An unfortunate drama occured after Columnist Chido Nwakanma finished his exploration of tranquil Freetown to remind him that there’s no free lunch here. But it was a good experience nonetheless.
The origins of this city lie very deep. Significantly, Freetown reminds one of Nigeria in several respects.
Power supply is a critical concern for Sierra Leoneans as it is for us in Nigeria. Or so it appeared December 2-5, 2021 in Freetown. It was dejavu for this correspondent as the generators came on in the city. The power supplier, EDSA Electricity Distribution Supply Authority, had cut off supply from its barge on the Atantic Ocean because the authorities owed it for eight months.
A report states, “Only 15 percent of the total population and about 2.5 percent of the rural population currently have access to electricity. The power sector is small, with less than 150 MW of energy capacity connecting less than 150,000 customers with the cost for electricity heavily subsidized. The entire country lacks a stable and reliable public power supply and domestic demand remains significantly unmet.
“The current electricity supply is challenged by generation capacity and seasonal variation and is disseminated using inadequate and aging transmission and distribution networks. It is delivered at a very high cost with Sierra Leone having one of the highest electricity tariffs in the sub-region. There are numerous waterfalls for hydropower and abundant sunlight for solar power generation with an estimated hydro project potential of more than 1000MW, while solar opportunities are above 240 MW. The major hydropower facility, Bumbuna Dam, with a peak of 50MW during the rainy season, has a reduced output of 8MW in the dry season”.
Note that the situation had not changed in Freetown by 20 December 2021. Could there be investment opportunities in power generation in Sierra Leone focusing on renewable energy following Glasgow 2021?
I had a much larger pressing and personal concern though.
How would I spend ten additional days without planning or budgeting in Freetown was the central question for me on Friday, 3 December 2021? I was going to the Seacoach Express boat terminal to board their ferry across the Atlantic Ocean into Lungi and the Lungi International Airport. Africa World Airlines that I flew into Sierra Leone on 30 November acted irresponsibly by cancelling the flight without notice or compensation.
Maraya Mushka Conteh and her team at La Fete Communications and the Country Business Manager of A-Z Petroleum Products Limited Kennedy Chinedu Okezie assisted. Providence stepped in as Air Peace returned to that route that weekend. I got a seat and came back with Air Peace on Sunday 5 December 2021 though they shifted the flight from 7.15 pm to 9 pm, and we arrived at Murtala Muhammed Airport Ikeja in the early minutes of 6 December.
It was my first visit to Freetown, the city of ancient roots based on the African insertion into the Euro-American world. The origins of this city lie very deep. Significantly, Freetown reminds one of Nigeria in several respects.
Sierra Leone Vs Nigeria
Sierra Leone and Nigeria have ancient links. There is a strong Saro community in Lagos. Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther of the Anglican Church spent time in Freetown upon his freedom before returning to Nigeria.
Pidgin is common to both sides. There is a poetic tinge to the Salone pidgin. Salone is the unofficial name of the country preferred by the youth as they prefer Naija for Nigeria. Pidgin is the language of the people. President Julius Maada Bio, fifth president of Sierra Leone, has messages on billboards in the capital that proclaim in pidgin: Tok and do!
Freetown is a tranquil city. People go about their businesses without the exuberance or bravado of Lagos. Driving through Freetown, I remembered Calabar, Enugu, Uyo and similar towns.
Province of Freedom
This city is the “Province of Freedom”. Wikipedia reports:
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is in its Western Area. Freetown is Sierra Leone’s major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.[3]
The city’s economy revolves primarily around its harbour, which occupies a part of the estuary of the Sierra Leone River in one of the world’s largest natural deep-water harbours.
Although the city has traditionally been the homeland of the Sierra Leone Creole people, the population of Freetown is ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. The city is home to a significant population of all of Sierra Leone’s ethnic groups, with no single ethnic group forming more than 27% of the city’s population. As in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone, the Krio language is Freetown’s primary language of communication and is by far the most widely spoken language in the city.
Abolitionist Lieutenant John Clarkson founded Freetown on 11 March 1792 as a settlement for freed African American, West Indian and Liberated African slaves. Their descendants are known as the Creole people. The local Temne and Loko people lived in villages in the land known as Freetown before the European arrival.
The mayor of Freetown is Yvonne Aki Sawyerr, sworn in on 11 May 2018, after her victory in the 2018 Freetown Mayoral election.
