THE MARKET FOR KNOCK-OFFS

Knock-offs: one of the many names for counterfeited goods.  Counterfeiting is one form of business that came to be in the late 19^th century and has spread all over the world. It has become popular among consumers and it has gained a very solid base.

Many more companies have moved their production lines to cheaper labour markets of the third world, areas with weaker labour laws or environmental regulations; they give means of production to foreign workers.  These new producers have little or no loyalty to the original company or the product.  The motives include a wider reach, ease of access to raw materials and more consumers, lower costs of production for manufacturers, promotion as well as acquisition which amounts to more profit for the manufacturer and the marketer, cutting out cost of adverts, cutting off the middlemen and marketing directly to the consumer.

These knock off items are usually found in flea markets, school campuses, local markets, private homes and in parties.  The business of counterfeiting is booming all over the world; Europe and America are not spared the harsh effects of the production and sale of knock offs.  Products that are being counterfeited range from mobile phones, fashion items, electronics, cameras, drugs, food, beverages, designer labels, etc.  However these knock off items are never found in reputable stores but they are very present in the market.  Knock offs are very easy to find and sometimes they are less expensive but they can be spotted if one looks carefully enough.  Strangely, a lot of consumers knowingly settle for fake goods.

Counterfeiting industry has come to stay as almost all products are being counterfeited.  China is the king in the industry of counterfeiting.  Today, China is ranked among the most buoyant economies at the expense of other countries.  There is no product that is spare from counterfeiting. The counterfeiting industry accounts for 8% of China’s GDP. The Chinese government has not succeeded in confronting issues of counterfeiting; the penalties for counterfeiting in China are so modest that one would simply pay the fine and go in with production. 

China has a lot to answer for in terms of food safety; would it be wise for a third world nation like Nigeria to receive food items from China knowing the attitude of the Chinese government towards food safety issues?  This is left to the consumer to decide.

In the days before the coming of Prof. Dora Akunyili to NAFDAC, Nigeria as a nation received a lot of food, drugs, etc from other countries but now that Nigerians have been enlightened about fake products, more caution is being applied in consuming products from other countries. 

Counterfeiting is not new to the Nigerian consumer but it is news to the Nigerian consumer that it is being practiced all over the world.  China has made a lot of money and is still making a lot of money from counterfeiting.  The question now is what is the prospect of the average consumer who makes purchase only to discover that what he has paid for is not what he thought it was? It is not just about money going down the drain, there may be health issues, there may be loss of lives and the consumer is at the receiving end either ways. 

Nigeria is still faced with challenges in tracking and confirming sources of counterfeit products and the Nigerian Consumer Protection Council is definitely not able to stand alone and overcome the negatives effects of counterfeiting. The CPC requires the assistance and cooperation of members of the public in controlling what consumers spend money on which at the end of the day may result in exposing them to a lot of inconvenience as well as danger.

PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT IS THE KEY

This is what counts. Quite frankly, if we look around, we find that everyone is a target for marginalization. There are people who for their own reasons would want to marginalize other people around them, but the key thing is “if people would allow themselves to be marginalized.” Who will save you from marginalization? It is only you who has the ability and interest to save yourself from marginalization.

In too many cases, we blame other people for our misfortunes because we have not been able to see ourselves and our products or service as unique and different from a certain group or class to which we restrict ourselves. Until we rise above the contraptions of social groups or class; we will not see the need to add value to ourselves, to our products or to our services enough to make room for desirability. In the course of my development as an individual, I have come to see the critical need to add value to myself so much so that it is sufficient to add to every person I come in contact with and every environment I enter.

My parents are (first and foremost) teachers. My mother’s father was a lawyer (as well as a teacher) and my father’s father was a preacher (and a teacher). The most common trade among my kinsmen is teaching and preaching in one form or the other. I am a writer, an artist, an entrepreneur and a teacher.

My siblings are professionals in various fields but by and large they are also teachers. Simply put, teaching is a basic career in my family and in the community where I come from but we have over time, developed other skills and means of earning income. I have medical doctors, engineers, bank managers, musicians, etc in my family who have discovered ways of expressing that basic tendency to teach. It is our calling.

