WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

US defense chief promises Ukraine what it needs to fight Russia but goes no further

The United States “will get Ukraine what it needs” to fight its war with Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, but he gave no hint that Washington might endorse key planks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s so-called “victory plan.”

The United States will provide Ukraine with what it requires “to fight for its survival and security,” Austin said in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. He noted that the U.S. has delivered more than $58 billion in security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, making it Kyiv’s main backer.

That includes a new $400 million package of military aid that the Biden administration announced Monday, including munitions for rocket systems and artillery, mortar systems and rounds, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons. It comes just days after the U.S. said it was sending $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine.

But Zelenskyy has asked Ukraine’s Western allies to go a few steps further, notably inviting Ukraine to join NATO and letting it use Western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory. Those steps have met with a lukewarm response.

Ukraine is having difficulty holding back a ferocious Russian campaign along the eastern front that is gradually compelling Kyiv’s forces to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets. It faces a hard winter after Russia targeted its power grid.

Austin’s remarks were notable for what they did not include — an endorsement of Ukraine being invited into NATO, or any indication the U.S. will support Ukraine becoming more aggressive in its defense with longer-range attacks on Russian soil.

With the U.S. presidential election about two weeks away, U.S. officials are treading carefully. President Joe Biden has balked at measures that might escalate the war and bring a confrontation between NATO and Russia.

Austin said “there is no silver bullet. No single capability will turn the tide. No one system will end Putin’s assault.”

He added: “Make no mistake. The United States does not seek war with Russia.”

“What matters is the way that Ukraine fights back,”Austin told the assembled diplomatic and military personnel at the academy. “What matters is the combined effects of your military capabilities. And what matters is staying focused on what works.”

Zelenskyy said in a Sunday evening video address that his ‘victory plan’ had won the backing of France, Lithuania, Nordic countries and “many other allies” in the European Union, which he didn’t name.

Zelenskyy said he had received “very positive signals from the United States,” but he stopped short of saying he had secured Washington’s blessing for the plan.

Analysts say the U.S. is unlikely to make a decision before the Nov. 5. presidential election.

Russian strikes highlight Ukraine’s need for weapons

The latest Russian strikes on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, rammed home the urgency for Kyiv officials of clinching guarantees of more support, particularly large amounts of ammunition for the war of attrition the sides are engaged in.

A Russian missile attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed two people and injured 15 in the city center and caused huge damage to civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten and more than 30 residential buildings, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

Russia conducted a ballistic missile strike at Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, injuring five people, city administration head Oleksandr Vilkul wrote on social media.

According to Vilkul, Russia has conducted ballistic missile attacks on Kryvyi Rih for three consecutive days, injuring the total of 21 people and damaging dozens of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.

Machine gunfire and the noise of drones’ engines was also heard in Kyiv’s center throughout the night. Authorities reported minor damages to civilian infrastructure caused by falling drone debris in three districts.

Russia fired three missiles and more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, Ukraine’s air force said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara on Monday to discuss cooperation between their countries.

According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the meeting focused on strengthening strategic relations, defense cooperation and addressing global food security through Black Sea grain shipments from Ukraine that pass through Turkey’′ Bosphorus Strait.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to steer a balanced line in his NATO-member country’s close relations with both Ukraine and Russia. He has previously offered to host a peace summit between the two countries.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian troops liberate Serebryanka, Nikolayevka communities in Donetsk area over past day

Russian forces liberated the settlements of Serebryanka and Nikolayevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"Battlegroup South units liberated the settlement of Serebryanka in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a result of active offensive operations… Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlement of Nikolayevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and kept advancing deep into the enemy’s defenses," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicts 100 casualties on Ukrainian army in Kharkov Region

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicted roughly 100 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility in the Kharkov Region over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup North units inflicted casualties in the Kharkov frontline area on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 57th motorized infantry and 92nd air assault brigades in areas near the settlements of Liptsy, Kotovka and Volchansk in the Kharkov Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 100 personnel, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system and a 122mm D-30 howitzer, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts over 510 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicted more than 510 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup West units improved their tactical position and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 44th and 60th mechanized, 74th and 77th airmobile, 3rd assault, 125th and 103rd territorial defense brigades near the settlements of Boguslavka, Lozovaya, Zelyony Gai, Novoplatonovka, Podliman and Pershotravnevoye in the Kharkov Region, Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic. They repelled six counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 63rd mechanized, 1st National Guard and 119th territorial defense brigades," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 510 personnel, four armored combat vehicles, nine motor vehicles, a 155mm Braveheart self-propelled artillery system and two 105mm L119 artillery guns of British manufacture, two US-made 155mm M198 howitzers, a 152mm D-20 howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, an Anklav-N electronic warfare station and a Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup South strikes nine Ukrainian army brigades over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted casualties on nine Ukrainian army brigades in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup South units inflicted losses on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 10th mountain assault, 23rd, 54th and 60th mechanized, 5th and 79th air assault, 81st and 46th airmobile and 37th marine infantry brigades near the settlements of Semyonovka, Zvanovka, Vasyukovka, Seversk, Dachnoye, Slavyansk, Chasov Yar and Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts over 800 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup South repulsed two Ukrainian army counterattacks and inflicted more than 800 casualties on enemy troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

Battlegroup South units "repulsed two counterattacks by units of the Ukrainian army’s 56th motorized infantry brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 800 personnel, an armored personnel carrier, 10 motor vehicles, two Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery systems, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, two 152mm D-20 howitzers, two 122mm D-30 howitzers and a US-made 105mm M119 artillery gun, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed two Anklav-N electronic warfare stations and five field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup Center inflicts 450 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup Center repelled 13 Ukrainian army counterattacks and inflicted roughly 450 casualties on enemy troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

Battlegroup Center units "inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 24th and 32nd mechanized, 38th marine infantry and 12th National Guard brigades in areas near the settlements of Leninskoye, Dimitrov, Dzerzhinsk, Sukhoi Yar, Kurakhovka and Shcherbinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They repelled 13 counterattacks by formations of the Ukrainian army’s 23rd, 93rd and 100th mechanized, 68th and 152nd jaeger and 5th assault brigades, 49th and 425th assault battalions, 37th marine infantry brigade and Ukraine’s Lyut national police assault brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 450 personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles, a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, seven armored combat vehicles, including Kozak armored vehicles and US-made HMMWV armored vehicles, two pickup trucks, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, a 152mm D-20 howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system, three 122mm D-30 howitzers and a 100mm Rapira anti-tank gun, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian warehouse of unmanned aerial vehicles, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicts 115 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup East improved its frontline positions and inflicted roughly 115 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup East units improved their forward edge positions and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 58th motorized infantry, 72nd mechanized, 46th airmobile, 110th and 113th territorial defense brigades in areas near the settlements of Dobrovolye, Alekseyevka and Novoukrainka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Temirovka in the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 115 personnel, two motor vehicles, a US-made 155mm Paladin self-propelled artillery system, three 155mm M777 howitzers and a 155mm M198 howitzer of US manufacture, it specified.

AP/Tass

Each time another minister of the FCT declares yet another war on the beggars in the nation’s capital, I am reminded of Aminata Sow Fall’s famous novel, The Beggars’ Strike. The plot is built around a government that wants to get beggars off the streets so they can effectively promote tourism. The task of ridding the city of beggars falls on Mour Ndiaye, the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene. He develops interest in the post of the vice-president of the country and consults a marabout who tells him he would need to give charity to beggars so the coveted post could be his. The same man who expelled the beggars not only realises how intricately the moral economy of his Islamic society is interwoven with begging, but he must also negotiate with those same beggars who, by now, had realised the powers they wield even as the so-called dregs of the society.

So, the latest man of power to declare an anti-beggar stance is the chief agbèrò of the Bola Tinubu cabinet, Nyesom Wike. On Tuesday, he lamented that Abuja city was turning “into a beggar city” and that “we have declared a war.” Let us set aside the question of who constitutes the “we” that joined Wike in his declaration of war and ask what his administration intends to do differently from his predecessors who had towed similar paths. He is not the first—and will certainly not be the last—public official who thinks street beggars are an abject nuisance that must be removed by fire by force.

Nigeria is a nation of beggars. We beg everywhere. From the international airports to the streets where uniformed men have mounted their infamous “checkpoints,” begging is routine. People do not just ask for money; they beg for it. Before you can blink an eye, they have given you their bank details to wire them money. It is tempting to think that people beg because they are poor, but then, Nigeria’s leaders too spend the better part of their tenure as beggars. They get into high-priced aircraft to go beg for everything—from money to high-interest loans, foreign aid, foreign investment, attention, and even dignity! Begging is a prerequisite skillset for a leader in this part of the world.

While begging is part of our culture, street beggars are a different beast. According to Wike, “It is embarrassing that people will come in and the first thing they’ll see are just beggars on the road.” Given that beggars are not a strange sight to the average Nigerian, who are the “people” coming into the FCT and whose outsider gaze upon them embarrasses Wike? Let me guess, he must be thinking of his foreign guests for whom the sight of a city overrun with street beggars must be a shocking realization that all the figures of “Nigeria Rising” that government officials peddle around in their search for the precious “foreign investors” to the country must be blatantly false.

Nobody likes beggars, and the mere sight of them stirs visceral impulses. They represent a stubborn reality, the truth of what has not changed despite all pretenses of economic advance and social empowerment. As fully fleshed, living and breathing subjects, they irritatingly embody a material humanity that cannot be subsumed into the data that can be pompously touted as proof of managerial competence. It is the irreducibility of street beggars to mere abstractions that makes the likes of Wike so strongly resolute to get rid of them. Look at the language he uses, “from next week…we will take them out.” I do not think he was planning a massacre, but the choice of words is quite telling.

Before he declared a war on beggars, did he pause to ask why and how they keep pouring into the city, or he is just another public official that thinks even a complex problem can be resolved if one applied enough violence? Wike’s immediate predecessor, Muhammad Bello, once also linked beggars from neighbouring states with security breaches in the FCT. He also directed beggars be sent back to their home states. In 2022, the FCTA reportedly repatriated 150 beggars back to their states. Even though the FCTA said some of the beggars would be camped in some centers to be properly documented, I doubt that they are not back on the streets happily plying their trade in cognito. Nigeria is hardly a country that keeps a viable record of either its citizens or its own activities. It beggars belief that some bureaucrat has a record of those evacuated to check the progress of their efforts at keeping them out of the FCT.

Before Bello was Bala Mohammed, who also once ordered beggars―along with street hawkers and commercial sex workers— to leave the FCT urgently or face immediate arrest, detention, and prosecution. Preceding Bello was Adamu Aliero, who not only vowed to “clean” Abuja within six weeks but even went further to engage Peace Corp members to arrest beggars―and destitutes—and relocate them. Before Bello was Aliyu Modibbo Umar who also removed 395 beggars from Abuja and relocated them back to their respective states. Umar’s predecessor was Nasir El-Rufai who also did his own share of cleaning up the city and ridding it of street beggars.

The thing is, despite efforts by each minister, the beggars never stop streaming into the city. From different interviews with the beggars by journalists, one sees―and understands—why both the able-bodied and the disabled resort to begging. Those who speak range from people who have been poor victims of circumstances of terrorism and banditry, natural disasters, bad governance, and several historical injustices, to the disabled who has resolved to turn their physical condition into a spectacle that can commandeer alms from the guilt-tripped onlooker.

With the multi-dimensional poverty that the T-Pain economy has exacerbated, Wike will soon know that he has not even started to see the cringey sight of humans who must beg before they can eat. It remains to be seen how the will of the armed officials Wike directs to “take them out” can stand against that of a people whose instincts are geared towards survival. I envisage there would be a lot of brutality to get them off the streets, but there will not be enough power to keep them off. The best Abuja people will enjoy will be a moment’s respite.

