Pragmatic Human Capital for Sustainable Development
Being Keynote Address at
Faculty of Arts & Education
International Conference on Sustainable Development
Lead City University, Ibadan
by
Clement O. Obadimu, MSc, Ph.D., MCSN, MICCON, CChem, FAESN, FOSHA(UK), Fpmc.

Good morning most revered learned personalities.
I count it all joy to be given this opportunity to air my views on this timely intervention we are all gathered for today; partly because it aligns with my passion and long held dreams to be in such and partly because it is time, we let the world redirect their energy to bottom line result- oriented goals, sustainable for this generation and beyond. What are Sustainable development goals and how did it come to bear?

Introduction

The clear goal of economic development policy is to raise living standards throughout the world, providing steadily more goods and services to an expanding population. The international institutional structures set up after the 2nd world war, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the United Nations, were specifically designed with this goal in mind. As development policy has evolved, different approaches have been emphasized at different times. The original emphasis was on promoting more productive agriculture and industrialization. In the late 1970s, a focus on basic needs was advocated by Paul Streeten, Mahbub Ul Haq, and others. Education, nutrition, health, sanitation, and employment for the poor were the central components of this approach – reflecting an acknowledgment that the benefits of development did not necessarily “trickle down” to those who needed them most. This perspective inspired the creation of the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index (HDI), which uses health and education measures together with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to calculate an overall index of development success.

Globally, most countries have made significant advances both in GDP and in Human Development Index measures. But overall, the record of development on a world scale is open to two major criticisms: Firstly, the benefits of development have not been distributed evenly, with income inequalities remaining persistent and sometimes increasing over time. The global numbers of extremely poor and malnourished people have remained high, and in some areas

have increased. Secondly, there have been major negative impacts of development on the environment and on existing social structures. Many traditional societies have been devastated by development of forests, water systems, and intensive fisheries. Urban areas in developing countries commonly suffer from extreme pollution and inadequate transportation, water, and sewer infrastructure. Environmental damage, if unchecked, may undermine the achievements of development and even lead to collapse of essential ecosystems. The absolute gaps between rich and poor nations, and between rich and poor groups within individual countries, are widening, not narrowing. And even if all nations reach stable populations and satisfactory levels of GDP by, say, 2050, will the planetary ecosystem survive the greatly increased demands on its resources and environmental absorption capacity? Four key themes emerged from the collective concerns and aspirations of the world’s peoples: peace, freedom, development, and environment. A Realistic plan was of immediate necessity

From MDGs to SDGs – The Concept of Sustainable Development

In September 2000, leaders of 189 countries had gathered at the United Nations headquarters and signed the historic Millennium declaration, in which they committed to achieving a set of eight measurable millennium development goals (MDGs) that range from halving extreme poverty and hunger to promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality, by the target date of 2015.

The MDGs were revolutionary in providing a common language to reach global agreement. The 8 goals were realistic and easy to communicate, with a clear measurement/monitoring mechanism.
Though substantial progress were made regarding the MDGs with the seemingly realization of the first MDG of halving the extreme poverty rate by 2015, the achievements have however been uneven. This undoubtedly dictated the need for a discussion of a post-MDG agenda.

So in the year 2015, leaders from 193 countries of the world came together to face the future, reviewing the last agenda and a need to make it better.
What these leaders saw, still prevalent, was daunting – Famines. Drought. Wars. Plagues. Poverty. Not just in some faraway places, but in their very own cities and towns and villages. They knew things did not have to continue this way. They knew we had enough food to feed the world, but it was not getting equitably distributed. They knew there were medicines for HIV and other diseases, but their cost were prohibitive. They knew that earthquakes and floods were inevitable, but that the high death tolls were not.

They also were aware that billions of people worldwide shared their hope for a better future and a need to put forward a more sustaining agenda. The leaders from these countries responded pragmatically.
The growing awareness of these challenges to traditional development thinking has led to the increasingly wide acceptance of a new concept – that of sustainable development- development which protects the environment, and which advances social justice. But what exactly is Sustainable Development?

