A tech worker, @EugenioCortez on Twitter, has faulted calls by a presidential aide, Tolu Ogunlesi for tech companies in Nigeria to engage retired civil servants, public servants, and senior military personnel in order to tap from their wealth of experience.
Ogunlesi had made the call in a Twitter thread on Saturday.
“Is there a way for Naija Tech startups to tap into the pool of people who’ve (meritoriously) retired from senior positions in the public service and military? These guys are some of the most knowledgeable and experienced folks you’ll find anywhere.
“(1). These guys obviously don’t code or know the contemporary industry lingo, but they understand processes and systems, have run large complex organizations, possess extensive networks, can see pitfalls & understand policy & Govt (very important, will become even more important!)
“(2). Some of the most brilliant, educated, insightful Nigerians you’ll find are in or retired from the military /Perm Secs / Heads of MDAs. These people are often off-radar, by which I mean they’re not household names, & not the 1st options to come to mind for staffing startups.
“In a society where old and young somehow always conspire to be at odds with one another, I think younger generations are shortchanging selves by not trying to more actively tap into what this retiring generation of public sector workers represent.
“Forget tech startups for a sec. There has to be a way of aggregating knowledge & experiences of these people, and packaging it in useful formats that can deliver value across industries. Sure there’s a lot to be learnt from say a retired Admiral who ran warships for years.
“Trust the Americans. Packagers par excellence. This is where they thrive best. No experience, no knowledge ever wasted, regardless of how old you might be, or how niche that knowledge or experience might be.
“And for people that say oh but public service is corrupt, let me say this: public sector corruption in Nigeria is LEARNING WORK next to private sector. The most significant EFCC conviction of 2021 was a former Bank MD, for stealing N25 BILLION. Public sector ppl no dey tief 25B.
“Yes public sector corruption is significant, but so is private sector. And there’s always the danger of a single story, allowing one narrative to wholly define. There are many people in public sector, like in private, who are competent and honest, and full of value.
“Anyways. Thinking aloud. I sense possibilities around this. Thanks for gathering around to listen,” Ogunlesi tweeted to his 715,700 followers.
The tweets swiftly went viral on the social media platform, eliciting a trove of reactions from many Nigerians.
In his reaction, @EugenioCortez described those retired civil servants, public servants, and senior military personnel being touted by the presidential aide as “dinosaurs” that have contributed to the rot that the nation has found itself.
He stated that there were other sectors of the economy available for their input but not tech.
The tech bro noted that all the notable achievements in promising sectors in the country were championed by young people, which he said invalidated Ogunlesi’s point.
“Tolu wants Tech to take in dinosaurs who can’t build businesses in spite of their so-called experience.
“Because of the capital sums they hear are raised?
“So many sectors wide open but Tech is where Tolu Ogunlesi wants civil service retirees to be absorbed into. A whole demon
“Sports. Agriculture. Housing. Education. Healthcare. Retail. Furniture.Tourism. The list is endless.
“Why has Tolu Ogunlesi ignored these wide open fields and asked the TECH SECTOR to absorb retirees from the sector with a culture of failure and lethargy?
“Why can’t they offer their supposedly valuable experience to private sector operators in the fields where they spent almost 40 years regulating? Why Tech?
“In a country where the minister of Technology set the lofty goal of manufacturing PENCILS and still couldn’t achieve it?
“They have seen headlines saying tech companies get millions of dollars in funding and they want to sit in the meetings where they feel the money is shared like they do in ministries.
“They should go open tech firms and get the funding with their experience and Aso Rock connects.
“Can you imagine Tolu Ogunlesi telling Stanbic or GTB to take in career civil servants from the Ministry of Finance?
“Can Tolu Ogunlesi recommend (Communications Minister) Pantami to Google? (Sports Minister) Sunday Dare to Nike or Adidas?
“Is he ins*ne?
“He’ll soon ask labels like Mavin or OBO to take in retirees from the National Theatre or NTA.
“Let’s keep in mind that the very reason why these sectors did well and outperformed other Nigerian sectors was the absence of Nigerian civil servants and elderly Nigerians. Facts.
“Do your research on when Nigerian Banking became serious. People in their 30s and early 40s. Tony O. Elumelu, Atedo Peterside
“Nollywood? Music? Advertising? All the same.
“Check any sector that has outperformed the Nigerian average and look at the demographics of the instigators,” he wrote.