Nigeria's democracy mature as Jonathan concedes to cool Buhari

What was suspected in the final stages of the vote counting of results of Saturday's General election, was confirmed less than two hours later as, now former, President Goodluck Jonathan, conceded to his rival, Muhammadu Buhari, with a phone call congratulating him and wishing him all the best.

The call brought the five year Presidency of Jonathan, who inherited power following ill-health of the former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He was sworn in to served out Yar'Adua's term before winning an election on his own ticket, which ended yesterday, with Saturday's elections.

On his part, Nigerian election winner and President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari congratulated outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan, for peacefully relinquishing power.

The events in Nigeria have been remarkable in several ways: Buhari's victory at the polls remains the first time an aspiring politician will unseat a sitting president ballot box. It is also the first time, an opposition political party has won power from the ruling party.

It marks a turning point in Nigerian politics because, the event effectively sets back the dark years during which a peaceful transition was unimaginable and the incumbent never dreamed of relinquishing power.

The failure of Goodluck Jonathan's PDP to win this around at the ballot box shows the disenchantment with which Nigerians viewed his presidency, especially as the Boko Haram saga unfolded, and insecurity became a common word on the lips of the citizens.

Equally unforgettable is the fact that over 200 schools girls abducted from Chibok by the terror group remain unaccounted for, nearly one year after the incident. Nigerian's say they can't imagine a President that would be forgiven for not showing as much concern over the girls as a father would to his own children.

The decisive win, across much of Nigeria's 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, show how determined the generality of Nigerians were at making sure they effected a change at the Aso Rock.

Even as it became clear he had coasted to victory, Muhammadu Buhari remained calm, as some people around him rejoiced.

30 years ago, as Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari introduced the War Against Indiscipline that saw Nigerians begin to learn about order and patience in their daily lives in public. There were queues at banks, petrol stations, bus-stops and indeed anywhere that, for some reason a delay may be necessary to serve everyone.

That popular war was truncated when he too was overthrown in another military coup that Brought former President Ibrahim Babangida to power.

In an exemplary speech from a newly elected president of a country that is home to the World's most populated black nation, Buhari showed the kind of leadership he brings when he advised his supported to celebrate without violence and to not disrespect the PDP. How very mature.

Now that he is back in power through popular will of the people, will the truncated war now be completed?

Driverless Car Trials: Are Drivers Ready for the implications? - Part Two

by Benson Agoha | Technology 

Respondents from mature markets showed a stronger association than those from developing countries with feeling “powerless” and “anxious” about self-drive vehicles.

When putting together content, marketers and advertisers should take note that consumers in advanced markets want to feel in control when self-driving.

Self-driving cars may be an extreme technological advancement in the automotive industry at the moment, but consumers are still working on adopting other, smaller, innovations in the auto space that bridge the gap between digital and physical.

As a result, In-car smartphone apps such as Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto are one example, according to a report by the Mobile Marketing Association quoting data released in January 2015 by IHS (Information Handling Services).

These can be integrated with a vehicle’s human-machine interface—dashboards are a big example—allowing smartphone users to put their phones down when driving. While the user base is small at the moment, IHS expected the smartphone car app market to explode in the coming years.

The research firm forecast that Apple CarPlay for iPhones would surge 2,550% worldwide between 2015 and 2020, from 1.4 million units sold to 37.1 million. The future for Google’s Android Auto app is just as exciting, if not more. Sales were estimated to skyrocket from 1.1 million to 39.9 million during the same timeframe, an increase of more than 3,527%.

Everyone is concerned with safety - both the driver and the passengers. So what happens when every passenger in a self-driving car has no driving experience? Worse, what will they do if the car in question is a google driverless car which has no stiring or facility for driver manipulation?

No doubt, questions like these are among the hundreds or thousands that Google and other makers of driverless vehicles are trying to answer.  By using physical trials under simulated road conditions, engineers are hoping to be able to solve problems involving driverless vehicles.

One overarching theme among GfK’s and IHS’s respondents was safety, seen as the greatest advantage to such technologies. As the auto world moves to a connected future, car brands and ads should take a safety-first approach.

In some respects driverless cars share the same concern with drones because both are produced through technologies that depends on electrons to work. Much of the algorithm have been written into codes, encrypted in semi-conductors that eliminated many of the mechanical parts that were part of the production process.

The miniaturization of electrons have also given rise to the development of comparable skills by those who, either due to no employment or share evil, negative deploy these skills in form of hacking.

Evidently, it is far easier to hack into electrons and take control of the equipment. When these happens, will safety still be insured?

* Concluded: With materials from eMarketer.

* Twitter: @bensonagoha.

Leadership: Why you should NEVER be `Satisfied' if you want to go the full lenght of the journey

by Benson Agoha | Management | @bensonagoha

Should Leadership and Subordinates be satisfied? The question of Satisfaction as an important attribute of leadership, remain debatable. Whereas employee satisfaction has  been deeply explored in order to keep them motivated, leadership satisfaction isn't.

