Considering similarities in politics, culture and economy, Nigeria’s flagging structure invites comparison with Brazil’s. Olubanwo Fagbemi, who visited the South American country recently, recommends the difference as possible remedy.
BRAZILIANS would be the first to admit that their society is free of corruption as scandals surrounding their country’s controversial hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals suggest, but the work ethic is undeniable. Beside the patriotic spirit that attended discharge of World Cup volunteer duty across board, a commitment to duty, from the menial to executive, recommends ordinary Brazilians to the observer. In the face of evidence, a national penchant for holiday and beachside frolic barely hampers the march to economic and infrastructural progress, even if some, as David Santon, an undergraduate and tour guide, believed the country would do much better with a 400-year plus history of political independence from Portuguese overlords if only politicians do not “promise you heaven before the elections and dump you once they get elected”.
On why Nigeria appeared to toe the same line with worse consequences, Joe Hornet, a Brazil-based Jamaican retiree who had been to Nigeria offered food for thought. “The average Nigerian is not honest. Almost everyone works by asking, ‘what’s in it for me first?’”
Flyovers and elevators to the rescue
The will to master the rugged terrain that describes much of Brazil is evident in solution to transportation challenges. Salvador’s peculiar feature of a steep escarpment dividing the city into two sections of Cidade Baixa or the ‘Lower City’ (the business district) and Cidade Alta, the ‘Upper City’ (the residential area) inspired construction of a cable car and the Elevador Lacerda, Brazil’s first elevator. The latter, which has undergone several upgrades since 1873, together with the former, less used today compared to its heyday, generate income from patrons riding up or down in pursuit of business or leisure.
Super-pedestrian bridges crossing multi-lane highways also dot Brazil’s landscape. Going or coming, the long, arching elevated bridges seem to link every major concentration of pedestrian activity on roadsides. Exit paths also exist to serve pedestrians changing direction on dualised roads. Clearly conceived and executed with the roads, the sometimes obsolete but well-maintained flyovers stand as proof of foresight in construction. They contrast roads built in Nigeria without drainage systems and the spectacle of citizens daily courting death in a mad dash across busy highways.
Adaptable infrastructure
Brazil is self-sufficient in production of consumer goods, but apparently mindful of the theory of comparative advantage, the country contracts out heavy manufacturing to foreign giants with major car makers Nissan, Renault, Chevrolet, Ford, Fiat and others represented in assembly plants across the country. The caveat, as pointed out by Waheed Adetunji, a Nigeria-born friend in Salvador, is the required inclusion of made-in-Brazil components and participation of indigenous labour. Compared to a domestic appetite for all things foreign or a love for bogus cars or jeeps, the Brazilian cherishes compact editions. Whether the latter’s preference is informed by parking space as suggested by Santon or a more manageable ego is debatable.
Dedicated cyclists’, joggers’ lanes
Dedicated bikers’ and joggers’ lanes running along Brazilian beaches are recommended as answers to the peril of cycling or jogging on Nigerian city roads. Painted in clear green and yellow, the lanes invite activity from sunup to sundown. While enthusiasts are immediate beneficiaries, many in the business of ancillary services from bicycle retailers to food vendors gain from the venture.
A welfare state
Still a subject of contention between the poorer northeast and more affluent and heavily taxed south, the welfarist policies of the ruling Workers’ Party, analysts believed, helped return President Dilma Rousseff through a challenging 2014 election run-off to power despite a plunge in popularity ratings before the World Cup finals amidst allegations of corruption and poor services. With poor families handed welfare payments and transport fares subsidised on weekends to facilitate leisure trips to the coasts and hinterlands on weekends, for instance, Rousseff and her party managed to retain the loyalty of voters in the North and Northeast. While the goal of leadership cannot solely be appeasement of followers and electoral votes in return, the political example of poverty eradication and peaceful, organised polls merits emulation.
Coins with great value
While indicators of underdevelopment as poverty and high crime rate still beep in Brazil, the country, a proud member of the vaunted BRICS the next economically developed group of countries including Russia, India, China and South Africa flaunts enviable economic indices. Compared to Nigeria where the kobo has unofficially gone the way of the dodo, Brazil holds the coin, or centavo, in high esteem. In 5, 10, 25 and 50 centavos as well as 1 real denomination, the coin trades conveniently, from the sidewalk to the shopping mall. The 100 reais note is the highest denomination, by the way. The denomination apparently keeps inflation low and survival on the national minimum wage of R$700 realistic. Had the central bank of Nigeria’s managed to introduce the 5, 000 naira note, on the other hand, its impact on the oft-debated 18, 000 naira minimum wage is better imagined.
Casa de câmbio
One of Brazil’s symbols of financial independence and patriotism, the casa de câmbio or bureau de change operates under strict rules enforced by relevant government agencies. Every transaction is documented with the foreigner providing his international passport as evidence. While black market exchange using parallel rates occur, the dollar, or any other currency but Brazilian, is not accepted as a means of payment for goods and services.
Convenient shopping with Cartao cards
Issued by all major banks in Brazil, local debit cards called cartão (pronounced canton) de débito are probably the most important cashless payment method in Brazil. Brazilians, especially from the lower income groups, can through it pay for goods from cars to perishables in instalments offered and financed by merchants. With the card, the citizen walks to a store, chooses an affordable item or items with a price list indicating up to 12 instalments of the final price. The customer’s card is charged with the advance payment and he walks away with the article. The seller thus assumes the risk of non-payment, in case the customer eventually fails to pay up.
But what happens if the customer refuses to fulfil his part of the bargain or relocates elsewhere? “Then he is as good as ‘dead’,” said Johnson Abe. “The Brazilian system keeps effective store of data. Besides possible arrest for criminal offence in the future, the offending can longer afford to pay for goods and services online anywhere in Brazil once his details are noted.”
Wheelbarrows with multiple wheels
In the markets of São Joaquim, Santa Bárbara and São Miguel, you are as likely to find African foodstuff and artefacts of Afro-Brazilian religion worship as peculiar contraptions. One of these is the wheelbarrow with three or four wheels. Its capacity to reduce the labour of pushing stuff through challenging terrain and human traffic renders the single-wheeled version in Nigeria primitive.
Religious tolerance
With the largest population of Catholics in any country, one might expect widespread discrimination against other faiths in Brazil. That may have been the case in the recent past, especially for adherents of the Afro-Brazilian religion called Candomblé but the tide has since turned. As related by a believer, Silvio Bosco, filling in Candomblé as religion on a school or employment form would raise about the same eyebrow as Christian Catholic or Protestant Christian unthinkable 20 years ago, noted Denilson ‘Oluwafemi’ Jose, tourist guide, arts teacher and Candomblé advocate. “It was possible to go from kindergarten to university without reading a single book about blacks until 2003,” he said. “But, encouraged by the growing interest in Afro-Brazilian cum African history and culture throughout Brazil, the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso passed a law in 2003 that made the teaching of Afro-Brazillian history and culture compulsory in public and private schools.”
Effective policing
One of the first things a Nigerian visitor notices about law enforcement officers in Brazil is that they look mostly lean and fit, even the women. Almost always in body armour and holstered guns, the Policia appear formidable and actually live up to the capacity to scramble to trouble spots and frisk rabble-rousers. Marching single file to or away from duty posts, they are able to respond to emergency and not get caught flat-footed like Nigerian counterparts stuck on policing by road blocks. They may not eradicate crime in city bad spots and may, now and then, be accused of brutality and human rights violation, but the Brazilian police generally keep citizens safe in the open as all, man, woman and child, enjoy basic rights especially the freedom of expression.