If there is another way Wike will mirror his fictional counterpart, Mour Ndiaye, it will be through running against moral economy of almsgiving and Islamic culture. As one beggar astutely observed in The Beggars’ Strike, how would the rich and the powerful live if the poor did not beg? “Who would people give alms to, as they have to give alms to someone, religion tells us so?” The beggar’s question was well-reflected. By making themselves into a receptacle of the generosity of the rich—who must regularly offload their conscience somewhere— the beggar also performs a religious duty. Without the poor who have strategically positioned themselves to receive the charity of the rich as religion mandates, the rich would be imperiled. Ethical balance in the society is based and sustained through this interaction.

Wike will eventually realise that the political-religious culture of the city he superintends preponderantly relies on the economy of exchange between social groups divided by a wide class gulf, yet intricately intertwined through an ethical system of religious beliefs. The rich and powerful in Abuja exist because the beggars—frequently trotted out to vote for the vultures who will feast on their destinies for the next four years—exist. If Wike’s peers in Abuja have not succeeded in chasing away those beggars, it is because they realise that even these “dregs of the society” have voting thumbs they can always exploit. The beggars too understand the uneven calibration of power; they know they let them express their nuisance because they have something the rich wants. Wike had better be careful and not yell at them too much. If they go on strike against the APC in 2027, his behind will land painfully on the cold hard shores of Rivers state.

Punch

The current severe economic crisis suffered by millions of Nigerians was caused by series of increase petrol prices and fall in Naira value, and which led to the fall in real wages and general devaluation of life, can be traced to the actions of a few against Nigeria’s economic interests. This continued sabotage of the energy sectors and economy in general shouldn't be trivialized as corruption but economic treason.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan made a distinction between stealing and corruption when he said good accounting systems can reduce outright stealing but corruption is more difficult to curb. We have been inundated and desensitized with reports of corruption since independence, as corruption allegations have even become political tools for regime change. However, it’s often not realized that corruption could become economic treason, if it is against the economic interests of a nation, a crime that should be punished with life sentences, if not death penalty.

It is becoming obvious that the political class is guilty of economic treason that leads to sustained economic downturns and pushes the people deeper and deeper into the poverty trap government after government. Or how do we explain not knowing exactly the volume of crude oil extracted from the production fields? Or the continuing sabotage and non-functioning of the state-owned refineries costing the country a third of its import bill, which instead of tackling with an iron fist, was used as an excuse to withdraw fuel subsidies and floating of the Naira? Or the inability to transmit half of the electricity generated?

In all cases, the beneficiaries of economic sabotage point to historical economic exploiters. The people’s plight of economic exploitation started with slavery, whereby external civilizations set out to economically exploit them by arming detractors to takeover our polities and capture millions of Africans to farm American slave plantations, in order to exploit the “slaves” genetic makeup that resisted insect bites on the plantations and for their skills in planting sugarcane, cotton and tobacco copied derived from their native ecosystem.

After 300 years and disruptive slave revolutions, especially the Haitian Revolution, the enslavers had no choice but to stop their importation of Africans for slavery and started the process of keeping Africans on African soil for economic exploitation. This was achieved by dividing the African continent into plantation nations known as colonies, where Africans were to plant the crops and mine natural resources for the colonial masters’ use, while acting as markets for the colonial produce. This new economic system of colonization that evolved from slavery was eventually challenged in the agitation for independence which most Black African nations got from 1957 to 1967, thereby creating independent nations legally free from colonial rule and economic exploitation. However, not only in Nigeria but all Black nations, though the physical and political chains were loosened, the original economic chains of exploitation remained tight by evolving to other economic exploitative models.

Over sixty years of independence, it can be argued that the political class that evolved from the cohort of colonial administrators, who were trained and indoctrinated to run an exploitative system by the colonists, continues to conspire with foreign interests in the arrested economic development of the new nations. Most Black nations have remained in the colonial economic straitjacket of mono economies geared towards satisfying the needs of foreign powers. They remain entrenched in primary production, of not being able to industrially process their local output, nor diversify their economies to provide income and employment.

To compound the arrested development is the coloniality of knowledge and power sources that actually justifies the dehumanization and enslavement of the peoples. Especially since the late seventies, instead of pushing the right and obvious economic liberating policies, the political classes have been misguided by international financial institutions and their enslaving economic ideologies, whose agenda appears to retain the neocolonies in the exploitative economic system by further pauperizing their people through removal of subsidies and breaking of social contracts, as well as constantly reducing real wages through devaluation and floating of local currencies.

The amount of productive value wiped away by Tinubu's IMF/World Bank policies in the last one years is greater than the amount of productive value taken off the country’s shores during any year of the slavery era, or the amount exploited in any given year during colonization. In the nearly 10 years of APC rule, the value of the Naira has fallen from $1 to N190 to N1,700, cutting real wages and property values tenfold.

On getting to power, former President Muhammadu Buhari claimed that the nation’s coffers had been emptied and used that claim to justify his devaluation of the Naira. Under him, oil production dropped by one million barrels a day, claimed to be stolen, not to mention the lack of any system to accurately account for the crude oil mined by companies from previous Western enslavers and colonizers. Nigeria’s foreign debts soared by 500% from under $10 billion to over $50 billion. Though there is nothing wrong if the debts were used on capital investments in economically empowering infrastructure, but they were squandered on cost of governance.

Regardless of what Buhari and previous governments did, the economic problems could have been easily resolved by the Tinubu administration and not compounded as being witnessed. The problem was tied to the fall in oil revenues that provides 85% of the country’s foreign exchange, which led to the inability to service the debts and furnish the foreign exchange market for its import needs. Instead of removing energy production subsidies and floating the Naira to destroy livelihoods and businesses, the country’s economic interests should have been to stop the theft of crude oil and to cut import bill by half, since 33% of the import bill is due to fuel and oils imports that could be resolved by rejuvenating the moribund refineries, while the 21% due to vehicle importation could be cut by all government tiers using only locally produced cars.

