Over the Christmas break, I would like the governors in each of Nigeria's six geo-political zones to meet and all sign up to this regional development plan

Ayo Akinfe

[1] We shall provide loans with interest rates of no more than 5% interest to anyone wishing to delve into agriculture. Such loans will be tailored towards buying hybrid seedlings, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and farming equipment like tractors, water tanks, silos and barns

[2] We will make land available to everyone interested in venturing into agriculture. Our policy is to ensure that farms are a minimum of five acres, so farmers can benefit from economies of scale. We will encourage farmers to pool their resources together and form cooperatives to enhance unit-per-head output and make the use of machinery possible

[3] We will build a freight railway network linking our states so that farm produce is easily transported within the geo-political zone

[4] We are banning the export of primary produce from our geo-political zone. From henceforth, every agricultural product, solid mineral or primary commodity must be processed with some value added before it is exported

[5] All the local governments within our states will be given full autonomy. We as governors will not touch a penny of their allocation and will be writing to the finance minister to pay local government chairmen directly

[6] We shall be writing to the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct local government elections in all local government areas within our states directly. From henceforth, no local government shall be involved in local government polls

[7] We are recommending the creation of a regional police force but to avoid it being used by governors as a private army of political thugs, at least four governors in the region and one governor from each of the other five geo-political zones must sanction the deployment of men for major operations. Governors will not be allowed to keep private armories

[8] No primary product will be exported from outside our geo-political zone without at least 50% value addition

[9] We are proposing a resource control formula that involves states keeping 50% of their revenue, 20% going into the Sovereign Wealth Fund, 20% going into the federation account and 10% going into a geo-political zone fund

[10] By 2035, we aim to have zero illiteracy, have at least one general hospital in every local government area, have every state totally self-reliant, have 70% of the roads in our states tarred, ensure each state at least generates the power it consumes and have full employment

Ayoakinfe@gmail.com