction in Nigerian sports are poverty and lack of institutional integrity.First,for the average talented young man from a lower-class background,sports represents his best chance out of poverty.His task is made even tougher when he  realizes the domestic sports scene is slavish:full professionalism is grossly inadequately rewarded and the progression to this level of professionalism from secondary school is unmediated by any network of sporting academies and organized sponsorship.He simply has to go abroad.This knowledge heightens the appeal of these junior tournament as shop-windows, at which to market yourself to the entire world.And of course ,you do whatever it takes to get in these tournaments.

Second,given the poor documentation history of our institutions,think schools,hospitals and courts,it is virtually impossible to trace any one’s record back a decade.Even where records exist,due to the breakdown of institutional integrity,the schools,hospitals and courts can be suborned to give you whatever personal details  you desire.For a fee of course.

A conception of sports as an industry on its own,not necessarily dependent on continued government patronage,one that is capable of providing jobs for people in this country is sorely needed.And i mean good well-paying jobs.We need to shed the notion,that only white collar work should be well rewarded.Creating a viable sports industry will create so many more jobs than the oil/gas and banking industries combined.Think not only of the athletes themselves,but of  all the other positions ancilliary to them:coaches,administrators,commentators,sports journalists,advertisers,equipment manufacturers and vendors.Such a viable industry would reduce the incentive for cheating as  people would go through the academies straight to their local clubside  where they can start a rewarding  career domestically.

Nollywood

Nollywood-Improving the film industry by creating an efficient film market-part 2.

In my last post i showed how a volume based business model would improve the quality of films made and at the same time  deter piracy.In this post,i would like to show how intelligent regulation aimed at helping consumers make informed choices will lead to differentiation and branding in the industry,two desirable traits that Nollywood needs to grow.

The thinking that Nollywood produces too many films is wrong.Nollywood appears to produce too many films only because the industry is undifferentiated and unspeciallised and everybody is doing the same thing as everybody else.Ideally,there should be a hierachy of quality such that there would be films of different categories with category “A” films no more than ten percent of current output.We have to remember that elite films are positional goods:the desirability of the films will rise with increasing scarcity.If Nollywood were synonimous with these category “A” films(just like Hollywood) ,no one would complain about over-production.

To achieve this happy state,first of all,we need to understand that movies are information goods with the peculiar problem of uncertainty of utilities:unlike other material goods,the process of ascertaining the value of  these goods is through the very  process of  consumption.In other words,unless you have watched a film you cannot know it’s value.But you can get a fair idea of the quality of a film through advertisement,brand and reviews/previews.

Having understood this,we should take advantage  by crafting regulation that takes this knowledge on board.We should have a college of reviewers made up of our best newspaper,radio and television outlets.This college would have access tothe  censor’s bord movie library.Each newspaper,radio or television house would rate every film before release according to a set of agreed criteria drawn up by the great and good of theater and film fraternity.The censor’s board would then take an average of these scores for each film and rate the film on a scale of 1 to 5 according to which 4 and 5 would denote category “A”  films and anything less is mere “video”.These scores should be displayed at the front of the film covers prominently.

Care should be taken to ensure not more than ten percent of the films fall into category “A” so that there is scarcity value.Also,the bigger the college of reviewers the better so that no one newspaper,radio or televion outlet has critical mass:it should be made  obvious to a justifiably cynical public,and to the corrupt film maker who might be thinking to influence anyone on the college,that no one outlet or two can get you a high rating given the size of the college.Obviously you cannot have a hundred outlets on the college,but you get the point.

To ensure that reviewers representing these outlets are kept honest,the scores given by the individual outlets should be displayed at the back of the films prominently.The public would have to be educated as to the significance of these ratings.Equipped with this information,i believe the public would respond by rewarding excellence  while penalising mediocrity.As the mediocre is thus chased out of the business,there would be fewer players , with larger market shares,and thus the necessary resources to make the investment in talent and technology that will take Nollywood up there.Make no mistake about it,this is sorely needed investment.

Investment,in any industry,is an act of self-fulfiling prophecy:Prospective investors will invest only if they believe the returns will justify their investments.An efficient film market that richly rewards excellence will send a clear signal to these people  that they will find irresistible in a way that preaching to them,in whatever shape or form,cannot ever  hope to achieve.For example holding seminars for banks here or abroad that are intended to encourage them to invest under  current  market conditions will not have the desired effect.Nigerian investors are not going to throw their money away out of patriotism and,of course,foreign ones  are clearly going to be even more commercial.We should grow up.

Nollywood

Nollywood-Improving the film industry by creating an efficient film market.Market is here defined as a mechanism for allocating resources.An efficient market would reward excellence while penalising mediocrity.

An efficient market can be created by combining intelligent regulation with robust enforcement.Instead of preaching to film makers to improve the quality of their works,regulators should focus on making laws that prohibit certain business models.For example,the practice of splitting a given movie into seperate parts which are then sold sperately and most of the time under different names should be outlawed.Now why is it important to stop this practice?

First,this practice turns film business into a high margin rather than a volume based one.When one movie is sold in four parts,you get one movie for the price of four, and of course, this encourages piracy as people are going to be reluctant to buy.

Second,and more importantly,the volume based model would improve quality. Unlike the high margin based model(where for example,the film maker gets paid four times four one film),under the volume model a film maker would have to sell a lot of copies of any film to turn a profit.This is not likely to happen unless the film is of good quality.This would concentrate minds in the industry.

More later.

Nollywood

Nollywood-Opium of the uncritical masses.No doubts about it,Nigerian videos are hugely popular but with a certain segment of the populace.The challenge for the Nollywood is to achieve a similar level of enthusiasm and following with a more critical and discerning audience.

This critical audience is also the moneyed one.If Nollywood wants to move to the “next level”,it must earn the approbation, and of course, the patronage of this audience.Unfortunately,Nollywood’s fate is not entirely in its hands.

The making of good movies will only become the norm with the existence of a film market that penalises mediocrity while rewarding excellence and the creation of  such an efficient film market is to a great extent the duty of the regulatory authorities, and regulators have shown themselves not up to the job.

Nollywood

Nollywood(The Nigerian film industry) is an apt metaphor for Nigeria in that,like Nigeria,it fails to provide it’s great talents the stage on which to perform and flourish to best of their considerable abilities and, ofcourse to the benefit of their audienceAs a result,quality performers end up making movies that are far inferior to their individual abilities.

Nollywood

Nollywood(The Nigerian film industry) is an apt metaphor for Nigeria in that,like Nigeria,it fails to provide it’s great talents the stage on which to perform and flourish to best of their considerable abilities and, ofcourse to the benefit of their audience

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