Now the fact that I come from a family of teachers does not mean that I should not aspire or work towards being the best teacher there ever was or being the biggest teaching entrepreneur in Nigeria. I know that I am not restricted to teaching in the classroom.

That I am a Nigerian does not limit my aspirations to be best at any field I choose. I always tell young people that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s father is not the owner of World Bank where she rose to be the President until she recently returned to Nigeria to take charge of the Ministry of Finance. She did not have to know anybody to be at the top today.

D’banj, TuFace, Genevieve Nnaji and so many other Nigerian successful artistes are pulling their weight in their chosen careers inspite of limitations

 There is nothing that cannot be achieved if one sincerely and consistently works at it. I am an African does not mean that I cannot reach the highest international height in my field. President Barack Obama, Beyonce Knowles, Oprah Winfrey are all Africans and they are still doing very well in their diverse areas of endeavour.

This is the result of their personal effort to achieve distinction and excellence. This is personal achievement. Every individual has the potential to excel if they work at it and in the same vein, every business has the potential to excel if the entrepreneur works at it. What I just want to reveal here is that it is not impossible. There are too many written material on success tips in personal relationships and in business but believing that it can be done is key and working sincerely and consistently are the major keys to personal achievement.

Where many young people are unable to cope with studying and learning within conventional methods as presented in school classrooms, they may achieve much if they are allowed to try their hands at one form of apprenticeship or the other. It is usually said that no knowledge is wasted but a lot of knowledge that is being imparted in conventional school curricula are known to have expired and have become irrelevant to people after school.

One must keep discovering new methods of learning new things that will add value to his personal value on a daily basis.

Corporate Social Responsibility A Broader View

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The debate on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) started as far back as the 20^th century and there are still arguments over the clear definition of what CSR is and what it should entail. CSR is the duty that corporations are expected to willingly perform in the environment where their business operates; in simple terms, it is a responsible way of doing business. Corporations should not be compelled under normal situations to perform these duties however time and again many companies have shown reason why they must be put under pressure to make them take up one form of CSR or the other. Pressure is normally mounted on companies by government, the media, consumer advocacy groups and other civil societies to make corporations conduct sustainable business practices.

 

CSR is more of a morale issue which corporate organizations are expected to take on without undue pressure from government and others. Where the government has failed to enforce careful and considerate disposal of industrial waste, the people and civil societies as well as the media are left with very little power to enforce these policies. It becomes clear why it is a moral issue for corporations to actively participate in CSR.

 

Globalization has greatly empowered companies while placing developing countries in a very vulnerable position to the extent that the CSR policies which multinational companies operate in developed countries like the USA are quite different from what obtains in a country like Nigeria.  Activities of consumer interest groups, the media and the government have to a large extent checked the tendency of multinational as well a local companies to deplete and degrade the environment without any thought for development of the community or for the safe and hygienic survival of members of the community.

 

Several years ago, a certain Mr. Nana of Koko a small village near Warri was paid by unknown persons to store in his compound some drums of substances that comprehensive laboratory analysis later proved to be harmful chemical waste. Not much care was applied in the disposal of condemned chemicals or equipment that have become useless or for general industrial waste and this is a menace that most third world countries are made to endure by large corporations doing business in their communities.

 

 CSR includes performing duties such as providing safe and conducive working conditions for employees, making contributions to social groups and charities with the community, taking adequate care to protect the environment from pollution resulting from their operations, providing scholarships and education grants to deserving students and also sponsoring education awards or a chair in institutions of higher learning within their business locality. 

 

While many multinational corporations have gone as far as constructing and furnishing health centers and schools for communities, many companies have simply gone ahead with their business without any tangible contribution to the improvement of their host communities. Probing among some of these companies revealed that certain members of the communities have called to demand and have been paid in cash what should or could have been expended on the development of the community.