In the majority of cases, leaders who aren't easily satisfied aren't very well loved and appreciated by their subordinates, yet it is that attribute that helps sustain the organisation and keep the employees on their jobs. The main question should be, whether leadership should even be satisfied at all?

Looking at large corporations, such as Apple and Google that have achieved huge success, the answer should be `no’ - their leaders are never satisfied. The reason is that the moment you are satisfied, you begin to stagnate your organisation. This is why some companies growth reverses very quickly, leading to sudden death.

Satisfaction is an end state – a level of realization that is `terminal`. For example, if you feel satisfied with a letter, you don't border reviewing it. However, if you conclude that you could only give it 90%, you would probably want to find out what else there is to add, to make it a hundred percent.

There is no organisation without people. Therefore, in examining the impact of satisfaction on organisations, one must look at its impact on the `individual leader'. It is the insatiable drive in the leader that enables him to keep setting goals that keep the organisational members aspiring. Without that `insatiability’ on the leader, the organisation begins to stagnate, dwindle and  become terminally ill – it will be a matter of time before it eventually dies.

When news emerged in January, 2015  that Apple had achieved $700bn valuation for the first time in history, some would have thought the next word expected from Tim Cooke, would have been about sustaining the achievements of the iPhone 6 range. Rather than do that, the CEO commissioned a research group in a secret location to work on their iCar vision - the new automobile industry in which one can consider Apple a late comer.

Only last December, Apple rolled out its own wireless money transfer services - effectively harnessing the technologies it packed into its newest iPhone 6 range.

Google's leadership is not much different either. If there is one thing Google's leaders don’t have in their dictionary, it is `satisfaction’. For a Company who’s mission statement on inception simply read “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,”  Google has gone from fulfilling that mission to diversifying into various complex areas previously unimagined. These include data organisation, archive and recovery; automobile, robotics, health, publishing, social media, telecommunications.  In fact there are so many areas that are hitherto unheard of. Some of these were achieved through new company formations, as well Mergers and Acquisitions. And Google is most certainly not satisfied yet.

Satisfaction is therefore, the bane of leadership - and no right thinking leader embraces it. The moment you are `satisfied’, it’s fair to say you have lost the plot. It is this attribute in leadership that gives the organisation that `going concern’ status that accountants use to different a specific project from one that is expected to run continuously.

If you are running a company and you are not aiming to expand, you aren't really a good leader. And expansion maybe through new product introductions, introduction of existing products into new markets, introduction of new marketing strategies to increase existing market share, or expansion - by means of mergers and acquisitions, to increase both the size and or product portfolio of the company.

If `controlled dissatisfaction’ is good for the continual survival of a company, it can syllogistically represent the secret to longevity. One can argue that individuals who continually set targets, towards which they aspire, actually live longer. The reason is that they are the ones who have reason to look forward to living. In this case, an individual is encouraged to embrace controlled-dissatisfaction because it represents an innate trigger that alerts his soul and senses to the reason to wake up. It tells you that you still have unfinished business on earth and that its time to start making further efforts towards their realization.

The more humane ones objective, the better it will be for him/her. This is because positive thought forms cluster around the individual and support, as well as justify his continual existence on earth.

Perhaps, it is important, at this stage, to point out that there is a difference between `greed’ and `controlled dis-satisfaction’. 

Whereas `greed’ is an uncontrollable and insatiable voracity that drags with it a long string of issues, including offences, deprivation and theft, `controlled-dissatisfaction’ is an ambitious attitude that recognizes the right of others to co-exist and co-share from a mutual pool, in an acceptable, self-respectable display.

Kevin Spacey, recently said that `content’ is the worst kind of word and that satisfied and happy people are `boring’. I think he is right.

Don’t ever be satisfied; It is the bane of leadership!

Driverless Car Trials: Are Drivers Ready for the implications? - Part One

by Benson Agoha | Woolwich | @bensonagoha

As driverless car trials got under way in the UK, the Royal Borough of Greenwich being one of the test locations approved by the government, questions to which answers are being saught include whether drivers are ready for the implications of what might be a new technological revolution.  In what other ways will this impact on local business?

Prototype of a Self-driving car as trials begin in Royal Greenwich on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.
(Photo Credit: Guardian)

Think of the arrival of Uber app.  It met with stiff resistance from the local Black Cab drivers who promptly blocked access city routes in protest, fearing that Uber represented a verital threat to their business.  Thankfully, the smartphone for taxi sharing survived the resistance to remain in operation in Britain.

In a recent conversation, with a trio of city workers, we ruminated whether Uber should survive or be stopped.  As usual after considering the arguments of both sides, no decisive stance was taken and we said good night with a smile.

Uber is an app that impacts on people in different ways and only experience enables you appreciate or criticise.  But look at the experience of this author.

Stranded in Dartford (anyone who knows Dartford will know what I mean, although rumour has it that plans are  afoot to change things in the Kent town) where there is no known hotel or bnb or even a 24hr public restaurant or club, that can keep you going till the trains start in the morning, we had no choice and no hope.  We had no money, the purse having been lost.

