Reflections 2.10

By Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda *

Africa has a quarter of the world’s arable land but produces only a tenth of our food. On the eve of a pan-African conference on food security, Lindiwe Sibanda asks how African farmers can turn things round.

One week from now, 200 agricultural experts from across Africa and around the world will meet in Namibia at the annual regional food security policy dialogue of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (Fanrpan) to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the African continent.

One month from now, a UN summit will take place in New York to discuss the upcoming five-year deadline for achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs), the successes gained so far and the new priorities that must be supported.

However, in today’s world these discussions need not, and should not, be confined to those in Namibia or New York. This is why I am asking readers of this website to create their own dialogue here about the issues we are addressing and the potential solutions available. Read the rest of this entry »

I grew up around stories that the earth can no longer support man and we have to look for a new abode.

Where? Where will man make his new home?

I asked these and many other related questions many times and the usual and confusing answer – coming from mostly my pre-teen peers as confused as I am – is space.

My appropriation of space then was something in the clouds – today, many, ok not so many years after, it still is. And dateline for our ultimate transition to the cloud, man’s new abode was the magic year 2000.

Today, grown – yes, if I go by counting the number of hairs on my chin- and a lot more appreciative of the challenges that face man’s continued habitation of the earth, I smile when I think about those years.

Indeed man has not relocated to the clouds, but his data has – or more appropriately is doing so.
Increasingly, the cloud is housing our data – whether or not we like it. And going the way of the cloud seem the most sustainable approach to data management and storage.

Nerds and those who pay them, believe so much in the concept of cloud computing – which in its most literal interpretation stands for computing suspended or housed in the skies/clouds, but in its real  and most basic sense stands for shared computing  resources accross boundaries of geography (and if you will time and spac) - that entirely new technologies have been and are being developed to manage what exists and create new avenues for  enabling and entrenching the concept.

Infact, there are such things as privately owned cloud – yes a piece of the sky – and public clouds and a lot of in betweens. This concept promises a lot of benefits and a lot of reasons to be (or not to be) concerned. Benefits largely includes:

• lower/low costs of ownerships and;
• in some cases no ownership as hardware  and software can be/are now provisioned as services and on demand service too meaning you use and pay for what you have used
• universal remote access – you can reach and manage your assets in the cloud from wherever you are –yes even from space if you happen to be on a Virgin Galactic’s tour of space in 2017
• little or no dedicated expertise – yes, most cloud computing features at the moment downplays the need for a huge IT staff

The many reasons for worry and for which many people are working without sleep to remove include:

• Cloud unfriendly government regulations – OMG! Yes, I don’t know of many, but the Canadian government forbids the storage of data generated in Canada anywhere outside its borders. True I do not know the depth of this regulation and also the exceptions should there be any.
• Security! Yes, good old security! How in the world am I certain that my data is not been stolen, corrupted or…?
• Bandwidth – or what I have come to regard as the cost of reaching your/the cloud(s), but with the recent finish example embargoing telcos in the ISP business to provide nothing less than 1MBPS data to all citizens (whether or not they need it I guess) there may be hope of fast and optimal access to the clouds, but whetehre that will be affordable or not we are yet to see.

Well, no matter your reservation(s) for the cloud – I hate going to live on the cloud myself, valuing the safety and reassurance of the solid ground beaneath my feet – we have all been involved one way or the other with the cloud, except of course you are not reading this online (yes, a copy of it will be in my collection of essays and that well, offcourse will be printed online only ) , or you do not use email, social network or  have an hosted website. And for those of us who already benefit from the battle for supremacy between the giants Microsoft and Google and the smaller giants, we already enjoy free storge, Software as a service and some who are extrememly perfect at milking situations, already own our own private cloud and guess what it is free of charge.

Oluwakorede Asuni, was a 2008/2009 Microsoft Anti-Cyber Crime (MISSPIN) Ambassador in Nigeria , founded and managed the technology consulting outfit ‘Korede Asuni Consulting which provided IT services to small enterprises and non-profits in Nigeria. He currently works with CIVICUS an international non-profit based in Johannesburg South Africa, where he happily lives with his MacBook:) !

Bros your ranting are seriously resembling that of a sycophant (the same genre of people who have led past leaders astray and currently leading Jonathan). We trusted your vision to provide some sort of direction for young people in Nigeria being one yourself, now, all of a sudden you have gone partisan (there is no other way to describe your recent actions) – you are causing much more damage than any good to whatever  credibility our common cause has garnered. Rethink your position else, we will give up on you. We need to review principles. We need if we must, provide an unbiased platform for all to express their aspirations (and we on an individual or collective basis decide which way to go). Bros, the next one will mention names- wetin sef?
Is enough not enough? #enoughisenough o!

In case you do not know, there is a gathering storm in Nigeria and young people are at the centre of the crusade for a better Nigeria.

A simple Google search will reveal a myriad of sources of information on the many things young people are doing to save their fatherland (motherland if you choose) from the cabal who run Nigeria as a family business and have inhibited the socio-economic growth natural of a country of diverse human, natural and material resources as Nigeria.

I am a supporter of the New Nigeria crusade shrouded in in many campaigns including:

# EnoughIsEnough

#LightupNigeria

We are creating a revolution to birth the Nigeria we deserve, the Nigeria of our dreams.

The following was circulated about an hour ago by concerned young people in Nigeria. I support the demands being a young person myself desirous of change and development in my fatherland. I have included my name in the signature below and I implore you to add your voice and acts to this campaign.

Nigeria is ours, we should seize it from the despots.
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March 16 is the date that young Nigerians will make their voices heard
#weneedfuel #lightupnigeria #whereisyaradua #enoughisenough!

Fellow Young Nigerians,

Did you know that, in Nigeria , young people are in the majority? Did you know that young people below 35 make up more than 70 per cent of the population? You know what that means? It means we have the power to actually make things happen!

So, how come we are doing nothing about the many problems that have hit our nation in the past few months?

Is it enough to make noise on Facebook, Twitter, websites, BBMs, blogs and others where no one is listening? How come it’s the Wole Soyinkas, the Femi Falanas and the Tunde Bakares that are fighting for us? Why do we allow ourselves to be branded as the do-nothing generation?

Like someone said recently, how can we be so talented individually and yet so disillusioned and disdained collectively? We all know the reason – we have been told that there is nothing we can do about the status quo; that the cabal is too strong. Well, that is a lie. Read the rest of this entry »