 

There is a particularly nauseating stench (some stale or rancid type of cooking fat) that hits one’s nostrils as an eatery, hotel or restaurant is sighted; it has become one of the quickest ways of recognizing that there is such facility in the neighbourhood. It is expected that the management of such companies would take necessary steps to rid the environment of such ugly odor that comes from their activities in the locality as a CSR initiative. 

 

A lot of human rights issues which have been arisen in corporate organizations are traced to corruption in the form of indigenes receiving cash gifts from management and to a large extent, such companies take advantage of the people.

 

CSR is an opportunity for the government and the community to secure steps in sustainable development and every care must be taken to ensure that what is being offered is meaningful without necessarily laying too much of an administrative burden on the corporations. In addition, such companies are able to establish the reputation for integrity and best practices among members of the community as well as their employees.

 

GOD bless Nigeria.

THE MANY PENDING CASES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Violence Against Women (VAW) is not an entirely new issue among people; many more protective initiatives have been established to protect the rights of women from spousal abuse and from abuse in the hands of people they are known to be closely related to. It is agonizing to note the rising frequency in which women are being brutalized and killed by men who have at one point in time been intimate with them and the fact that a lot of those cases are almost never referred to again after the initial arrest by the police. Suspects are arrested and others continue to perpetrate these crimes. The truth is that for many years, women have been at the receiving end of hostility from males and this year 2012 alone, there are already more than 12 cases of VAW culminating in the early demise of victims.

It is high time people started to worry about the increase in the rate of VAW in our society. We keep reading reports in the dailies of incidence of VAW and people always get arrested and in a few cases, we hear of prosecution like the case of Mr. Akolade Arowolo who was alleged to have murdered his wife in their matrimonial home; it is expected that judgment will soon be delivered on matter between Mr. Akolade and the state. Another case being prosecuted is the very highly celebrated case of Ms Cynthia Osokogwu who was also murdered by people she knew as ‘friends.’ It is expected that the suspects in this case will appear again in court in the first week of October, 2012.  

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) should also be bothered by the increase in the number of such pending cases. Furthermore, NPF should be worried about the case of the Ms. Wunmi Adebayo of Tai Solarin University of Education student who was reported to have been gang-raped and subsequently murdered by a man said to be her boyfriend and his friends who are reported to be members of an armed robbery gang. NPF should worry that it took traditional intervention and investigation to get the man in question to own up to the murder of the deceased student because it shows how much trust and confidence people have in the police. Ms. Ella Ukhuelegbe, a 17-year old student of the University of Lagos also died under mysterious circumstances in January, 2012 and a male family friend identified as Tokunbo was arrested as a suspect in the matter. Between then and now, no less than ten women have died in cases of VAW and the number continues to increase.

The long and short is that whatever the punitive measures being applied by the police or the judiciary, it has not in any way served as a deterrent as many more cases are being reported.

The reputation of the NPF is at stake here as many of these cases are reported not to have reached the law courts for prosecution. Murder is not an offence that can be settled out of court and it automatically becomes a case between the suspects and the state and not between the suspects and the family of the deceased.

 

IMBIBING THE CULTURE OF BUDGETING

The peculiar nature of Nigeria allows room for the government to delay making the national budget public and from implementing the budget that has been drawn up by the Ministry of Finance with the support of all the institutions that oversee allocation and management of national resources.

There is always a clamour from many quarters for the reading and subsequent implementation of the national budget because the budget forms the blueprint for spending the nation’s economic resources. Without reading or implementing the national budget, the nation is courting economic chaos. Whether or not the country is wealthy, there must be a clear plan of how its resources must be spent.

The country will normally earn the money it desires to spend. In the same way, individuals, organizations and companies in an economic system must earn and spend money.  Naturally, what we desire to acquire will surpass what we are capable of earning, having a budget at hand helps us to identify what things require priority attention and what things we can afford to knock-off the schedule of expenses.

A budget is a financial plan that shows how money that is received into the system is expended. In very simple terms, it is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending of economic resources. Budgeting is a common practice among nations as they have many more ways of earning, borrowing and spending money. Budgeting is not limited to nations; organizations and businesses including sole proprietorship that aspire to much must draw up budgets and maintain records of how far they are able to implement the plans as stated in the budget.

