Nigerians need to collectively make 2025 the year when industrial production overtakes religious observance as our primary activity as a people

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Low productivity, the obsession with getting rich and religious fundamentalism remain our three biggest challenges as a nation

[2] Solve these three headaches and watch our other problems like corruption, nepotism, a lack of patriotism and ethnicity disappear

[3] On every Nigerian street corner, there is a mosque or a church. In 2025, we need to make a solemn pledge as a people to convert these religious houses into factories that manufacture goods

[4] What I find most perplexing is that Nigerians always blame corruption and poor leadership for the country's socio-economic woes. However, churches and mosques continue to thrive despite this poor leadership, which tells me that the real problem is a lack of national will to address our concerns as a people

[5] Other matters in which we have a great deal of interest like Nollywood, owambes and the growth of traditional title institutions, continue to thrive. Every week, one otunba, eze, mazi, galadima, waziri or high chief is given a title across Nigeria. How come poor governance has not affected that industry?

[6] We talk about corruption as lot but the fact Nigeria’s national budget is only about $30bn, so there is a ceiling to how much politicians can steal. If we had a gross domestic product (GDP) of say $1.5trn, Nigeria's economy would thrive despite the corruption

[7] It is hypocritical to condemn the corruption of politicians and then turn a blind eye to the crude and crass exploitation of religious houses. Collecting 10% of people's wages is a tax and it is high time we started investing that money in the Nigerian economy. We need an agency that size of the EFCC to deal with you this matter

[8] As per Islam, I just give up on my people. Youths just go and slaughter innocent people because their imam tells them to. As a people we simply need to debate reducing the influence of religion in our society. Paul Kagame has shown us how it can be done. In Rwanda today, you need a degree in theology to be registered as a religious leader

[9] Nigeria simply needs factories. Get our youths out of churches and mosques and into manufacturing plants and watch all this violence abate. More importantly, it will end their indoctrination, free their minds and unleash their stifled creativity which is currently imprisoned by these twin Abrahamic faiths

[10] If we could industrialise, create jobs and restore dignity in labour, this desire to get rich so you can prove you have arrived will abate. That is the way to combat corruption, create a patriotic citizenry and end this ethnic madness that promotes the domination of one group over another!

Ayoakinfe@gmail.com