But we had our smart phones and one of us had used Uber before. Getting service in Dartford was the next challenge, but in the end, there was a flicker and the app was used to hail a taxi.  It responded shortly that one was on its way and wold be with us in 13 minutes. We waited.

In between our wait, numerous station (Black Cab) taxis approached.  They would take us to London if we have MONEY. We had no money. Ok, they would take us IF we had MONEY at HOME.  There was no such assurance.  So, they did not take us.

Uber steps in at times like this, when the Black Cab or any other taxi would not be available. And one did arrive as the app said, took us as expected, and explained he was on his way to somewhere else when, fiddling with his Uber phone, he saw our request.

When he dropped us off, he did not wait for money.  He simply drove off. Job done, it would be taken from the account and the bill is settled.

Those who criticize Uber, would need to experience it to continue. And although some drivers are trying to attract public discredit, it seems that Uber's success is testament to it's ability to serve it's nitch market.

Uber has announced plans to invest in its own drivers car trials, almost setting it on collision cause with Google, whose trials have reached advanced stage.  But one thing that is even more important to the local economy is driverless cars potential to create a whole new industry.

Analysts believe that one of the positive effects of the arrival of Driverless cars on our shores, is that Smartphone car app sales will speed up through 2020.

The question is, are fears about self-driving cars subsiding as more emerge? Well according to e-Marketer, based on November 2014 GfK polling, the answer is yes, because two-thirds of consumers, with drivers licenses polled worldwide said self-driving cars were appealing.

Unfortunately, Britain was not among the countries polled.  But as you would see from the following graph, 71% of people in the age range of 16-24 thought it was appealing. The highest or most optimistic (74%) were people in the age bracket of 25-34.

Just look at it closely: older millennials, 25- to 34-year-olds, were most interested in self-driving cars, with nearly three-quarters finding the concept appealing. Still impressive, over seven in 10 from the 16-to-24 and 35-to-44 age groups viewed self-driving cars appealing, as did almost two-thirds of 44-to-54-year-old licensed drivers and even half of 55- to 64-year-olds. The 65-and-older group was the only bracket where the majority weren't interested.

Simply put the active population love self-driving or driverless cars.  But it does not end there, because love and practicality are two different things.  One thing is certain though.  Driverless cars on our roads may hold implications, similar to light overhead flying crafts, as our part two of this will show.

To be continued...

The Sniper and the celebrated scores of his Rifle

Opinion | by Benson Agoha | London

The activities of elite forces during their various missions around the world are usually not among dishes served for mass consumption.  Indeed they are often meals `cooked’ for an exclusive club of High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI).

Paradoxically, in recent days, thanks to Holy Wood and the exception of one divergent elite soldier’s book, titled `The American Sniper', written by a former Navy SEAL named Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, now a movie celebrating his exploits as a sniper, is still surging at the box office across the pond.

It prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to declare Feb. 2 `Chris Kyle Day' in the author’s home state of Texas.

Chris Kyle reportedly scored 160 direct hits (or kills) in his various missions – making him the most lethal sniper in American history.  Kyle’s recognition and the performance of the movie featuring Bradley Cooper (below) in cinemas has forced out another revelations – that the worlds most lethal sniper is actually a Brit. How awesome! Never mind `kill' isn't a word we like to hear under normal circumstances.

Chris Kyle's book may be surging at the box - good for the cinema and movie bosses - but the world's most lethal Sniper record is still resident on this side of the pond. And, according to an Evening Standard report, the Royal Marine elite soldier scored a huge 173, watch it,  "confirmed" hits (or kills) and we are not talking of chickens or foxes.

Put it into perspective, this is a shocking revelation of an otherwise priveleged information, from only two friendly sources. And we have not yet heard of the record held by the Russians, or the Germans, the French, the Nigerians, Chinese and more, nor are we ever likely to.

Neither do we care about the scores (kills) from countries and groups known for their irreverent targetting and wastage of prescious and priceless human lives.

Still if our minds are allowed to wander or venture to estimate a global score, one may begin to worry that the world's estimated population of 7billion people may actually not be correct.

Isn't it amazing how, words, hitherto regarded with revulsion, gradually acquires, in the first instance an element of respect, and then general acceptance - often made possible by advances in technology.

Consider the word `hacker' - a disdainful word that no one dared resonate or identify with, but which have now acquired a high degree of respect and general acceptability. So much so that global enterprises now consider is necessary to put a "hacker" on their payroll.  Many hackers now proudly describe how "it was necessary to hack a software, in other get an disturbing problem solved.

Of course, such problems have to have a huge impact on the public. As for the MNC's, like Google, that appoint hackers, one begin to undestand why.  It takes a thief to catch a thief.  So invariably, instead of allowing a thief to wreak harvock to your expensive establishment, you put another thief on your payroll to monitor and thwart theif efforts - hopefully, even before they strike.

What a paradox but let's ride the progressive wave of human existence.