When tech becomes PR
When many prominent African tech personalities see their industry as nothing more than a special purpose vehicle to obtain quick wealth, it also follows that they will fall in line with the entity that is most likely to make such overnight riches available – the government.
In pursuit of government contracts, handouts and favours from politicians, a number of young Nigerian tech founders have proved that they are willing to use their organisations to carry out marketing and PR functions for people in power, as against delivering on their purported core business mandate.
A prime example of this is the eagerness of Nigerian tech industry personalities to endorse Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, by cosigning his fictitious public image of Rwanda’s economy and growth prospects. Attracted by Kagame’s sugar daddy deals and partnerships that essentially pay them to open shop in Kigali even if they are not actually doing any work there, a significant number of these personalities have become loud evangelists of a purported economic and infrastructural miracle that is simply not happening in what is one of the world’s most heavily policed and brutally repressed countries.
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Actual statistics from the World Bank show that in stark contrast to the glitz and glam, Rwanda is in fact significantly poorer than its neighbours, more dependent on foreign aid than they are, performing worse in education and attracting FDI than they are, and struggles with poor infrastructure and an economy dominated by interests linked to the ruling regime.
When I wrote a viral exposition on the true state of Rwanda in 2019 – an article that made me something of an overnight enemy of state in the country – a young Nigerian tech founder who is a beneficiary of Kagame’s pork barrel spent more than 24 hours following me around with the Twitter equivalent of a Sunday sermon urging me to accept Mr. Kagame as my Lord and personal saviour.
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None of this is normal
Driven by their own egos, hubris, greed and need for validation from the likes of Kagame, young Nigerian tech founders who ideally should be among those leading the charge for Africa to open up to the world and become a more democratic space, are now among the primary evangelists for some of Africa’s most notorious tyrants. What is more, this problem of Nigerian tech lending itself to governments as a PR tool extends beyond endorsing dictatorships in far-flung corners of the continent. Back home in Nigeria, there is a similar problem.
When I spoke to a tech Analyst and Lead who preferred to remain anonymous, he stated that in his view, the Office of the Vice President has enabled “tech” to become the new nexus for unaccountable pork barrel expenditure while ostensibly providing funding for the ecosystem to grow. When I asked for his opinion, Atmosphere.ng co-founder Wande Adalemo stated that in his view, the entire tech ecosystem in Nigeria has been fundamentally compromised by the activities of startups with no clear vision and founders without a sense of responsibility toward their investors or purported market.
Ultimately, there is no solution to human greed, selfishness or hubris, which is why it is unlikely that the status quo will change anytime soon. As long as investors without due diligence and governments looking for unearned influence continue to exist in the African landscape, there will be more of these stories.
For the benefit of those who actually believe in the tech industry as a long-term driver of broad-based growth and prosperity in Nigeria, it is important to point out that the current situation is not normal.
None of this is normal.