Sustainable Development is difficult, if not impossible, to define. Sustainability is the capacity for continuance into the long-term future. ‘Development’ as used here covers social and economic improvement in a broad sense. It may or may not involve economic growth. The emphasis is not on economic growth per se but rather on ‘qualitative improvement in human well-being’ or ‘unfolding of human potential’. The term sustainable development can be looked at from a wide spectrum of meaning; but the well-known broad definition in the Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987) and referenced in University of Cambridge (2005) is: Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

On the 25th of September, 2015, United Nations postulated a 17-point Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to override the 8-point Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Traditionally, the concept of sustainable development involves three equivalent components: environmental, economic, and social development; as well as three dimensions of wellbeing, i.e. economic development, environmental sustainability and social inclusion, and their complex interrelations, including institutional aspects (Čiegis, 2009).

Economic development: An economically sustainable system must be able to produce goods and services on a continuing basis, to maintain manageable levels of government and external debt, and to overcome sectoral imbalances which have detrimental effects on production – either agricultural or industrial production, or otherwise.

Environmental Sustainability: Humanity faces not only one but many overlapping crises of environmental sustainability, including: climate change as the result of human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases; massive environmental pollution such as the poisoning of bodies of water and other ecosystems as a result of heavy runoff of nitrogen-based and phosphorus-based fertilizers; the acidifi cation of the oceans, caused mainly by the increased concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is the most important human-produced

greenhouse gas; the massive loss of biodiversity caused by unsustainable demands on forests, logging for timber or wood fuel. An environmentally sustainable system must maintain a stable resource base, avoiding over-exploitation of renewable resource systems or environmental sink functions, and depleting non-renewable resource. This includes maintenance of biodiversity, atmospheric stability, and other ecosystem functions not ordinarily classed as economic resources.

Social Inclusion: Another set of challenges surrounds social inclusion- simply understood to mean – fairness among the world’s economies. With the advent of the digital age, inequalities in income have generally soared. Gaps in earnings between workers with higher education and those without have widened sharply. The wages of highly educated and well trained workers have grown substantially, whereas earnings of lower skilled workers with fewer years of education have tended to decrease. The fragility of gainful employment for large parts of the world’s labor force, in both rich and poor countries, has contributed to increased public unrest and even the toppling of governments in the past few turbulent years, with more unrest expected. : A socially sustainable system must achieve distributional equity, adequate provision of social services including health and education, gender equity, and political accountability and participation

A closer look at the 17 goals of interest, reveals over the last two decades, an expected change in most of the areas

1. No Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. Zero hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Good health and well-being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Quality education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Gender equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Clean water and sanitation: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
7. Affordable and clean energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy
8. Decent work and economic growth: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all
9. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation

10. Reduced inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
12. Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14. Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
15. Life on Land: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
17. Partnerships for the goals: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development finance (Abone Mugade Daniel, 2020)

Whereas the MDGs with its targets focused only on developing countries, the SDGs with its 169 targets encompasses all countries without prejudice to developing or developed countries. The expansion of the SDGs is due to the failure of most targeted countries to achieve their set MDGs targets by 2015. Consequently, the SDGs now maintains a gestation period of 2030.

Nigeria, a nation under the umbrella of the United Nations, is not an exception in this campaign to achieve the 17-point agenda of the SDGs by 2030, for National development.
National development according to Obasi (2010) is the social process by which a nation harnesses and mobilizes all resources (human and material) available to it for the purpose of positively transforming its environment and ultimately improving the quality of the social, economic and political life of its citizenry. It is a holistic process involving the collective will and efforts of the people. It can be said to refer to the ability of a country to mobilize resources to improve the social welfare of the people, by providing social amenities like education, potable water, transportation, infrastructure, medical care etc. These resources can be referred to as Capital. Capital refers to that part of the wealth of an economy which is utilized for the production of further wealth. It can be said to be that part of the resources or endowment of a nation, on which some investments or development efforts have been carried out on. It is anything that yields a stream of services or income, over a period of time. They are used in further production of more wealth. In recent times, the concept of human capital has come into play.

RMIT University had simplified the goals pictorially using concentric circles of 3Ps of sustainability viz People, Planet, and Profit; also often referred to as the triple bottom line.

