On a Skype conference call on 04/11/09 were
Kemi Fadojutimi from Washington DC USA,
Bankole Kings from Maryland USA,
Alao Yusuf from Frankfurt Germany
And myself, Gbenga Ogunjimi from Lagos Nigeria
Prior to this day, none of us had seen each other yet we had reached out to connect and collaborate on a common cause: A new Nigeria.
For us all the vision of a new Nigeria surpasses the tasking demands of our everyday lives, and transcends our diverse identities; age, gender, social class and economic status. This compelling vision as it were became the gluing force that had bounded our hearts, and melted our distances.
Our motivation to this cause was rooted in our coming to terms with the timelessness of the saying -“Evil prevails when the righteous are doing nothing”, and our understanding that right in our hands lie the executive power to once and for all decide the destiny of millions of Nigerian youth stuck in destructive idleness and bleak hopelessness.
In championing this cause, we did not converge in any of the conference halls in the cities we were, rather, we converged in “a hall without walls”, we converged on the Web. A venue that symbolizes the required approach to realise New Nigeria; a universal, time-tested approach, an approach I call:
The Web 2.0 approach:
• An approach that breaks down silos and opens up the global gateway of innovation and collaboration.
• An open-source approach that empowers the individual to freely volunteer his significant contributions knowing that they count.
• An illimitable approach that cut looses passion and imaginations, and allows for healthy competition of ideas on a global scale.
• An anti-tribal approach that seamlessly harmonizes our collective strengths and voices without regards to where we come from.
It’s a decade now that DiNucci’s prophecy of Web 2.0 has continued to manifest: first was its tipping point with the TIME’s Person of the Year: You recognition in 2006, and now in 2009 is the intense explosion of social networking websites. What this underpins for the new Nigeria is that the individual’s empowerment has left the purview the government, and the country’s limitations. What it means is that the Web is now the touch point at which empowerments is springing forth.
Development agents can now expand the frontiers of their saving the world dream knowing that more help wait them on Kiva.org. Entrepreneurs can now cut their creative juices loose knowing that someone on Sta.rtup.biz is willing to collaborate. The young professional can now stop coping and hope again because she knows all it takes is a winning LinkedIn profile. High school grads can now stop praying and start claiming dozens of tuition free universities across Europe. Even politicians can now think twice before they err as no amount of PR dollars can clean up once it get to Facebook or Twitter.
We qualified ourselves for the cause of a new Nigeria not on the ground of the dexterity of our skill-sets but on the profundity of our mind-sets – a boundless imagination that stretches beyond the staggering limitations of the country. We are collaborating with the realization that if Nigeria must change we have to change our complaisance to the critical issues that hold us back: we have to take on personal responsibilities.
For me, since the beginning of the year I have taken on the responsibility of evangelizing the immense possibilities of Web 2.0 business model to entrepreneurs of all sizes in the country. I have taken this gospel to schools and nonprofits, advocating that everyone can now possibly become the best versions of themselves. I have also taken this campaign to professionals in corporate Nigeria with 6 figure jobs and even the aspiring without.
All I have been saying is - Now is the time best to dream: when the whole wide world is within reach and resources vast. And all it takes for these dreams to happen is a shift in paradigm; a shift in thoughts, and action, a shift to a whole new approach – a shift to the Web 2.0 Approach!