The sabotaging of the refineries for over 20 years, costing $20 billion in unfulfilled repairs over the last ten years, (Dangote Refinery cost $20b) is not mere corruption, but economic treason that should attract death penalty or life imprisonment for those involved, especially since it resulted in national economic deprivations in real wages, productive output and property values that have led to deaths due to poverty. This administration is also culpable of criminal negligence or economic treason since it should have waited for the rejuvenation of the refineries by all means necessary and immediately cut the importation of official cars, but instead embarked on removal of petrol subsidies and floating of the Naira. It is difficult to deny a conspiracy when both the NNPC and private owned oil companies benefit from the continued importation of fuel against the country’s national economic interests.

Another mind boggling energy deficits bordering on economic treason is the electricity sector decline. Around 2012, President Jonathan announced the increased electricity capabilities to 13GW and promised 18 to 24 hours of electricity supply which was witnessed for a few weeks or months, before dropping due to sabotage of gas pipelines. At the time, the Minister of Energy, stated that the government won't be able to fulfill its promises of constant electricity supply due to what he called The Gas Wars. However he didn't identify those carrying out the subversive war of attrition against the country’s energy infrastructure. Some suggested that it was waged by generator importers but it was unlikely that the diverse marketers could unify for such war.

As the 2015 election drew closer, the whole country was in darkness with electricity and fuel shortages until the day Jonathan returned to his hometown. Buhari enjoyed increased electricity supply for a few months until the sabotage of gas pipelines resumed for the remaining of his tenure.

In the USA and UK tampering with energy or communication installations attract long jail sentences since it's tantamount to treasonable economic sabotage. Until Nigeria starts treating such economic sabotage as treason, the country’s political and business elite will keep selling the people out to selfish, corporate and foreign interests like during the slave trade and colonization. They will continue to stymie the country’s economic development and keep it down as a neocolonial state that serves their narrow interests other than those of the people.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the global economic growth rate will stabilise at 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, forecasting a slowdown in Nigeria.

Speaking on Tuesday at the launch of the World Economic Outlook report in Washington DC, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the economic counsellor and director of the research department of the IMF, said while inflation came down, the global economy remained resilient.

Gourinchas said the United States is “expected to cool down”, while other advanced economies will rebound.

“Performance in emerging Asia remains robust, despite a slight downward revision for China to 4.8% in 2024. Low-income countries have seen their growth revised downward, some of it because of conflicts and climate shocks,” he said.

Specifically, the IMF report said in emerging markets and developing economies, disruptions to the production and shipping of commodities — especially oil — conflicts, civil unrest, and extreme weather events have led to downward revisions to the outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

“These have been compensated for by upgrades to the forecast for emerging Asia, where surging demand for semiconductors and electronics, driven by significant investments in artificial intelligence, has bolstered growth,” the report reads.

“The latest forecast for global growth five years from now — at 3.1 percent— remains mediocre compared with the prepandemic average. Persistent structural headwinds—such as population aging and weak productivity—are holding back potential growth in many economies.”

NIGERIA’S GROWTH RATE DOWNGRADED TO 2.9 PERCENT

Meanwhile, the lender said Nigeria’s economy is expected to grow at 2.9 percent in 2024.

The projection is a downgrade from 3.1 percent in July and 3.3 percent in April.

Speaking on Nigeria’s growth outlook, Jean-Marc Natal, the division chief of the research department at IMF, linked the country’s projection to issues around insecurity and flooding that have crippled the agricultural sector and oil production.

Although Nigeria’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.19 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, the oil sector contributed only 5.7 percent to the total real GDP in Q2 2024.

On August 26, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said Nigeria’s average GDP growth rate has been steadily declining since 2014, reflecting a drop in the economic wellbeing the citizens.

The Cable

The World Bank says more than half of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty.

In its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report titled ‘Staying the course: Progress amid pressing challenges,’ World Bank said about 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty.

The Washington-based institution also said the country needs to create productive jobs to reduce poverty.

“Without jobs, poor Nigerians will not be able to escape poverty. Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria,” the World Bank said. 

“More than half of the population lives in poverty. This partly reflects the modest overall pace of economic growth, which is insufficient to compensate for the erosion of purchasing power brought about by inflation. 

“With growth proving too slow to outpace inflation, poverty has risen sharply. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 per cent to 56.0 per cent.

“Combined with population growth, this means that some 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty. This stark increase partly reflects Nigeria’s beleaguered growth record. Real GDP per capita has not recovered to the level it was at prior to the oil price-induced recession in 2016.

“The Covid-19 pandemic compounded this drop in economic activity. Moreover, growth is failing to outpace inflation: large increases in prices across almost all goods have diminished purchasing power.”

The World Bank also said poverty reflects the non-inclusive structure of growth.

”EMPLOYMENT NOT ENOUGH TO LIFT PEOPLE OUT OF POVERTY’

The World Bank said the best way to share the proceeds of growth is through jobs, however, employment is not enough to lift people out of poverty.

“Even when GDP was expanding more rapidly in the early 2010s, richer households benefited more. Jobs hold the key to sharing the proceeds of growth,” the Bretton Woods institution said.

“However, employment on its own is not enough to lift people out of poverty: Nigeria needs productive jobs, but these are scarce.

“Many jobs are not productive and therefore remunerative enough to afford a life beyond poverty.

“In Nigeria, as in many countries, high employment and high poverty coexist. In-work poverty is common as many jobs do not generate earnings that are high enough to escape poverty. 

“Low incomes are symptomatic of low productivity jobs. Nigeria’s labor market is changing – with employment shifting from agriculture to services – but these changes are not increasing overall productivity and living standards, because many of the new service-sector jobs are in low-productivity sub-sectors like retail and wholesale trade.

“Sustained poverty reduction depends on creating wage jobs through macro-fiscal stability, growth, and private sector development, complemented by building human capital.”

‘MINIMUM WAGE CAN ONLY IMPACT 4.1% OF WORKING-AGE’

On July 18, President Bola Tinubu approved N70,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country.

