by 'Gbenga Sesan,
www.gbengasesan.com
I have been denied many visas. The UK embassy started the trend
in 2002 with a transit visa denial; and as we say here, the
other flies came calling while I was on the no-visa-for-you
dunghill. The US embassy followed suit, even though I had spent
the night before my visa interview dreaming of which hotel to
stay in New York. So did the French. Did I also get a no from
the South African, Spanish and Swiss embassies? I almost did…
but the story has since changed. However, many other young
people are still sweating it out on the queues - or at the mercy
of mercenaries who have promised them escape from this complex
environment.
Please take a quick trip back in time, with me, to 1991: two
young Indians who had applied for US visas had to spend the
entire day occupying their time and mind with various activities
while awaiting what they thought - at that time - was the final
verdict on their future (what am I saying here, their destiny
actually)! And the "decider" was of course the consular officer.
Please come back with me to 2006 and consider how tough it is
for today's Indian youth to get a US visa. But can the same be
said of Nigeria? Your guess is as good as mine. And if you need
a fair idea of how some Nigerians are at the mercy of consular
officers, try an early morning ride through Eleke (oops, Walter
Carrington) crescent. I actually hold a personal view that that
crescent should be renamed after the Nigerian who has been the
most frequent visitor to embassies - and is yet to be issued
even half a visa. Why does an average (mind you, not all) young
Nigerian believe that a lizard in Nigeria can become an
alligator in North America or Europe - and increasingly, Asia?
The answer is simple: precedence! Many of their friends were
struggling until they escaped, traveled honourably or got lucky
through the opportunity of winning the US Diversified Visa
lottery (by the way, my friends understand my thoughts on the
relationship between visa, lottery and slavery). So, even though
many of these travel-out-and-succeed friends are cutting odd
jobs, the assumption is that it is better to slave in a system
that works than work in a system of slavery.
There is, however, a different class of young people in Nigeria.
They are passionate, focused, daring… but not empowered. The
world they live in is a different one and it has been referred
to by those who should know as a global village - in fact,
Thomas Friedman dared to call it a flat world. In this world,
location should not matter. In this world, the Internet, new
technologies and other forces of globalization should enable a
young Nigerian (like his Indian or Ghanaian counterparts) earn
more - and live better - without the need to apply for a visa.
Unless, of course, he decides to travel for a well-deserved
vacation or necessary appointment. Why is it a should-be story?
I would argue that the reasons are not far-fetched: young
Nigerians see the new opportunities on cable networks and on the
Internet; we hear of them when we connect with our friends
through Skype; we dream of them after reading past editions of
The Economist or Time's features on Innovation. But one single
factor that can help us take the next leap is missing. Internet
access in Nigeria is plug and pray, not plug and play - and that
is even if you can afford it. To play on a global stage and in a
flat world, we need time online and not just any type of access
but broadband access! Guess what, if you give us broadband
access today, my favourite embassies will miss me - and they
will most likely start placing online adverts to attract young
Nigerians to the embassies. Keep the visas, give me broadband -
and see how fast Nigeria will get to the global map of
innovation.
The flight is about to commence its descent into the Abuja
airport (so this laptop has to be shut down), and I am on my way
to another conference where we hope to look deeply into the
relationship between ICTs, youth and better livelihoods (with a
special focus on education). While I understand the place of
discussions, I am honestly getting tired of meetings - I want
broadband Internet access! "What will young people do with the
access," you may ask. I wouldn't debate the fact that - like
every good thing in life - Internet access is being abused.
Fortunately, there is a high-level discussion today in Abuja to
discuss the issue of cybercrime - and hopefully extend the arms
of the law against the shameful act. It is interesting to also
note that the earlier meeting I mentioned, the Digital World
Conference (hosted by the NCC, GBF and the Club of Rome) will
showcase the famous $100 laptop and talk about how ICTs can
improve education and lifelong learning. But there is some good
news though. NCC has been speaking of the State Accelerated
Broadband Initiative (SABI), Wire Nigeria (WiN) campaign and has
now taken off full-steam with the Universal Access Provision (UAP)
in its much-needed help for rural development. While this is
laudable, there needs to be some sense of acceleration and
support from every possible quarter to make this a reality in
next to no time.
While on my way to the venue of the meeting, and thinking of the
other terrible issue that needs to be resolved, I met the best
person who could discuss the issue. Your guess is right; it was
power that occupied my thoughts. Even if broadband access was
available everywhere, how much time can even laptops go for?
Please don't talk about generators and inverters as they should
be the exception and not the norm. As it would happen, the man
who shared the airport cab with me (incidentally going to the
same venue to discuss power supply issues in Nigeria) shed some light on the real issues, and spoke convincingly of the way
forward - while also adding some icing to the cake by offering
some dynamic opportunities to the students that we have trained
at the Lagos Digital Village, who have had to constantly fight
their IT knowledge from getting rusty (from lack of use on any
job).
Take this from me, if you give us broadband (and stable power
supply), we will transform Nigeria into one of the most
desirable nations in the world even ahead of the 2025 deadline
that this generation seems to have set for itself. As long as
there is broadband access, you may please advise all consular
officers that they would soon need to place adverts that will
read AFOVGACVF, "Apply For Our Visa, Get Another Country's Visa
Free!"
---
'Gbenga Sesan is an Information Society Researcher, Program
Manager of Lagos Digital Village, member of the (Nigerian)
Presidential Task Force on ICT Harmonization and Vice Chairman
of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's African
Technical Advisory Committee. He has his online residence at
www.gbengasesan.com and spends time sharing thoughts with
people-groups on the use of ICTs for development. September 11,
2006.