Nigerians live here
Many Nigerians live and work in Sierra Leone. Nigerian businesses have also established strong roots here. They include our big banks of UBA, Zenith, and Access. Then industrialists such as Emzor Pharmaceuticals, A-Z Petroleum. There are many entrepreneurs, such as Emeka Okechukwu of Envansbaroque Pharmaceutical. He was a pioneer of Emzor’s presence in Sierra Leone.
I got a good view and felt the harbour from my room at Sierra Bay Hotel, Aberdeen. Nigerian entrepreneur Olusegun Jaji owns the Sierra Bay Hotel & Residence and the leading ferry operator Seacoach Express. The entrepreneur came to Freetown from the United States as part of a team, their venture failed, but he saw an opportunity in modernising the ocean crossing from Freetown to Lungi.
Officials of the Nigerian High Commission showed up at the event. Head of Chancery Chinedu Egbuniwe led the team that included Paul Alabi and Gbenga Daniel, Consular Officers.
The CEOs Meet
La Fete Communications invited me to Freetown as Lead Speaker at their Salone CEOs Meet. They first held in 2019, but COVID19 aborted it in 2020. They felt they needed a bazooka, no less.
It was a gathering of mostly business leaders and some government officials. Most government officials thin out of Freetown to follow President Bio to his hometown almost every weekend. Our engagement fell on one of those weekends.
Sierra Leone’s business, government and economy leaders, should walk confidently into 2022 and pursue innovation to drive economic growth; I counselled on Thursday 2 December 2021 at the Salone CEO’s Meet powered by La Fete Communications.
I urged the leaders in the private and public sectors to build on the strengths of Sierra Leone and tap the opportunities in historical presentation, education, tourism, the extractive industry, and the environment. Participants at the forum, leaders across sectors, agreed on the imperatives of innovation and entrepreneurship and exploring the country’s opportunities more closely.
Noting Sierra Leone’s relatively compact population and environmental serenity, I submitted that the country has yet to leverage the history of Fourah Bay College as the first university-level institution in Africa. “Africa longs for higher education. They go to institutions with history and tradition. What is holding back Fourah Bay College, Africa’s first higher education institution in modern times?”
I asserted that Sierra Leone should market its rich environmental and tourist potentials as neighbouring Ghana and the Gambia do.
On tourism and the environment, I shared my experience from 1 December 2021. “I took shots from my room at the Sierra Bay Hotel & Residence and sent them to friends back in Nigeria and across the world. Immediate response? “Wonderful. I love this. How much would it cost a family? Another person responded with the observation, “Is the water that blue? There is still hope for our environment.’
“I recommend that Sierra Leone should build on its strengths and the opportunities to craft and execute a value proposition around education, conferencing, environment, and tourism. Position and attract the conference market to the serenity of Sierra Leone. When they come, expose them to tourist facilities. Build superior educational institutions to serve West and Central Africa on the back of Fourah Bay College as the first university in Africa”.
Innovation and entrepreneurship are critical. Most experts agree that the Sierra Leone economy would witness “strong real GDP growth of 4.8% in 2022, well above the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 3.7%”.
Leaders and entrepreneurs should make this happen and even exceed expectations. “The critical question for entrepreneurs today in Sierra Leone and the rest of West Africa is one of vision. What can you see? Put another way, what can you envision even if it is not visible now?”
The hurdles
The Sierra Leone Finance Act 2021 is a double-edged sword. It offered tax reductions and incentives such as tax holidays to investors who build manufacturing facilities outside Freetown or go into tourism and small scale businesses but taxes digital services at a rate of 1.5% on digital and electronic transaction turnovers.
“A plethora of other taxes, tolls and bills weigh heavily on businesses. They deny entrepreneurs the benefits of their enterprise. The approach is short-sighted. It creates room for tax avoidance and defaults, leading to under-the-table deals that deprive the government of revenue”.
I urged Sierra Leone and its business leaders to carve niches. Then fell back to my profession and raison d’etre. “Once you have taken a position, you need to communicate the essence of your company and its offerings professionally. Engage internal communication teams. Or invite external counsel such as La Fete Communications Ltd. In this Information Age, communication is a critical imperative for business success. The matter is Darwinian: define yourself or be defined by sundry outsiders”.
Good news trickling out of Abia State…
The breaking news from Abia State is that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu will rise tall in the next few weeks. He will announce some good news
- Hospitals Management Board staff will get 12 months arrears of N828m
- The Secondary School teachers will get N983.2m, representing seven months’ salary arrears
- N520m will go to pensioners next week
We stand in expectancy. It is about time.
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