Japan, a nation island in the Pacific Ocean with dense cities, mountainous national parks and thousands of shrines and temples has got a population of about 127 million people. Most of the world’s best known electronic companies including Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Hitachi, Sharp, NEC, Nitendo, Epson and Toshiba are from Japan. It is estimated that 16% of the world’s gold and 22% of the worlds silver is contained in electronic technology in Japan.
Today Japan is collaborating on a space mission with Europe to pay a visit to Mercury to experiment the concept of gravitational force.
Japan has got extremely limited natural resources hence their strength is in the conversion of ideas into inventions.
As of 2018 April, according to world GDP ranking by country available on kneoma.com, Japan is the third largest economy in the world.
Japan, however, is unfortunate with their environment, natural disasters strike Japan from time to time including tsunamis, floods, typhoons, earthquakes and most horrid of them all, volcanic eruptions.
About 60 years ago, during the final stage of world war 2, the United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one of the greatest war disasters ever and this set Japan back hundreds of years behind her contemporaries. ^0 years after, they are the world’s third-largest economy.
Lean natural resources, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, volcanos and a 6 decade recovery from 2 nuclear bombs, third largest economy in the world. Please, what exactly is an enabling environment?
Nigeria, 198 million people, an ocean economy, fertile land, rivers, lakes, and almost 6% of the global reserve of precious stones locked in our soil. 6 largest exporter of crude in the world, 32 trillion tons of natural gas reserves, food crops, cash crops, sunlight; regular rainfall, almost nil level of natural disasters. You place a tuber of yam on a concrete floor in your kitchen or store in Nigeria and you don’t eat it on time, it’ll begin to germinate by itself, not in the soil, no direct exposure to sunlight yet, it’ll grow, please tell me, what exactly do you call an enabling environment?
I try to picture Nigeria, with the same share of Natural disasters as Japan, be sure we would have nothing and we’d produce nothing, we will be extremely poor, enough refugees based on aftermath of many disasters.
Our advocates, public speakers, activist and nationalist will be putting pressure on the US to accept our citizens as their own unconditionally, for detonating nuclear bombs on our land 60 years ago, setting us back many years and making our land desolate. They will perhaps try pressure the united states accept responsibility for any Nigerian citizen willing to live permanently in the US without visa or stay as compensation for nuclear bomb dumped on us during the war 60 years ago, most definitely, if we have a similar environment like Japan, we wouldn’t be the third largest economy in the world.
The Japanese despite limited natural resources and an unfavourable geographical environment simply convert their ideas to inventions and sell the best globally. Dear Nigerians where are your ideas, where are your inventions, what are we exporting to the world despite our superior geographical advantage. US, Uk, France, Japan, China, India, Malaysia, South Africa, UAE every nation in the world, we all have our strengths, our problems, our issues, our advantages our disadvantages, it’s not where you are, it’s who you are that makes the biggest difference. People make the environment, the environment doesn’t really make the people.
What is an enabling environment? In my opinion an enabling environment is that environment where you are not restricted or limited by law to use your brain to create, invent, or produce great ideas and products.
An enabling environment is that environment where there are no restrictions or ban on books and contents that can grow your mind, transform your capacity to think and invent things people the world over can use and reward you for abundantly.
An enabling environment is that environment where there are no restrictions or ban on you selling your wonderful products, services or inventions to 7 billion people the world over.
An enabling environment is that environment where there is no ban on the internet or social media, hence you can follow great inventors, scientist, thought leaders, creative people and achievers on social media and enjoy great mentoring and be inspired greatly, so as to achieve what they’ve also achieved and more.
An enabling environment is that environment where you are not prohibited as a student to work also while you study so as to earn income and pay your own bills through school instead of waiting for a father, an uncle or a benefactor to pay your academic bills.
An enabling environment is that environment filled with very many problems and challenges you can easily solve and supply solutions for and get paid for it without parochial inhibitions or restrictions.
An enabling environment is that environment where you can study fine-art in school and end up employed as a professional banker.
An enabling environment is where you can study medicine in school and end up a successful Nollywood actor.
An enabling environment is perhaps, that environment where you can buy cars worth millions, show off luxury houses and designer clothing on social media without fear of tax officials paying you a visit.
An enabling environment is where you can choose to become a farmer without studying and qualifying as an agricultural scientist.
An enabling environment is where you can register an event company and practice without previous training or practicing license and you make millions regularly.
An enabling environment is where you can wake up one day, buy a nice suit, knot a good tie and a fancy pocket handkerchief, take a nice photograph, advertise on social media and become an instant motivational speaker with focus on leadership and marriage even if you’ve never led anyone before and you’re still single.
An enabling environment is not just about good roads, power supply; a perfect constitution and infallible leaders, an enabling environment is that environment with the freedom to become whatever you dream of.
In my opinion, if you are willing, ready, committed and positive, you live in an extremely enabling environment for your dreams to come through and true.
When as someone who studied music in school you can become a property developer without strong restriction or resistance, and as a stark or semi-illiterate you can become an estate agent without any knowledge of estate management, what more do you want of an enabling environment?
In this country you can become a road construction contractor and build kilometers of roads and bridges and have no clue what civil engineering is about – this, in my opinion, is even a detriment to real progress and development yet you’re allowed, and in all these, people still complain of and about the environment.
When nations that virtually have nothing in natural resources and an overdose of natural disasters convert their idea capital into inventions and exportable goods – dominating global markets, then you a Nigerian with abundance of natural and material resources – great climate, an ocean economy and 198 million potential buyers – no policies or law stopping your freedom of economic participation, progress and prosperity based on race, tribe, religion or gender, you now run away and seek asylum in nations with less privileges, terrible weather, intense discrimination, segregation and tough participation policies; I think your mindset needs a major reset.
When you choose to listen to mainstream negative narrative about your own country and embrace because many people think and say so, you will eventually end up derailed, misled, perhaps broke and inconsequential like the many people.
Open your eyes, your mind and heart to real opportunities and possibilities and embrace Nigeria, the nation with the most enabling environment for personal dream fulfilment in the world. This, however, can only apply and be understood by the positive, the purposeful, the knowledgeable, the hardworking and the courageous, like the richest black man in the world. He didn’t run away, he made it doing business here you know, Mmn, enabling environment, now you know.
Author: Robbi Jalal