I view these 3-Ps as the major beneficiaries of the SDG.
The term sustainability is broadly used to indicate programs, initiatives and actions aimed at the preservation of a particular resource especially when the demand for it is high. However, it actually specifically refers to four distinct areas, earlier mentioned as three dimensions of wellbeing by Čiegis, (2009): human, social, economic and environmental – known as the four pillars of sustainability.

Be it 3P-tripple bottom line or 4-pillars of sustainability, the common denominator is People or Human capital which is the main driving force to achieving benefit for the other pillars. At this point I will hone in to the main focus of this paper.

The Human Capital – Understanding, Inevitability and Importance

Human capital is a measure of the skills, education, capacity and attributes of labor which influences the productive capacity and learning potentials of individuals. According to the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), human capital is “the knowledge, skills, competencies and other attributes embodied in individuals or groups of individuals required during their life; and used to produce goods, services, or ideas…” . Human capital thus refers to the various qualitative dimensions of human beings, in contrast to their ability to deliver physical labor.

An organization (or Society) is often said to only be as good as its people from the top down, which is why human capital is so important to a company or society at large.
Like any other asset, human capital has the ability to depreciate through long periods of unemployment, and the inability to keep up with technology and innovation. However, since all labor is not considered equal, employers can improve human capital by investing in the training, education, and benefits of their employees.

Adams Smith had upheld this when he suggested that improving human capital through training and education leads to a more profitable enterprise, which adds to the collective wealth of society. According to Smith, that makes it a win-win for everyone.

Human capital is also recognized as a mediator of national development in all countries of the world.
In development studies, human capital is recognized as the most critical in development. It has been directly linked to the ability of nations to transform from underdeveloped to developed economies. Indeed, the quality of a nation’s human capital is central to promoting and sustaining innovation, as well as the adoption of appropriate technology for accelerated sustainable development. Investments in education and skills development for human capital accumulation have been identified as a key determinant of long run and sustainable growth. The role of human capital in economic development has been a frequent argument in the theoretical and applied literature. The belief of policy makers that human capital is a key contributor to economic development has led, virtually everywhere in the developing world, to the provision of investment in education and health (Syed, Muhammad & Amjad (2012). Human capital was largely accountable for the transformation of resource poor countries like Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, while resource rich countries like Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela are still at the lower rung of the development ladder. This is evidence to show that human capital is essential in the development process; and developing nations will do well to focus on accelerated human capital development as a catalyst for attaining their development objectives and also the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Quality of human capital is embodied in the technical skills, qualifications, education levels, work experience, intelligence, habits, and personality of each person. The development, expansion and upgrading of existing human capital resources is essential, given the importance of human capital to economic, social, and indeed overall development, and given that human capital can depreciate and become obsolete in the same way as physical or tangible capital. The implication of this is that if no investments are made on human capital, in the form of education, skills acquisition, on the job training etc., the existing human capital could become incompatible and outmoded, as society continues to progress, and new technologies are being employed in production processes. The availability of quality education, skills learning and health services to people is one of the major ways of improving the quality of human resources. It provides an economy with healthy trained human resources required for economic growth and development (Bloom & Canning, 2003). According to Pidlisnyuk (2010),” Education is an instrument for training human resources to optimize productivity by encouraging technical progress and by promoting cultural conditions conducive to social and economic change” Building the required human capital for the attainment of sustainable development by countries requires both a new ideology of life and an innovative approach to Education. In view of this, Sustainable development should be inculcated into the curricula of our educational systems at all levels.

Since human capital is based on the investment of employee skills and knowledge through education, these investments in human capital can be easily calculated. HR managers can calculate the total profits before and after any investments are made. Any return on investment (ROI) of human capital can be calculated by dividing the company’s total profits by its overall investments in human capital.

Human Capital – Risk & Sustainability

Human capital risk refers to the gap between the human capital requirements of a company or organization and the existing human capital of its workforce. This gap, if too wide, can lead a company towards inefficiencies, inability to achieve its goals, a poor reputation, fraud, financial loss, and eventual closure. To reduce and eliminate human capital risk, an organization should train, foster, and support its workforce.

