The Impact Of Facebook Founder Mike Zuckerberg ’ s Visit To Nigeria – Tony Ogunlowo

According to CNN Mark Zuckerberg has just made his
first visit to ‘Sub-Sahara-Africa’ to witness the impact of
his Facebook social media enterprise and to promote his
Express WIFI internet service.
One should point it out to the CNN journalists and
researchers, probably graduates from fourth-grade
American universities, that there really isn’t a place
called ‘Sub-Sahara-Africa’ anymore as it’s populated
with countries that have names like ‘Nigeria’.
So Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg arrives in Nigeria,
incognito, wearing his trademark low-key T-shirt and
jeans and casually strolls into the Yaba offices of Co-
creation Hub and Andela.
For future reference someone ought to tell him that if
you’re 54 billion dollar Golden Goose you don’t go walk
about in Yaba. The area boys there will jump you, mug
you and kidnap you – bodyguards or not! But yet again
nobody probably told him that if you’re a Tech Giant in
Nigeria ( – do we have any?) you’re supposed to arrive
in an entourage comprising of gun-toting policemen,
bullet-proof 4X4s, a bevy of hanger-ons – and of course
the full red carpet treatment.
But yet again our mentalities are different. When a Black
Man has mega-money he suddenly thinks he’s the King
of the Universe, struts around like a peacock on heat,
reeking of ostentatious luxury and expects everyone to
bow down and kiss his feet. Whereas the White Man
thinks ‘well I’m stupendously rich but I still want to live
my simple life’. Big difference. Money doesn’t make a
person!
Whilst we might be ‘fantastically corrupt’ as ex-PM
British Cameron once referred to us, the world – and
tech giants – are watching us carefully, especially our
youths who are a dab hand at computers, coding and
social media( – not forgetting the antics of the yahoo
yahoo 419 boys for which we’re infamously known
worldwide!). Nigeria has the largest online social media
base and its growing, perpetuating every aspect of lives.
Growth is greater in Africa than it is in the rest of the
world. For marketers and developers this is paradise: a
vast untapped market.
The Western world is finally waking up to the fact that
we’re not just a bunch of tree-climbing, monkey-
chasing, goat-herding imbeciles as previously thought.
We have as much raw talent as they do, hence his visit.
Zuckerberg wants to get the whole world on to social
media. To do this he is interested in sponsoring the
next generation of developers and start-ups. Andela
recently received funding to the tune of $24 million from
the Zuckerberg foundation. To get everyone online
poorer nations need a reliable internet service. His
organisation, Internet.org, intends to get 4.5 billion
unconnected people, worldwide, as soon as possible. To
achieve this he has funded research into solar-powered
high-altitude mobile relay platforms and a new breed of
satellites. Unfortunately his flagship satellite, Amos-6,
was destroyed in the Space-X rocket explosion a couple
of days ago when he was in Nigeria ( – abi you naija
people don curse am?)
Kenya, Zuckerbergs next port of call, is a world leader in
mobile payments and he was keen to learn all about it.
Just like in Nigeria Kenya has its own silicon valley
called iHub and many of the developers and start-ups
are working on apps geared towards the local populace.
While we have a government and private investors who
are blind to the advances being made by our tech savvy
youths (- until they hack their bank accounts!) others
are watching carefully and ready to invest in them. As
Zuckerberg himself admits that Africa will build the
future.
This is the third foreign billionaire to visit Nigeria in
recent times: one,Gates, came to donate cash towards
our ailing and failing health service, another, Bono of
U2, came to highlight the plight of people living in
deplorable IDP camps and now Zuckerberg.
Isn’t it time our own home-grown ‘billionaires’ follow
suit, or haven’t they been shamed enough?

Source: Gists