According to the World Bank, the move which aims to improve the livelihoods of Nigeria’s workforce, faces significant limitations in its reach and impact – and has been deemed insufficient.

The institution also cautioned that increasing wages, particularly in the public sector, could place additional strain on Nigeria’s already stretched public finances.

“Initiatives that cover mostly highly-formalized wage workers – including policies on public sector jobs and minimum wage legislation – only reach a small segment of Nigeria’s poor and economically insecure population directly, as they do not have access to these types of jobs,” the report reads.

“Such policies may also be fiscally costly, given the large share of formal public sector workers. 

“Focusing on excluded workers offers a clearer avenue for reducing poverty.”

Similarly, the institution said minimum wage legislation may not directly reach the poorest workers “because they do not hold wage jobs and around a third of private sector wage earners receive less than minimum wage anyway, demonstrating that enforcement is imperfect”. 

The lender said raising minimum wages and public sector pay could also be fiscally costly.

Also, the World Bank urged Nigeria to invest in human capital and infrastructure, eliminate export trade barriers, support access to output markets and manage external migration, including by helping young emigrants reach destination countries that need their skills.

The Cable

The Federal Government has stopped the export of locally produced Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, to prioritise domestic supply.

The measure announced by the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, on Tuesday, will begin November 1, 2024, and is to tackle the high gas price in Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement by the spokesman of minister, Louis Ibah, in Abuja.

Ibah said the decision was reached after the minister convened a high-level meeting in Abuja with stakeholders to address the skyrocketing price and its attendant hardship on Nigerians.

The price of cooking gas skyrocketed from N700/kg in June 2023, around when President Bola Tinubu assumed office, to N1,500/kg in October 2024.

This represents about a 114 per cent increase within the 16 months.

In a move to tackle the soaring price of cooking gas, the minister established a high-level committee in November 2023 led by the Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, with key stakeholders in the LPG value chain.

However, despite this effort to address the issue, prices have continued to rise, recently soaring to N1,500 from an average of N1,100 – N1,250/kg.

But the minister, in a new directive to reduce the price, gave short-term and long-term targets.

He said, “With effect from November 1, 2024, NNPCL and LPG producers are to stop exporting LPG produced in-country or import equivalent volumes of LPG exported at cost-reflective prices.”

In terms of the pricing framework, he directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to meet with stakeholders to derive the pricing framework within 90 days.

The statement added, “Pricing Framework: NMDPRA will engage stakeholders to create a domestic LPG pricing framework within 90 days, indexing price to cost of in-country production, rather than the current practice of indexing against external markets, such as the Americas and Far East Asia, whereas the commodity is produced in-country and the Nigerian people are required to pay much higher price for an essential commodity the country is naturally endowed with.”

Offering a long-term solution, the statement added that within 12 months, facilities will be developed to blend, store, and deliver LPG, ending exports until the market achieves sufficiency and price stability.

The statement noted that the minister expressed deep concern over the continuous increase in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as cooking gas in the country.

Punch

Israel confirms death of heir apparent to slain Hezbollah leader

Israel on Tuesday confirmed it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed last month in an Israeli attack targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.

The military said Safieddine was killed in a strike carried out three weeks ago in Beirut's southern suburbs, its first confirmation of his death. Earlier this month, Israel said he had probably been eliminated.

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah to Israel's statement that it had killed Safieddine.

"We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah's senior leadership. We will reach anyone who threatens the security of the civilians of the State of Israel," said Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.

Israel has been carrying out an escalating offensive in Lebanon after a year of border clashes with Hezbollah, the most formidably armed of Iran's proxy forces across the Middle East. The group has been acting in support of Palestinian militants fighting Israel in Gaza but is reeling from a spate of killings of its senior commanders in Israeli airstrikes in recent weeks.

A relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine was appointed to its Jihad Council - the body responsible for its military operations - and to its executive council, overseeing Hezbollah's financial and administrative affairs.

Safieddine assumed a prominent role speaking for Hezbollah during the last year of hostilities with Israel, addressing funerals and other events that Nasrallah had long been unable to attend for security reasons.

Israel has so far shown no sign of relenting in its Gaza and Lebanon campaigns even after assassinating several leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, which lost Nasrallah, its powerful secretary-general, in a Sept. 27 airstrike.

Diplomats say Israel aims to lock in a strong position before a new U.S. administration takes over following the Nov. 5 election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump.

BLINKEN ON MIDEAST TOUR

Israel's confirmation of Safieddine's death came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to capitalise on the killing of Hamas' leader Yahya Sinwar by securing the release of the Oct. 7 attack hostages and ending the war in Gaza.

After repeated abortive attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Blinken was making his 11th trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war erupted - and the last before a presidential election that could upend U.S. policy.

Blinken was also seeking ways to defuse the conflict in Lebanon, where overnight at least 18 people were killed, including four children, and 60 injured by an Israeli airstrike near Beirut's main state hospital.

Blinken faced an uphill struggle on both fronts.

He spelled out U.S. hopes that the death of Hamas leader Sinwar - blamed for triggering a year of devastating warfare by planning the deadly militant assault from Gaza on Israeli territory on Oct. 7 last year - will provide a new opportunity for peace.

In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu said Sinwar's elimination "may have a positive effect on the return of the hostages, the achievement of all the goals of the war, and the day after the war".

But there was no mention of a possible ceasefire after a year of war in which Hamas' military capabilities have been greatly degraded and Gaza largely reduced to rubble, with most of its 2.3 million Palestinians displaced.

For its part, Hamas has refused to free scores of hostages in Gaza seized in its Oct. 7, 2023, raid on Israel without an Israeli pledge to end the war and pull out of the territory.

As Blinken huddled with Israeli leaders, Hezbollah ruled out negotiations while fighting continues with Israel, and it claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting Netanyahu's holiday home on Saturday.

Hezbollah announced dozens of attacks against Israeli targets on Tuesday, including what it said were Israeli military sites near Haifa and Tel Aviv, suggesting its capabilities have survived Israel's biggest onslaught in decades of hostilities.