An individual’s human capital worth may depreciate if it can not or will not adopt new technology or techniques. Conversely, the human capital worth of someone who does adopt them will.

Human sustainability aims to maintain and improve the human capital in society and focuses on the importance of anyone directly or indirectly involved in the making of products, or provision of services or broader stakeholders (the human capital of the organisation) (Benn et al., 2014). It encompasses the development of skills and human capacity to support the functions and sustainability of an organisation and to promote the wellbeing of communities and society.

Seeking qualified personnel who fits this mold is somewhat more difficult than it appears.

Human sustainability involves retention of human capital through the promotion of health and nutrition of employees. It enhances provision of support to people, in order to live healthier lives. In practice, the healthy living of people has a vital influence on the development and sustainability of an organization.

As explained by Hatch and Dyer (2004), human sustainability means commitment to encourage human being to lead healthier lives, and there has to be involvement of decision-making in the eradication of negative effects from the environment.
It has also been postulated by Mani, Varghese & Ganesh (2005) that human sustainability is the act of improving the quality and value of people’s life as they continue to live within the boundaries of the environment.

Human sustainability allows organizations to motivate their workers through the provision of good nutrition, as well as physical activities; thus, promoting the maintenance of high level of optimal health among the employees.
It is important to note that Organizations and Societies are required to solve the problem of lack of sustainability by providing employees with adequate education regarding healthy eating and nutrition. In practice, this approach will allow the organization to realize sustainability and change in its performance, and consequently its profit – all things being equal.

A striking support of the foregoing discourse is not a surprise. Evidence shows that the lack of human sustainability in an organization or society is a major problem that hinders organizational change and sustainability (Costanza et al. 2007). The moment employees are living a life that is not healthy (or not well motivated), the organization or society fails to realize its goals owing to the impact of poor employees’ performance, a consequence of unhealthy and ill-motivated personnel.

Let’s take a moment to ponder. Is just having a healthy human capital (an employee) enough to drive sustainable development goals to fruition? This is where the concept of pragmatism sets in

Pragmatism – Bridge between the real and the ideal

It is a philosophical movement or system having various forms, but generally stressing practical consequences as constituting the essential criterion in determining meaning, truth, or value.

Pragmatism is dealing with problems in a practical way, rather than by using theory or abstract principles. It is a perspective that can bridge current divides between scientific paradigms, the theory–practice gap, and academic–practitioner interests. I tag it the link between the gown and the town.

In a nut shell it is the character or conduct that emphasizes practicality.

Pragmatic concept encompasses objectivity, epistemology, truth, fallibilism, practice and experience.

Pragmatism – Negative & Ethical

Pragmatism holds the belief that the true and meaningful form of knowledge is one that is §§ Practical – an idea produces good results
§§ Workable – an idea can be put to work
§§ Beneficial – an idea benefits people

• § Useful – an idea can be used to attain good results

It was assumed to be, if an idea works and brings good results then it is true and meaningful but if it does not then that idea is meaningless, that is it has no value.
How do we know an idea is Practical, Workable, Beneficial and Useful, that is, how do we know an idea is true and meaningful? Williams James said ideas are proven to be true and meaningful via experimentation or testing. Simply put, That Which Will Not “Work” Cannot Be True. How do we know Pepsi cola taste well; through practically tasting the cola of course

This brings us to deep thinking. So if an idea is working and producing good results, Is it really good in its real sense;
If the Pepsi taste good, does it practically mean it is good for the body
Can all pragmatic steps be ethical?

This so much depends on specific situations. Some things for example, may be unethical shortcuts with some groups but perfectly legitimate with others. One has to look at people’s stakes and motives as well as each specific situation.

Also, people differ when it comes to boundaries defined by overtly legal and commonly accepted ethical behaviours and beliefs. Religion, Faith, Culture, and local laws are few of the notions that cause difference in pragmatic responsiveness of people
Can the following pragmatisms be adjudged ethical?

