The Governor is a Terp!

At the conclusion of our projects and presentation to the State's Executive Council, the Governor invited us to dine at the Governor's Lodge last night - an outstanding culmination to the month. His Excellency, as protocol states we should address him, was a very engaging and gracious host.


A couple of insights he shared:

• He was very impressed with IBM CSC's program particularly on the grounds that it was presented as here are some of the company's select individuals who will help on projects where he saw fit. The Governor mentioned there are no shortage of groups with money coming to Africa saying they will help and this is what they think needs to be done -- very few come without predefined notions of what is needed.

• He is concerned that the coming generations won't look after their extended families as traditional in Africa. As Governor, he come provide for over 100 of his extended family, but as more outside influence penetrates the culture he sees people only thinking of their immediate family. One of the biggest lessons for me has been witnessing the greater sense of community caring.

• Cross River has the 'American style' political office model of 4 year terms and 1 re-election. He sees this as a problem as it takes ~5 years to develop a plan and seriously get a significant initiative underway and then another 5-10 years before substantial results can be seen. The challenge is in order to survive politically, each new politician needs to stand out on his/her own platform and can't in good grace propose just continuing the efforts of his/her predecessor.

• There are 12k Nigerian Doctors in the States, but less than 100 in Cross River State. He wants to provide a country Nigerians can leave, gain experience, and come home to.
  

Lastly as my family will be interested, he shared that he studied at University of Maryland at College Park before returning to Nigeria.

Packing to head towards home today!