Israeli strikes also continued across Lebanon on Tuesday, including one of which caused the precipitous collapse of an multi-storey building near central Beirut, sending more panicked residents fleeing.

Israel's offensive has driven at least 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes and killed 2,530 people, including at least 63 over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy calls on allies 'not to hide', respond to North Korean involvement in war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on allies on Tuesday "not to hide" and to respond to evidence of North Korean involvement in Russia's war in Ukraine.

He said in his nightly address that Ukraine had information about the preparation of two units - possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops - to take part in the war alongside Russian forces.

"This is a challenge, but we know how to respond to this challenge. It is important that partners do not hide from this challenge as well," Zelenskiy said.

The head of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence told the U.S. publication "The War Zone" that Kyiv expected North Korean forces to turn up on Wednesday in Russia's southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August.

"We are waiting for the first units tomorrow in the Kursk direction, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov told the media outlet. "It is unclear at the moment how many or how they will be equipped. We will see after a couple of days."

In his remarks, Zelenskiy said neither North Korea nor Russia took any account of the number of dead in a conflict.

"But all of us in the world have an equal interest in ending the war, not in prolonging it. We must therefore stop Russia and its accomplices," he said.

"If North Korea can intervene in a war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely insufficient."

British Defence Secretary John Healey said on Tuesday it was "highly likely" that North Korea had begun sending hundreds of troops to help Russia in the more than 2-1/2-year-old conflict.

A senior official at South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's office said Seoul may consider directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as part of measures to counter military ties between North Korea and Russia.

A top U.S. diplomat said on Monday that Washington was consulting with its allies on the implications of North Korean involvement and added that such a development would be a "dangerous and highly concerning development" if true.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday the dispatch of North Korean troops would significantly escalate the conflict.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian troops increasingly refusing orders – El Pais

Ukrainian servicemen are increasingly refusing to follow orders and fleeing their positions, accusing their leadership of assigning them suicide missions, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Monday, citing several Ukrainian officers. 

The outlet claimed that soldiers from four brigades fighting near the besieged settlement of Kurakhovo in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic have claimed that “the future of the war is bleak for their interests because there are not enough replacements.”   

“Why are we retreating? Because we have no rotations, we don’t rest, we are demoralized,” one officer told the outlet, adding that there is a growing problem of Ukrainian soldiers fleeing their positions.  

“I had a friend, we called him England. He fought the entire war on the front line, in Robotino, Soledar, Kherson... He was exhausted, he couldn’t take it anymore and the commanders didn’t give him a break. A few days ago he left, just like that,” the officer said.  

A Ukrainian sergeant who goes by Churbanov also told the Spanish outlet that the shortage of soldiers had become the biggest problem facing the Ukrainian military, noting that servicemen often have to spend three months in their positions without rest or rotation.  

Another serviceman, identified as Alexander, who serves in the Territorial Defense Forces (TRO), also told El Pais that at one point the 116th TRO brigade near Kurakhovo staged a mass rebellion and refused to follow orders. After that, the whole brigade was supposedly transferred to Sumy Region, from where Kiev launched its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, according to the officer. 

A source within Russia’s security services has also confirmed to the TASS news agency that Ukraine’s 116th TRO brigade had indeed been transferred to participate in the Kursk incursion as punishment for its mutiny. According to a source cited by the outlet, Kiev was trying to “somehow correct the situation in Kursk Region at the expense of the already demoralized Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers.” 

Alexander also told El Pais that there had been a high-profile case earlier this month where 100 soldiers of the 123rd TRO Brigade abandoned their positions near Ugledar several days before the city was captured by Russian forces. The officer explained that they did this to “announce that without sufficient training and weapons they were being assigned to a suicidal defense,” according to El Pais.  

Moscow has long characterized the hostilities in Ukraine as a US-initiated proxy war against Russia in which Ukrainian soldiers were being expended as “cannon fodder” with the complicity of their government.

Reuters/RT

Introduction

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2024), a biopic is “a film about the life of a real person”. Abreu (2024) points out that “The most obvious way a biopic differentiates itself is in how accurate it is to the subject’s history” (StudioBinder). However, to know how truthful a biopic is to history is to discuss its historical representation concerning the history of its subject and the period in which the subject lived or is living.

An analysis of the historical representation in Lisabi: The Uprisingexamines how the film, as a biopic, accurately depicts the history of Lisabi, who liberated the Egba in Egba Forest between 1775 and 1780 from the hegemony of the Oyo when Alaafin Abiodun was the Oloyo ruling over the Old Oyo Empire. This analysis scrutinizes the historical accuracy and creative liberties taken in the film. Recognizing that historical films often prioritize drama over strict fidelity, this discussion probes the narrative motivations behind these artistic choices. 

Aspects of Historical Authenticity in the Film

Eric Johnson (2023) asserts that “Historical film accuracy plays a pivotal role in preserving cultural heritage, educating audiences, and enhancing the overall viewing experience of movies based on true stories” (The Film Fund Blog). Lisabi: The Uprising also preserves Yoruba cultural heritage, educates the audience, and enhances the viewing experience through the authentic portrayal of history.   

The Preservation of Cultural Heritage

According to Eric Johnson (2023), “By accurately portraying historical events, clothing, customs, and traditions, these films [historical films] become a valuable resource for preserving cultural heritage” (The Film Fund). The film portrays a palace garden, akodi, of Yoruba kings in ancient times. Although the impluvium in the akodi is not for bathing, the presentation of the akodi is one of the ways of preserving the royal custom of having royal impluviums in Oba’s palaces. According to Cosmicyoruba, the impluviums among the Yoruba in the past were used to collect and store rainwater (Cosmicyoruba).

