President Tinubu should call an emergency African Union summit to address the injustice of how US military aid to Ukraine can surpass the total foreign direct investment in our continent

Ayo Akinfe

[1] No doubt, you all watched the recent heated exchange between Presidents Zelensky and Trump in the White House. What jumped out of the conversation for me was President Trump's repeated claim that the US has spend $350bn backing Ukraine's war effort so far

[2] Now, according to the Africa Development Bank, Nigeria alone needs at least $100bn of foreign direct investment (FDI) annually as that is the value of our yearly infrastructural deficit. We have a paltry annual budget of about $30bn and a gross domestic product of about $400bn. Attracting the kind of assistance Ukraine is getting would radically alter the economic landscape

[3] I think it is time African nations and international development agencies make it clear that it is totally unacceptable to spend that kind of wasteful sum of $350bn just on a ego trip to boost the number of Nato member states, while about 20% of the world's population is starved of FDI

[4] For instance, just imagine how much more progress Nigeria would have made in the war against terrorism if the Nigerian Army had the Leopard, Challenger, Abrams or Merkevah tanks that the West is supplying Ukraine for free. Boko Haram would have long since been eliminated and Sambisa Forest might be one huge cattle ranch now providing beef for the global market and creating jobs

[5] On this matter of insecurity, I want President Tinubu to get African nations to issue a joint statement challenging the industrialsed world to spending at least $100bn a year on security across our continent

[6] As a nation state, Nigeria then has to come up with an industrial plan to reverse-engineer these tanks and armaments so we can start mass-producing them within five years

[7] Just ask yourselves how large Africa's economy would be today if the US had invested that $350bn in say electricity generation, shipyards, automobile manufacturing or railways across our continent

[8] Apart from cash and military hardware, Ukraine is provided with intelligence on Russian troop and equipment movement. Has the US offered any of this to an African state fighting terrorism before? Satellite imagery exists to locate all their hideouts in Borno State but alas, nobody has provided us with this

[9] It is time for President Tinubu to read the riot act to the rest of the world. They should be told in no uncertain terms that they ignore countries like Nigeria at their peril. Terrorists taking over Nigeria as happened in Afghanistan would have dire consequences for the human race

[10] If nothing else, all this insecurity has limited Nigeria’s economic growth. Our gross domestic product would probably be at least 2% higher if we had tranquility across large swathes of northern Nigeria. I hope to see President Tinubu in the Oval Office soon to make the case for our own $350bn

ayoakinfe@gmail.com