The norm is that budgets are drawn up annually; however, for individuals and for households, it is good practice to draw up personal and family budgets as frequently as money is received in the purse. In a situation where there is more than one breadwinner in a household, a reasonable ratio of monthly contribution is agreed upon and based on the total for the housekeeping, a monthly budget is drawn up and as much as possible the budget should be maintain to avoid disagreements and conflict.

Successful implementation of the family budget is a sure way of earning the respect and trust of contributors and it goes a long way to foster peace and harmony in the home.

As early as possible, children should be introduced to the practice of working with budgets. Too many things have been left to chance and this is one way of restoring dignity and self-reliance in young people.

Human beings generally spend money on things that they believe that they need but if for some reason, they do not have the money to spend on these things, they come to terms with the fact that they can actually do without these things.

Drawing up a budget even before we receive the money helps to discipline our ‘wants’ or else we will almost always call for an IOU. People who are always short of funds and in need are never regarded as trustworthy enough to manage economic resources of an organization. No matter how pleasant, charming, respectful or  kind a person is, once he is identified to be having issues managing his funds, there will always be that invisible ceiling over his head.

The man who fails at managing his funds at any level will always fail even if he is entrusted with large amounts of funds.

The man who excels at managing his funds will always earn the respect and admiration of his superiors and subordinates inspite of other flaws in his character.

It takes consistent practice of budgeting and records keeping to perfect the discipline of effective management of one’s finances which could be quite difficult in the earliest days but over time, it becomes easier and more meaningful.

HOUSE-HELP WANTED FOR URGENT EMPLOYMENT

Putting up an advert like the above could take a long and complicated process to fill. Reason being that there is a scarcity of people who will fill the position. In time past, it was not very difficult to secure the services of such people because not many people saw the relevance of education and acquiring skills that would help them find decent employment. Thankfully, many more people see the need for education and training in some vocation.

Among the easterners, we still find people who ‘employ’ young boys and girls for apprenticeship while also using them as house-helps. If the boys or girls are fortunate enough to complete their apprenticeship and the ‘master’ fulfils his own part of the agreement, they are likely to be established in their own trade but if they are not, they are dismissed while serving as apprentice/house-help and abandoned either in the city or they are returned to their villages. They will still have reason to be thankful especially if they are not abused, dehumanized or murdered like we have seen in news reports.

Nigerians go as far as Benin republic to acquire house-helps who most of the time, are under-aged. There have also been reports of under-aged girls hired to perform domestic chores being maltreated by their employers. Effort of many human rights initiatives have not achieved much in terms of discouraging ‘employers’ from hiring the service of under-aged children as house-helps.

The CNN Freedom project will classify this form of labour as ‘slavery’. Unpleasant as it may seem, this is the reality that we are faced with. The ‘employers’ of this type of labour would definitely not want their own children to be ‘employed’ like that. They would rather cocoon and nurture their own with so much love and affection than expose them to the harshness of leaving home at the age of eight, nine or ten years to go and earn a living for the family in a strange land that offers them no love or protection.

Middlemen who have aptly been named ‘child traffickers’ along the line of the  transaction have raised the cost of securing the service of  house-helps so much that they earn as much as twice what the child doing the work earns. The fact that so many of such child traffickers get arrested every now and then has not deterred others from trying. They keep trafficking children and they keep getting caught and they always return to the trade.

This calls for inquiry. How come they always return to the trade? What would the police have to say about this and what would our lawmakers have to say on this issue?

New laws and edicts are being enacted on a daily basis as the need arises in civilized societies like the United States of America (USA) and the Nigerian judiciary should cease to hide under the excuse that there is no law against this or that or classifying one as an offence and other as a misdemeanor. New bills, laws and edicts should be introduced if that is what it will take to stem the constant violation and abuse of the rights of children.

In 2012 alone, several cases of child abuse have been reported but how many have been successfully prosecuted and how many offenders have been punished to serve as deterrent to others?

