By Declan Emelumba

CYNICISM is an age-long bane of the human race, but it is often the trademark of those described by the holy book as “men of little faith”. In ordinary parlance, it could be the apt definition for “men who are bereft of vision and insight”. Either way, it leads to the same end: such people are often thrown away by the prospect of new ideas, particularly the ones that jolt or beat human imagination. In my days as a student of political science, one of my lecturers in foreign policy repeatedly urged us to always think of the “unthinkable”. 

At the time, it sounded weird, but because he kept harping on it during his lectures, it dawned on me and my classmates that the lecturer made a lot of sense. When you think of the unthinkable, nothing will shock you. Thinking of the unthinkable is actually another way of dreaming big, beyond human imagination. It is about the power of positive thinking, which can shatter all barriers to progress. This was what President Barack Obama referred to as ‘The Audacity of Hope”.  All those whose ideas and inventions have changed the world belong to this mould. But they are a tiny minority. The majority of us are cynics and men of little faith who are quick to dismiss big dreams as unthinkable and impossible.

One of the reasons why Jesus Christ always had brushes with the Pharisees was their hypocrisy laced with cynicism, unbridled argumentative predilection, and, of course, their unbelief. For a people who were so  unreasonable to the point of even rejecting the healing miracle because it was to be done on a Sabbath day, the Pharisees always shot themselves on the foot. Of all their encounters with Jesus, the one that amuses me most was when the paralytic man was to be cured. Jesus asked him to go home that his sins were forgiven.

The Pharisees took umbrage that Jesus didn’t have such powers. He then asked them, which was easier to say: “the man’s sins had been forgiven” or to ask him to “stand up and walk”? Long story cut short: Jesus instantly healed the man, and he walked home. Governor Hope Uzodimma is a mere mortal and can never be compared to Jesus. Of course, that would be heresy. But such stories in the Bible offer us the best narratives with which to illustrate the fact that cynicism is as old as the human race.

It is not surprising, therefore, that cynics have sprung up so quickly in the army of misguided mischief makers who have descended on the Governor of Imo State since he made a promise to help 4000 youths of Imo origin with digital skills and, thereafter, help them secure jobs in European and Canadian companies. From musicians who can’t manage their homes to failed politicians who are simply envious of the governor’s achievements, the Pharisees and naysayers have concluded that Uzodimma ‘s vision is unthinkable and impossible. What a pity!

For people who are afraid of challenges, for people cocooned in their little world of always avoiding risks, such a projection from the visionary governor is strange and out of the world to achieve. Unfortunately, they don’t have the history of the man. From 1992 till the date he became the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma can’t recall the exact number of people he has sponsored abroad just as he can’t place the faces of the beneficiaries of his scholarship programmes.

He cannot also place the faces of the women and young people who have benefitted from his various empowerment initiatives. If he could do so much as a private citizen, how much more can he do as a governor with the enormous goodwill available to him? Going by the baying of the young audience in response to the governor’s promise, it appears that the detractors do not even have a handle on what is at stake. Some even went to the ridiculous extent of criticising the governor for looking for jobs for his people abroad, instead of here in Imo State.

Others imagined he could be trafficking them, while the ignorant claimed it was just a political gimmick to catch votes ahead of the governorship elections in November. Just like the Pharisees, they are neither interested in the details nor the logic. So long as the proposal does not conform to the imaginations of their little minds, there is suspicion in it. Let us look at the facts: So far, Governor Uzodimma has trained 20,000 Imo youths in different digital skills, and equipped them with start-up kits. No other state in Nigeria has achieved this feat. 

Many of the Skillup Imo graduates have already secured jobs abroad. Many more are gainfully self-employed in various parts of the country. Secondly, it is doubtful that the legion of cynics now polluting the social media space and making mockery of the promised 4000 jobs even listened to the rest of the governor’s speech wherein he laid the background and provided the justification for his big vision. These are excerpts from his speech: “In 2018, digitally transformed enterprises accounted for 13.5 trillion US Dollars of the global nominal GDP.

In 2023, they are forecast to account for 53.3 trillion US Dollars – more than half of the overall nominal GDP. This signals that digital supremacy in the global economy is near. For those who may not understand, it is this looming digital supremacy in the global economy that Uzodimma seeks to buy into. This is why his government is targeting to train a total of 300,000 in digital skills. In addition to the 20,000 already trained under the Skillup Imo project cohorts 1 and 2, arrangements have been concluded to commence the training of another 40,000 under Cohort 3 of the project.

Thirdly and even more importantly, what the governor said is that he is entering into an understanding with some European and Canadian companies, who are interested in specific digital skills for their companies at home, to train Imo youths to meet such specifications. (For the records, he never said European and Canadian governments but private companies).  Thereafter, such youths will be employed by these companies.

For those who may not know, employment of people with specialized skills is trending in Europe, America, and the rest of the developed world. There is clear, verifiable evidence of this. I refer this obviously uninformed army of Uzodimma’s critics to a  Vanguard Newspaper publication of June 28 this year. That publication quoted Canadian authorities of opening their borders for youths with digital skills for employment. Reason? The ageing and declining population of that country has made such policy necessary and even urgent. 

The programme plans to employ over 500,000 youths with digital skills across the globe between now and 2025. Nigeria was specifically mentioned in that report (Google https://www.vanguardngr.com for details). Governor Hope Uzodimma is only angling to get a very tiny portion of the available 500,000 digital jobs for Imo youths. It is only incurable pessimist and cynics that will see this laudable and doable ambition as mission impossible! Against this backdrop, such an ambitious project by both a pragmatic and visionary leader ought to be applauded and not derided by those who know next to nothing about governance, entrepreneurship, mentoring, and networking. The fourth point is that experts in this trending field of digital technology did not waste time in acknowledging that Uzodimma was on the right track. 

Chief Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Zinox Technologies, averred at the ceremony that he would have been a billionaire long before now if he had received the kind of head start the governor was giving the youths. Describing the feat by Uzodimma as unprecedented, Chief Ekeh, who is a key player in the industry, predicted that he could see 5,000 billionaires emerging from the youths who graduated that day because their skills were in high demand.

Now, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh is not a politician. He is a technocrat. He immediately saw the potential in what Uzodimma is doing. Typically and sadly, those blinded by ignorance and partisanship could not see that. It was as well that the Federal Government was represented at the occasion by the Minister of Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, who, like Ekeh, is knowledgeable in  the digital economy. He not only lauded the Imo State governor for that initiative but pledged that the Federal Government will partner with the state to start off a similar project for the youths. 

*Emelumba is the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Imo State.