1. Submitting a proposal to get approval with outdated data to catch up with time may be viewed by few as smart way of pragmatism while many others may take this as unethical.
2. Recycling research publication for promotion,
3. Government Authorities adjusting statistical data to fit a purpose at hand

are few of the numerous cases in question. These are not Pragmatism but unethical short cuts. The practitioners above have laudable objectives but their ‘pragmatism’ leaves a lot to be desired. Aborting a deformed fetus is vehemently not welcome by some religious belief but for some non-challant care-free Pragmatist, It is better to abort a deformed fetus than let it suffer for a life time. The other challenge not considered by the pragmatist is not seeking the consent of the disabled individual’s wish to be dead or not. This calls for extreme caution when promoting pragmatism

Though Pragmatism is projected to focus on things that best serves personal interest, when one has an option to do or not to do otherwise and can, at the most, be deemed as selfish attitude, it may still be approached from viewpoint of unethical deeds to that of Pragmatism with accountability and character

This is the approach I want us we adopt in our deliberations in this forum for the next three days.

Pragmatic Approach to Human Capital Development in Nigeria.

Nigeria has remained an epitome of low productivity, high indebtedness, widespread poverty, environmental pollution and social inequalities, manifested in high unemployment and a steep rise in crime and insecurity. Seven years into the flagging off of the SDGs among countries of the world, and eight years left for its expiration, Nigeria still seems to have no gains to show. Data estimates that in the year 2030, Nigeria will be the 5th largest populous country in the world. This forecast could have both negative and positive implications for Nigeria. The negative effect is that a large population will stretch her resources and otherwise productive resources will be channeled to consumption. The positive effect however is that there will be teeming human resources, available for harnessing and channeling to greater productivity.

Why has Nigeria remained backward despite abounding in resources, both human and physical? Apart from the putrid corruption that has bedeviled every corner of the society, the Nigerian situation also models the phrase ‘to plant an English apple on an African soil’. Of course, the said apple will not thrive. Instead of implementing policies handed out by The IMF and other donor bodies, there is need to look inwards and try to find out feasible ways in the Nigerian context to develop her human capital. Technology is advancing daily and since the world is now a global village, it would be highly disadvantageous to have a work force that is not internationally viable.

There should be a focus on formal education for the workforce, consistent on the job training as well as improved health care program to cater for their wellbeing.
The federal Government can also engage experts to develop a robust curriculum, based on local needs, technologies and resources and capabilities that can facilitate the government’s investment on the workforce.

The Private sector can also provide on the job training for its workers, such as training and retraining workshops to sharpen their skills and also upgrade their skills as technology is advancing,
Government needs to ensure that the skills set of its work force are expanded for optimal value creation. This could also involve importing of technology and training workers in the use of up-to-date technology. This could accelerate development.

A statement attributed to John Wooden says “ if we fail to adapt we fail to move forward”. In recent times, the concept of soft skills has come into play. What are soft skills? Soft skills are the interpersonal skills such as the ability to communicate with other people, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership and to work as a team. They, are personality traits and inter-person skills that help employees interact with others, and succeed in the work place. Examples of soft skills include the ability to communicate with prospective clients, mentor your co-workers, lead a team, negotiate a contract, follow instructions and get a job done on time. They are also called people skills Contrarily, hard skills refer to a person’s knowledge and occupational skills. According to research, soft skill-intensive occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030. It is estimated that about 400 to 800million individuals could be rendered jobless by automation (that is, the use of machines) and would need to find new jobs. Workers of the future will spend more time on activities that machines cannot do; for instance, managing people effectively, applying emotional intelligence and communicating with others; as against conventional physical activities, or collecting and processing data, where machines would exceed human performance.

All together, the move from a goods-based economy to a service-based economy will be characterized by a move from hard skills to soft skills. Thus, to enable the development of human capital skills that will transcend time, there should be more focus on soft skills which are more transferable.

It is necessary for the government to inculcate the learning of soft skills into the curriculum of schools at all levels. This is necessary to develop human capital that can meet both present and future developmental needs for sustainable development.

Let me digress a bit to my personal life to buttress the ideas captured above. –

It was April 10, 2020, 2- days to my usual departure for 14-day stay at work.
The usual foot dragging. The not-so-happy countenance of my wife, coupled with slight headache and the additional pressure of going through covid-19 mandatory 14-day quarantine required before resuming the main 14-day work at camp were among the undesirable issues impinging on me. This was further worsened by the total lockdown announced by the Federal Government. So, to say the least, there was famine, hatred and tension in the land! While intentionally relieving all these effects with words of encouragement, the women leader of my church came to passionately request for support for food for the Parsonage, I nodded with a slightly distracted heart and thought within myself, ‘how will others feed’, I asked myself. Other members of the congregations, my neighbors, friends, and families both here and there were all not sure of continuous availability of food as the entire world was shutdown indefinitely. I was terrified for no one was sure of when life would go back to normalcy.
Prior to this time, I had requested for a loan that was not forth coming and the request by citizens for the government to give a relief were just dropping on deaf ears.
Dreams were shattered
Hope seemed totally lost
No one to relief as no one was exempted.
………..
In just one day one of the millennium goals, food for all, was executed and another MDG goal, Literacy for all was also fulfilled around my confine. This again, is the true meaning of Pragmatism with accountability and character

Let us not use abstracts to try to solve real life issues or stop at theoretical pontification, for this generalization and subjectivity will not get us to the root cause rather let us be realistic, objective and pragmatic.

We must also note that not all theories holds for the general populace; what holds as effective for a race or gender may not be tenable for the others. Each discussion should not be generalized or concluded on few theories but should be treated on a case-by-case approach.

Today, we gather for 72-hours, shelving off other pressing needs to deliberate on practical and workable approach to realizing and even surpassing the SDG; this is pragmatic.

• §§  The need to change school curriculum to align with need of the future….
• §§  The need to de-emphasize paper qualifications without a concomitant increase in skill acquisition
• §§  The need to manage talent, social and creativity capital for SDG
• §§  The need for relevant peculiar skills training for all level of human development
• §§  The need to incorporate into the curriculum, the emotional, social and adversity

intelligence as well as leadership perspicacity

• §§  The need for application of sound technology in all spheres of human endeavor to

enable us catch up with improved Health, Safety, Security and Environmental issues

• §§  Educating for employability and development sustainability
• §§  The need to break the dichotomy in all its entirety to give way to quality and perfection
• §§  The applicability of microeconomics principle to into visible sustainable macro

development
If we refuse to do this, (look into the future), miscreants will take over and our innocent children as well as little or yet-to-be-born grand-children will be at the mercy of the try-your-luck set of people. So this affect every segment of the society. We must not allow mediocrity to keep us back and non-progressive who think of only today, I mean the belly and not tomorrow to be our leaders.
Recall what the SDG are. They are concerned with meeting the actual needs of actual people today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (CAMBRIDGE, 2005)
.

Worthy of note at this juncture,

One, two even Five years from now, what do you hope you will be remembered for?

I may not be in position of authority but I will use today to

• Reveal that being practical is more rewarding than lip-service
• Let you know that there is honor in honesty and hardwork but disgrace in deceit
• Show you that being successful alone does not guarantee happiness; that success is

great though, but significance is lasting; this is sustainability expected

• Disclose that no matter how tough the situation is, there is a silver-lining in every cloud; remember there is hope in Hopelessness and there is always a solution in every problem

Remember that
People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you achieved,
but People will never forget the sacrifice you did to change their lives for the better.
If any good result must be realized for the SDG, the asset medium of realization, human capital, must not just be trained and healthy, it must be pragmatic.
My earnest plea, today is to ensure that we engage in constructive criticisms and discourses that will enable us proffer solution that are realistic, doable and effective that will lead us to that Eldorado of the SDG.
Let’s make this discourse pragmatic for then indeed we will be justified!

Thank you very much for your kind attention, hoping this turns a great success. Thank you.