Historical Education

Lisabi: The Uprising is a biopic that educates its audience through its authentic cinematic portrayal of home décor among the Yoruba in connection with the palace door of the Oloyo/Alaafin in the film. From the historical angle, Clapperton (1826) notes that in Oyo, “…they have a great deal of carving on their doors and the posts supporting the verandahs…” (Academia). The accurate depiction of the palace door on the silver screen, Lisabi: The Uprising, breathes life into the pages of history books, providing a unique educational experience for its audience.

Elevating the Cinematic Experience

Eric Johnson (2023) argues that attention to historical details creates an immersive experience, enhancing the cinematic experience emotionally and entertainment-wise (The Film Fund). The Ilaris' distinctive hairstyle in the film is historically accurate; it gives the audience a pleasing experience in connection with the hairstyle of the Yoruba in ancient times. The hairstyle is accurate historically, according to the description by Johnson (1956), they shaved their heads, except for a circular patch at the occiput, where hair was grown long, braided, and occasionally dyed black with indigo (History of the Yorubas).

Inaccurate Portrayal of History in the Movie

It is now germane to focus on the historical wrongness in the film. Chiara Torrisi (2023) notes that “It would be great if every work of fiction set in the past had impeccable historical reconstruction, without the slightest hint of errors or inaccuracies. However, this is impossible” (Storia tra le Pagine). However, most of the historical errors in Lisabi: The Uprising are anachronisms; Cambridge Dictionary (2024) defines it as “a person, thing, or idea that exists out of its time in history, especially one that happened or existed later than the period being shown, discussed” (Cambridge Dictionary). The focus will now be on a few of the identified anachronisms.   

Feminist Diegetic Anachronism

Samuel Johnson (1956), in the History of the Yorubas,explains that the councilors of the Alaafin, the Oyo Mesi, were seven noblemen. In the film, a woman is seated among the Oyo Mesi in the palace of the Oloyo when the Olodan (Femi Adebayo) is before the Oloyo/Alaafin (Odunlade Adekola). This is a feminist anachronism; it is used intentionally in the film to distort historical facts, as the film challenges traditional gender norms, presenting women as equal participants in political decision-making.

Topographic Anachronisms

The film's opening topographic map aesthetically sets the stage but historically missteps by incorporating Ijaye and Sodeke townships anachronistically. Oba Nofiu Otun-bade (2021)    points out that the Ijaye people became part of the Egba in Abeokuta after 1830.  (Global News Nigeria). According to Irehoaitonow (2024), Iporo was the name of the Egba township where Sodeke was born in Egba Forest, not Sodeke or Iporo Sodeke (Iband Magazine). This historical anachronism may be due to excessive reliance on AI-assisted historical research.

Normalized Anachronisms  

According to Tom Cole (Wikipedia, 2024), repeated historical inaccuracies can become deeply ingrained in popular culture (Wikipedia). The film's depiction of Oyo's gate without shrines exemplifies this phenomenon, contradicting Hugh Clapperton's account (1826) describing fetish houses outside and inside the gate (Academia).

Fashion Anachronism

The film's historical authenticity is compromised by fashion anachronisms in warrior costuming. Oluwadara Fakunle (2022) describes the pants of a Yoruba warrior in the past, the kafo, as “…tight-legged pants that reach the ankle” (Ihafa: A Journal of African Studies 13: 1 June 2022, 132-156) Many of the warriors in the film do not wear the kafo; this inaccuracy may stem from production cost constraints or artistic license.

Anachronistic Revisionism

Wikipedia (2024) defines historical revisionism as reinterpreting past events, questioning traditional scholarly views, and offering fresh insights through revised analyses (Wikipedia). One of the fresh insights into the history of Lisabi in the film is that the Alake (Muyiwa Ademola) prohibits Lisabi and his friends from practicing Egbe Aro (Traditional Mutual Aid Society). This creative choice deviates from established historical accounts, distorting Egba's collective memory and raising questions about historical accuracy.

Out-of-Era Royal Bathing Ceremony

The Oloyo/Alaafin's (Odunlade) bath in an impluvium is historically inaccurate. They did not use impluviums for bathing but for collecting rainwater among the Yoruba in ancient times (Cosmicyoruba). The cinematic representation misrepresents Yoruba ancient customs; it presents the impluvium in an akodi as a Roman bathing pool. This scene compromises historical authenticity, favoring visual appeal over accuracy.

Slang/ Language Anachronism

The use of Asake's slang, "Wọn ti ge Aṣakẹ l'eti lọ" (They have cut off Asake’s ear) is a deliberate, humorous anachronism. Unfortunately, the film's overall language accuracy suffers due to casting mistakes, resulting in actors speaking a corrupted, modern Egba dialect. The corrupt Egba dialect distracts the native speakers and also misrepresents Egba culture.

Song Anachronism

By incorporating the 1922 Egba Anthem, the filmmakers strategically blend the historical narrative with modern cultural resonance, leveraging the anthem's familiarity and emotional significance to engage contemporary viewers. The film also uses a modern instrument, probably a piano, to play a dirge, "Agbe tori omo re daro, Aluko tori omo re kosun" (Agbe mourns its child, Aluko mourns its child), after the death of Osokenu (Adebowale Adedayo) is a deliberate anachronism. This creative choice prioritizes modern audience engagement over historical authenticity, substituting traditional Egba igbala dirge with a more relatable and familiar sound.   

War Anachronism

The film's depiction of how Sangodeyi (Ibrahim Chatta) died by sickle is anachronistic, as sickles were not typical war weapons among the Yoruba, specifically the Egba. However, using a locally forged Egba sickle rather than a European-manufactured one would have maintained historical authenticity.

The use of the sickle in killing the head of the Ilaris holds profound symbolic significance. Drawing from Hesiod's Theogony, as interpreted by Margaret Wack (2024), the sickle represents a “…violent succession of power, as well as a link to the natural world and the cycles of life, death, and regeneration” (Check LitCharts).

