Page 64 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 9

FEATURES

Olisaeloka Peter Okocha Jr is orig- mode, analyzing critical sectors of leaving Afrika’s shores and going to
inally from Delta. He was raised in the economy to find ways to truly these western nations and contribut-
Lagos, alongside his brothers, by his build and grow the nation. This ing to building their economies.
Nigerian father and Afrikan Amer- process is what, eventually, led him
ican mother. Having completed his to agriculture. You see the amazing things that
primary school studies, he then went Afrikans are doing and contributing
to the US to attend high school and He says, “We can’t really begin to to nation-building in their adopted
university, where he studied eco- develop as a country or a continent nations. We have to find ways to cre-
nomics. if we haven’t obtained food security. ate enabling environments for our
Everything in this universe revolves brothers and sisters to come back
During his education abroad, he around energy… Food is the fuel home and do it for themselves and
made frequent visits home during which provides us with the energy their people.
the holidays. and power to perform at optimal ca-
pacity and function, but if we don’t With the insurgence of
After his first year in university, have enough healthy food that’s to the evil called GMOs into
he had an opportunity to work in our detriment.” This is what pushed Afrika what is the state of
Johannesburg when the Black Eco- him to enter the agricultural space,
nomic Empowerment initiative was to disrupt it positively and ensure Afrika’s agriculture?
just being implemented by the South the issue of food security, to build a My team and I at PS Nutrac are
Afrikan government, just after strong nation and continent. firmly against anything that is genet-
Mandela had left office. This proved ically modified. Our stance is that
to be a life-changing experience for We had a very interesting conversa- we don’t do anything that is in viola-
the then, 19-year-old who witnessed, tion with Olisaeloka about Afrika: tion of nature. Something we won’t
firsthand, the imbalances in wealth consume ourselves, why would we,
ownership in the nation. It birthed We find there are a lot of in turn, give it to our people? We try
in him a desire to think of ways people who go to study and stay, in terms of our farming
solutions for economic empow- abroad and eventually settle methods, as organic as possible. We
erment and how to reconnect our may utilize nutrients in our aeropon-
brothers and sisters in South Afrika there, meaning that a lot ics systems but everything we do is
and indeed all over the continent of valuable knowledge and non-GMO.
back to the land. resource remains trapped The truth of the matter is that as
in foreign countries, so it is a continent we have 60% of the
His degree in economics could have refreshing to know that you world’s arable land as well as water
led him in the direction of Wall wanted to come back. What resources. We are really punching far
Street but his heart was for Afrika below our weight as a continent and
and he decided to come back home prompted that? as a people. Afrikans have a natural
aged 22 where he did his NYSC for There is a brain drain that’s been connection to the land, I tell people,
one year which further entrenched happening throughout the con- “We know how to farm the land.”
the idea of nation-building in him tinent, and I tell friends and col- It’s an innate gift.
and his commitment to doing his leagues it is deliberate. We have the We have created festivals around
part to build his community. It destabilization that came about as a our agricultural prowess, such as
also helped deepen his knowledge result of colonization. Essentially, the New Yam Festival, where we
of the country and to uncover the we were set up as extraction points celebrated yam and the fertility of
different opportunities in Nigeria. A for our natural resource wealth to go the land. We have all this arable
year later he traveled to the UK to to the European countries that col- land, human capital potential and
pursue a Masters’ in Management, onized us. What you are seeing right water resources, how do we channel
then returned home and had an now is no different and comes as a it to ensure we have food sufficien-
opportunity to work in the shipping result of the fact that we still have cy and eventually begin to feed the
sector locally and be exposed as well systems that are extensions of the rest of the world? It’s a low-hanging
to the Hong Kong shipping sector colonial era that aren’t to the benefit soft power tool that we need to
for a time. of us as Afrikans. Now they are take advantage of as a continent to
Upon his return from Hong Kong, taking our human capital potential, where the rest of the world will see
he went into full entrepreneurial our brightest and our best minds are us as peers.

64 | Heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika