There is a whole lot of lessons to learn from the Chinese. The world can no longer turn a blind eye to China. I had a slice share of the “Chinese experience” earlier today. My Chinese friend sent me a special invite penultimate week to attend the festival heralding the Chinese New Year. The venue was the popular Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos.
According to the Chinese, the year 2020 was declared the year of the rat; ironically, the notorious pest is identified as one of the natural hosts of the deadly coronavirus now synonymous with China.
After a little research on the likelihood of contracting the disease, my fears were laid to rest. The possibility was non-existent.
The Chinese community in Lagos did an excellent work in making this inaugural annual event a masterpiece. I witnessed the rebirth of China in Lagos. Typical of the Chinese, the attention to details was top notch. The venue (TBS) literally had a ‘Beijing makeover’.
The event officially kicked off with the opening remark by Mr. Chu Maoming the Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China to Nigeria. He briefly talked about how the Chinese economy grew by an impressive 6% in 2019. According to him, the year 2020 is a significant year to Mr. Xi Jinping-the current President of the People’s Republic of China. He rounded off his speech with a startling statement which unsettled me.
Hear him: “By the end of 2020, there would be no poor Chinese on the surface of the earth”.
This man just said a country of over 1.4 billion people would have no poor person come December 31, 2020!
He talked about the 35 years blueprint to eradicate poverty in China. This long term strategic economic plan for poverty eradication in China comes to a close in 2020. There are a raft of articles and journals on China’s long term economic blue print online. To corroborate his claims, you can read one of such articles here: https://theweek.com/articles/704139/chinas-plan-run-world.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the gusto and the prideful mien of Mr. Chu Maoming. China may unarguably become the last wonder of the modern world.
In May 2018, Nigeria overtook India (another sub-continent) in the infamous poverty ranking index for countries. Nigeria officially became the poverty capital of world with an estimated 87 million people living below $1/day.
Till date, there are not clear cut short-, medium- or long term economic plans (in sight) by the Federal Government of Nigeria to reduce poverty in the country. Everything in Nigeria is politicized and/or weaponized. Poverty is systematically unleashed and weaponized to weaken the collective resolve of the people. Most Nigerians are disillusioned from the pangs of poverty.
In the wake of the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, the Chinese government pledged to build a special hospital to stem the potential outbreak of the deadly disease in 10 days! Every Chinese matters.
There is a palpable and infectious feeling about the Chinese Sense Of Urgency and Precision (S.O.U.P). Every Chinese man I have interacted with engages with a S.O.U.P. No time wasting, no frivolities, no banters.
The Chinese people have in the last 35 years taught us a practical demonstration of the butterfly effect i.e. how the aggregate of scaled down actions can potentially snowball into far-reaching results.
Success is predictable ditto failure.
Have you tasted the Chinese S.O.U.P?