Cultural Anachronism

The film's depiction of Lisabi as a modern Egba man without tribal marks inaccurately represents Yoruba tradition in the past. Oyeronke Afolabi(2022) notes that “This ancient tradition bears immense cultural significance, serving multifaceted purposes encompassing identification, healing, and beautification” (ResearchGate). If one puts the tribal marks into consideration, Lisabi in the film is not an Egba man. Additionally, the presentation of the Alake as an informal, "under-the-tree" oba contradicts historical records. Tolu Ogunlesi (2019) points out that in 1903, the Oni of Ife recognized the Alaafin and Alake among 21 Yoruba kings eligible to wear beaded crowns (X). Production costs may have driven the film's decision to exclude the Alake's palace, inadvertently diminishing his historical status and majesty.

Conclusion

Lisabi: The Uprising is not an outlier in altering history; Nathan Sharp notes that even iconic films like Titanic contain inaccuracies (WatchMojo). While some creative liberties are unavoidable in biopics, filmmakers can draw lessons from Lisabi: The Uprising. Recognizing the impact of historical distortions on cultural identity and collective memory, filmmakers should balance artistic expression with historical authenticity. By doing so, they can enrich, rather than erase, cultural legacies.

** Yinka Kareem, dramatist and historian, writes from Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Seth Godin

The world is shifting faster than ever before. In an age of constant change, disruption, and uncertainty, the traditional ways of approaching strategy are no longer enough. You can’t rely on a static plan designed to meet yesterday’s challenges. Instead, strategy must be dynamic, adaptive, and—most importantly—resilient. The ability to embrace and thrive on change is what sets apart businesses and leaders who succeed from those who merely survive.

Today’s strategy isn’t about having a perfect, foolproof roadmap. It’s about making better decisions in real time, about knowing where you’re headed even when you’re not sure of the exact path. In this fast-moving environment, a successful strategy acts less like a map and more like a compass—guiding you in the right direction even as the terrain around you shifts.

Truth first: Building a strategy on reality

It all begins with understanding the truth of where you stand. Not the version of the truth that’s been polished for a presentation or made comfortable to hear, but the unvarnished, often uncomfortable reality of your situation. What are your actual constraints? What are the shifts happening in your market or industry that you may have overlooked? What truths are you avoiding because they make you uneasy?

The first step in crafting a strategy is recognizing that you can’t move forward if you’re not starting from where you truly are. This requires honesty, not only with yourself but also with your team. Sometimes, it requires seeing beyond what you want to be true and facing the things you’d rather not admit. The more clearly you see the reality of the situation, the better equipped you’ll be to make smart decisions that push you toward your goals.

This kind of truth-telling forms the foundation of a resilient strategybecause it enables you to respond to what’s really happening, not what you wish were happening.

The power of small shifts

Once we understand the truth, we can identify the leverage points—the small but critical changes that can shift everything. Real, systemic change doesn’t always come from sweeping initiatives or grandiose visions. More often than not, it begins with small shifts that build momentum over time.

Take Amazon, for example. Jeff Bezos didn’t set out to disrupt the retail world overnight. He started with a simple but powerful idea: selling books online. This was the leverage point, the small shift that set the stage for a much larger transformation. By focusing on a single category, Amazon was able to build the infrastructure, expertise, and customer base that eventually made it possible to sell, well, everything.

The lesson here is that you don’t need to overhaul your entire business overnight. Instead, look for the small changes you can make today that will have a ripple effect, creating new opportunities and opening up new possibilities. These small shifts, when executed thoughtfully, can lead to big transformations down the road.

Choosing your competition (and your future)

Many businesses get stuck because they spend too much time trying to beat their competitors at their own game. The truth is, you don’t have to compete on the same terms as everyone else. You get to choose your competition, and by doing so, you shape your future.

Think about Apple in the early 2000s. Instead of trying to outcompete Microsoft in the personal computer market, they shifted the game entirely by focusing on mobile devices. The iPod, and later the iPhone, allowed Apple to bypass the competition and create an entirely new category. By choosing their competition wisely, they set themselves up for long-term success.

You get to decide what game you’re playing. Are you going to fight for scraps in a crowded market, or are you going to create something new that sets you apart? The future of your business depends on this choice.

Avoiding the race to the bottom

One of the most dangerous traps businesses fall into is commoditization. When you compete on price, you’re racing to the bottom. And the problem with racing to the bottom is that you might win.

When businesses treat their products or services as interchangeable commodities, they undermine the very thing that makes them valuable. They lose the opportunity to differentiate themselves, to create something unique and irreplaceable.

The most resilient strategies focus on differentiation, not commoditization. Companies like Apple, Nike, and Tesla succeed not because they offer the cheapest products but because they’ve built brands and experiences that are worth paying more for. These companies have avoided the race to the bottom by focusing on creating value that transcends price.

In a world where price competition is fierce, your best defense is to create something so valuable that people are willing to pay more for it. Resilience comes from creating products and services that can’t easily be copied or undercut.

Embracing change, not fighting it

The only constant in today’s business environment is change. The businesses that succeed are those that embrace change rather than resist it. They understand that the world is evolving faster than ever, and they adapt their strategies accordingly.

But embracing change doesn’t mean abandoning your core values or principles. It means being willing to let go of old assumptions and approaches that no longer serve you. It means being willing to experiment, fail, and iterate until you find the right path forward.

Consider the story of Netflix. In its early days, Netflix was a DVD rental service competing with Blockbuster. But when the market began to shift toward digital streaming, Netflix didn’t cling to its old business model. Instead, it embraced the change, pivoting to become the dominant player in streaming content. By letting go of the past and embracing the future, Netflix not only survived but thrived.

The strategy of resilience

At its core, strategy is about making smart, thoughtful choices in the face of uncertainty. It’s about crafting a plan that can withstand the unexpected, that allows you to pivot when necessary and capitalize on new opportunities as they arise.

Resilient strategies are built on truth, small shifts, and a willingness to embrace change. They avoid the traps of commoditization and short-term thinking, focusing instead on long-term value creation and differentiation.

If you want your business to succeed in today’s fast-changing world, you need a strategy that isn’t rigid or fixed. You need a strategy that evolves with you, that helps you navigate uncertainty with confidence, and that sets you up for lasting success.

Forbes