CEREMCAM People: Patrick

I'd like to use some of these blog posts to highlight  my CERECAM colleagues. They are very interesting, talented academics. I'll begin with Patrick, who I've found easy to talk to.

Patrick is from Nigeria, having lived in both Ileife and Lagos. It's a shame that the world knows Nigeria mostly by the following export:

"Dear Sir,
Good day to you
My name is Joey Jones i am an American soldier, i am serving in the military of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq. I am now in Kuwait in the mean time, I and my partner moved funds belonging to Saddam Hussein, the total is (Twenty Five million US dollars) this money is being kept safe in a security company. Click on this link to read about even that took place here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm


Basically since we are working for the American government we cannot keep these funds, but we want to transfer and move the funds to you, so that you can keep it for us in your safe account or an offshore account..."

Patrick in his office.

The 419 (or sometimes 411) scam, named after the relevant sections of Nigerian criminal code, has netted Nigerians some 5 billion dollars since the early eighties. Some estimate that it ranks as between the third and fifth largest revenue sources for Nigeria. Working on the premise that you really can't cheat an honest man, the scam apparently works on traditional Nigerian beliefs. Patrick tells me that in Nigeria a hand bag or even a wallet left carelessly in a car is quite safe. Instead people believe that one must "trick" people out of their possessions by exposing their moral failures.

At any rate, 419 scams are a shame, because there is much more to Nigeria. I've been fascinated with the stories Patrick tells me, here are a few examples.

The Nigerian people are very friendly and love to welcome and make people feel at home. This is a projection of the good qualities of the culture, and is completely genuine. However,  Nigeria is the most densely populated country in Africa and the fears associated with big city living, poverty, and inequity all work against Nigerian's welcoming nature. Patrick tells me that the open heartedness is much harder to encounter after dark. Personally, I don't know anything about Nigeria, but I would agree there is a welcoming nature in the parts of Africa I've been to.

Communication is easy in Nigeria, English is spoken nearly everywhere. The cost of living is low and quality of of life is high. Living expenses for a small family are typically less than $100 dollars per month. There are tremendous recreational opportunities; including beaches, natural history and cultural museums. Consumer goods are not taxed because oil revenues offset taxes. However, economic potential is wasted due to inconsistent electricity supply. A funny story Patrick told me was that he avoided studying computation because the power supplies were simply too inconsistent. So instead he does theory of the sort that can be done with pencil and paper.

Nigeria has a rich history and culture. It's a disservice for me to try and account for all of it, I really don't know much, but Patrick mentioned the Ife bronze head, an extraordinary piece of metal working skill, dating back to the end of the first millennium. He also told be a couple Yoruba proverbs, and I always like proverbs. 

In the presence of elders the head of the baby is straight.

Straight head?

Which is to say that things become easier in the presence of experienced people. Here the straight head refers to the position of a baby, riding on his or her mother's back. This is a common way to transport babies throughout Africa, when the head leans to far to one side or the other, it just can't be a good thing.

The laminar object that goes up, will come down.

By Patrick's account, this is saying that situations that are tough will eventually resolve.  I can see that, although that's not how I would interpret the American proverb, 'what goes up must come down'. I love that the object is laminar, as in layers, I think? 

Finally, I read a history of the Biafra wars not long ago, and it really was eye opening. My take would be its a classic case of an economically dominate ethnic minority literally being killed for their status. After much genocide, that minority (the Igbo) tried to form an independent state, Biafra, and that's the Biafran war. They lost, and Nigeria is Nigeria. The Igbo, Patrick tells me are famous business men throughout Africa. Unfortunately they do not always make their business selling things that are legal

A page from Patrick's notebook.

In terms of academic interests, Patrick works in applied math. Presently, he is proving theorems about a certain class of non-differentiable contact problems, essentially, demonstrating that solutions exist. Beyond that, Patrick is looking critically at the issue of regularization, and determining if it is indeed justified. Patrick has done a bit of teaching, and finds that he likes it, especially when the students are clever.

Finally, Patrick is a true intellectual, with tastes in arts and culture that are incredibly sophisticated. He reads classical literature (Toni Morrison, Sula, Faulkner, Sound and Fury, James Joyce, Ulysses), listens to jazz (Avishia Cohen, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Winton Marsalis) twentieth century classical music (Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Debussy, Ravel),  and is an accomplished  online chess player.

Phew, it all makes me feel like a little bit of a heathen. It's  good that Patrick has also seen a few episodes of CSI, and likes the movies of Leonardo DiCaprio. Otherwise, we wouldn't have much to talk about. But I'm working to corrupt him. I think I'll give him a few episodes of Deadwood to watch, and a TV on the Radio CD to listen to.