Civilized societies shun child labour and Nigerians should begin to do away with this evil age-long practice.

There a number of organizations that provide ‘after-school’ care for children while their parents work; working mothers should be encouraged to make use of such services in the interest of their children

Also, many grandmothers are known to care for their grandchildren while the parents are at work. A lot of them travel as far as to the United Kingdom and the USA to care for their grandchildren while the parents are out making a living. This has the two-way benefit of the grandparents enjoying the pleasure of nurturing their grandchildren and also having easy access to care in a civilized society instead of being tucked away in the village and forgotten by their children.

GOD bless Nigeria.

 

KINDRED SPIRIT IN CORRUPTION

 

When the frequency of negative criticisms overshadows and almost drones out genuine complements, the effect tends to become a crippling feeling of rejection. It gives reason for worry when people find no reason to complement each other or the government. In the interest of sanity, people will have to look out for what is good about them. The issue of corruption among Nigerians has been raised to the high heavens and many Nigerians are not allowed the opportunity to show their good side. Rather, they are condemned even before they stand trial. News for Nigerians however is that corruption is not peculiar to Nigeria and Nigerians; the whole world is corrupt. Many nations have overcome the stage of publicly justifying corrupt practices while they still actively practice corruption. Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for personal and private gain.

Over the last few months, civil rights groups and individual campaigners have become more vocal about the uncontrollable presence of the scourge of corruption in India. It was quite shocking to know that corruption manifest in the Indian economy and society is at a full scale. One of the activists, a retired police woman made considerable effort in establishing the fact that seeming wealth of India revolves around very few people within the society. With the issues of corruption plaguing the Nigerian society, one would ordinarily want to focus on how best we can address our own issues rather than echoing what is being said about other countries.

A debate on Tim Sebastian’s ‘the Outsider’ on Bloomberg TV channel featured the topic ‘there is no honest business in India.’ Listening to the panel of discussants and contributing members of the audience revealed several cases of bottlenecks and blockages put in the path of aspiring entrepreneurs; it is so bad that the politicians are the only class of people who can scale the bureaucratic huddles set up to discourage young business people. In effect to make a head way in business in India, one must be an established politician. Other than that, one is made to make settlements in expensive bribes to public officials and party stalwarts. It is was quite touching to hear one of the discussants Rajeev S., CEO of a telecoms enterprise recommend areas of business that the would-be entrepreneur must stay away from if he or she did not want to get involved in corrupt practices.

I am 100% confident that no government policy or official can officially suggest such to young Nigerian entrepreneurs but it is disturbing to see that many young Nigerian entrepreneurs shy away from many areas of business. In a recent interview, Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group who was CEO of Virgin Nigeria lamented frustrations he experienced in the Nigerian aviation industry and sadly he was made to abandon the project with losses in investment. We see Indians surviving and thriving in the same aviation industry even at the expense of the lives of unsuspecting passengers who are being flown in  ‘airborne caskets.’ Invariably, the corrupt way of doing business in India has been imported into the already corrupt system in Nigeria that is why scandalous issues concerning the operations and crash of Dana Airline are being swept under the carpet.

The CNN Freedom Project exposes people who sell their children based on their culture, religion and excuses of poverty. I told my neighbor who is an Indian that the distance between Nigeria and India has been further reduced by technological advancement and that he could no longer deceive us that Nigeria is less developed than India. What I am saying in essence is that it is not his turn to bad-mouth Nigeria and Nigerians especially as he is the one who has come to Nigeria in search of the ‘Golden Fleece.’ We have our own share of social injustice issues in Nigeria which we are struggling with and I am fully convinced that as soon as many more young Nigerians begin to buy into the vision of the new Nigeria, they will begin to tidy up their acts.

In the same vein, security issues of nations like Israel and Pakistan are down-played when people discuss terrorist activities in Nigeria; activities that are now known to have been largely promoted and funded by international terrorist organizations.

New Nigerians will do well to believe that Nigeria is not in the league of the most corrupt nations on earth and spring forward in making progress while downplaying acceptance of the presence corruption.

GOD bless Nigeria