I wrote this to address some misconceptions about climate change and flooding in Nigeria and other developing economies. As a community committed to evidence, reason, root-cause analysis and whatnot, we should always try to look below the headlines and engage with the systemic whys.
I may write a follow-up on practical climate mitigations in Nigeria and ways in which they can impact lives for the better.
This is great, Mel. As a city group organiser, I can relate to “People tend to come and go”. It was a wild wild west for us at EA Lagos when many members of our community emigrated circa 2019-21 due to worsening performance of the Nigerian economy.
yes, i agree both can be true.
A soaring tribute to the constraints we face in the material world. We can still do much much more.
This series has been helpful in developing a curriculum for the EA Lagos Introductory Program. The articles are also well-referenced which is a big plus as I’m trying to put the ideas in a relatable context for my audience.
Distilling these to relatable content isn’t easy but I know my audience and don’t want to be guilty of expecting short inferential distances.
Thank you.
I agree. Literally felt the ebb and flow of history in that piece.
This strikes right at the heart of trolleyology for me. And in some cases, seems like a scarcity problem rather than a moral problem.
I do not think this will apply to grantees. I think the people most liable are the members of the team running the FTX Fund at CEA. They would have to prove that they have no knowledge of the fraud, if the verdict so says.
You’re most likely right due to the precedents you stated here. I wouldn’t rule out a clawback either because the government has to be able to restore/maintain trust in the system.
It’s why a thorough audit of EA’s finance is in order. Any auditor among us could reach out to CEA to help with this.
My suggestion is that, at this point, the CEA should have a detailed account of the funds from FTX and where they went to. Sterilise the FTX Future Fund from other EA funding. Why? Because the regulatory drag net will get here and when it does, we want to be prepared.
The problems of Lagos are mostly structural. Say, insufficient infrastructure like road or housing and the general terrible governance across the country. However, Lagos is considered generally safe, arguably the safest in Nigeria right now.
I wouldn’t suggest the idea for a completely different reason which is cost. We have black outs for, sometimes, 20 hours a day. The cost of running your own independent power is high and every other aspect of your productivity may rest on having this single piece of infrastructure.
Despite all the challenges, if you like New York, you’ll like Lagos. It’s open, warm, bustling. Lagosians never-say-die. Perhaps this intense connection between dysfunction and survival is where all the creativity comes from. Hence why the city thrives, not at its optimum potential but certainly a force to reckon with.
Hi, I’d love to be part of the call to discuss this further.
I think of this the way I think of the law. Our formal laws aim for social order and justice with the least cost to individuals and society.
In physics terms, it’s reducing entropy or finding order in disorder or free energy to do work. A wrong accusation in the right place or time could take a life of its own and ruin someone else’s life or career with little to no cost to the accuser. So the burden of proof would always be on the person or group of persons making the accusation and society is right to be wary until there is sufficient proof to turn the tide. It’s what we do in science, consilience, to turn a hypothesis or a theory into an undisputed fact.
Justice is patient. Facts are patience. In the meantime, I feel sorry for the misled.
It takes a while for the truth to catch up with lies. The collateral damage is the price we pay for our occasional wilful ignorance.
I have. But I’m open to suggestions. Do you have any specific non-EA audience(s) or publication in mind? Thanks!