Now that we have an international chef of global repute in Hilda Bassey, Nigeria’s government should make her the poster girl of our foods and use this lady to push our products into global markets

Ayo Akinfe

Food items we can package as fast food king of like pizzas, kebabs and McDonald’s:

[1] Abula

[2] Suya/asun/kilishi

[3] Pepper soup

[4] Jollof/fried rice

[5] Moi-moi and ogi

[6] Gari and fish

[7] Nkwobi

[8] Fried yam and akara

[9] Yam porridge

[10] Pounded yam and egusi

Here is the strategy:

[1] With foreign direct investment in sort supply, it is time to think outside the box. Ministers need to be given foreign exchange targets, which they should meet or get sacked.

[2] What our agriculture and food minister needs to do is gather all the major food processors in his office and ask them to come up with an export plan

[3] He should tell them he needs Nigerian foodstuffs on the shelves of supermarkets worldwide as part of a plan to raise $10bn before the end of the year.

[4] Interest-free loans should be offered to anyone who needs to expand their business premises to enact the plan. Personally, I would like to see several of our elite join forces to float a conglomerate called the Nigerian Food Company that will be quoted on the Lagos, London, New York, Frankfurt, Johannesburg and Tokyo stock exchanges

[5] Given the ethical case for food, I think it should be our millionaire evangelical clergymen who join forces to create this Nigerian Food Company. It should aim to be Nigeria's leading commercial light that competes with the likes of Nestle, Kraft Food, Mars, Unilever, etc on the global stage.

[6] A company of that magnitude would find it easy to supply the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Carrefour, Intermarché, Aldi, ShopRite, Albertsons, Safeway, Walmart, etc

[7] Why are products like pizza and kebabs delivered to homes across Europe but our African products are not? That should be one of their strategies

[8] Maybe this company should also look at launching a chain of stores like Pizza Express or McDonald’s

[9] Hilda Bassey’s image should be plastered everywhere. She should be the public face of this campaign

[10] Hilda can be paid a commission for every food processor she attracts into Nigeria. At the end of the day, what we need is for them to come and open plants and create jobs