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Pragmatism – My own experience

It was April 10, 2020, 2- days to my usual departure for 14-day stay at work.
The usual foot dragging. The not-so-happy countenance of my wife, coupled with slight headache and the additional pressure of going through covid-19 mandatory 14-day quarantine required before resuming the main 14-day work at camp were among the undesirable issues impinging on me. This was further worsened by the total lockdown announced by the Federal Government. So, to say the least, there was famine, hatred and tension in the land! While intentionally relieving all these effects with words of encouragement, the women leader of my church came to passionately request for support for food for the Parsonage, I nodded with a slightly distracted heart and thought within myself, ‘how will others feed’, I asked myself. Other members of the congregations, my neighbors, friends, and families both here and there were all not sure of continuous availability of food as the entire world was shutdown indefinitely. I was terrified for no one was sure of when life would go back to normalcy.
Prior to this time, I had requested for a loan that was not forth coming and the request by citizens for the government to give a relief were just dropping on deaf ears.
Dreams were shattered

Hope seemed totally lost
No one to relief as no one was exempted.

It was while in quarantine, specifically 12th of April 2020 that the surprise showed forth.
The Loan arrived and while in isolation, I jettisoned the original plan the cash was meant for. I quickly called Josephine, my wife’s friend to assist my wife in buying food stuff in bags and commence massive distributions. Congregations, neighbours, families, friends and so many lucky ones in the south-south and in the western part of the country. Instructions were simple. Give each family food sustainable for at least 1 month.
As lifesaving as it purported to be, the main pointer was the fact that the decision was intentional and required no cosmetic-dressing for was this not one of the millennium developments goals (food for all)? That is the implied explanation of Pragmatism.
My wife’s slight headache disappeared as she narrated how the palliatives shared relieved her of so many burdens.
As I settled down in my assigned hotel room for quarantine, it dawned on me that I would be in that isolation for minimum of 14 days with no contact with the outside world. What would I be doing? I concluded I would keep myself busy. I would not be hemmed in – I will find a way to liven my days and be useful to others as well.
My inherent love for impacting lives has been a steady force hence the drive to read widely beyond my core to enable me help people move forward through intentional coaching and positive psychology. I started with myself
I used my situation of boredom in an isolation center to occupy my mind with good reads and then something tremendous emerged
Though it is generally believed that Nigerians don’t have a reading culture, I found out that people do read.
Our youths read…actually, they read a whole lot! The most common modern tradition is reading and typing on digital devices, ironically pushing away our peculiar nature of listening to and studying an interlocutor’s facial expressions during face-to-face conversations and the fondness shared among friends and family alike arising.
The major problems?

• Reads are not in readable, appealing formats

• Some don’ t read
• Majority read but junks ultimately leading to societal decadence
• Some read but do not practice what they read.

While pondering on workable solutions, a quote from Mark twain popped-up and I state:
A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read. ~Mark Twain.
The upshot of this is:
‘The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read. Majority of the decadence emanate from the mind. A thwarted mindset born of influence from the books and people we are exposed to.

I knew this to be true and factual. I felt the need to act. It was a responsibility. My responsibility to change the status-quo. I was intentional. I would explore mind-rebranding using stories to open minds, I decided. I thought of thousands of people cooped up in homes and rooms, bustling with restless energy with nowhere to go, nothing to do to expend it, I decided to channel some of that usefull energy into something beneficial.

Four conditions lined-up during the pandemic

1. Our Environment: Lock-down Climate
2. Our Emotions: Fear of the unknown future.
3. Our Tools: Digital Device
4. The Linkage: A Driver to link the three to get desired results

I quickly stepped into the 4th condition. The linkage driver. My wealth of experience and leadership by good character (so they say) made eminent personalities and youth to welcome the idea and extended the group invite to others. It was massive as we had a total of 230 persons split in two groups of 100+ each. About 20 members of these groups also formed subgroups where these stories were forwarded leading to an extraordinary global effect.

The best-selling children’s author and illustrator, Dr Seuss had affirmed that “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

To this point I shared more than 30 stories since April 2020 including one of my books; ‘From being successful to being significant-1: Beyond the Roots’.

The results were enormous – ranging from members clamouring for more episodes, attitudinal re-orientation, life changes, emotional messages on how I had helped reshape their lives etc– The results spiraled; the multiplier effect was amazing.

In just one day one of the millennium goals, food for all, was executed and another MDG goal, Literacy for all was also fulfilled around my confine. This again, is the true meaning of Pragmatism with accountability and character