Were I Senator Natasha Akpoti, I would respond to all this brouhaha by sponsoring the Nigerian Productivity Bill 2025 as soon as my suspension ends

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigeria needs to be given strict production quotas in every area of manufacturing. By 2039, the value of our gross domestic product (GDP) simply needs to total $1trn at the very least and the National Assembly needs to pass a bill to that effect

[2] Nigeria’s current paltry GDP of about $400bn is disgraceful, unacceptable, embarrassing and a reflection of the fact that we are simply not pulling our weight as a nation. Our actual population requires we have a GDP of $2trn, so we need robust laws that punish governors and senators who fail to meet production targets

[3] With a population of 200m, Nigeria has to be set a target of creating at least 10m new jobs every year over the next decade. This should involve attracting foreign direct investment of at least $100bn annually

[4] Nigeria should be banned from exporting raw primary products. Everything we export, be it petroleum, cocoa, cassava, yam, palm oil, groundnuts, etc, must be semi-processed. If at least 50% value is not added to it, then it must not be shipped

[5] Nigeria must manufacture at least 2.5% of all global medical equipment in line with her proportion of humanity’s population

[6] At the very minimum, Nigeria should have an annual 10% GDP growth rate. If we have less than this in two successive quarters, we should be considered as being in recession

[7] Skills, education and training is what lifts a nation out of poverty. Nigeria should be set a stringent target of spending at least $20bn on education and training annually. The goal should be to eradicate illiteracy totally by 2035

[8] At the moment, Nigeria has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world at 6%. This must be brought up to the global average of 30% by 2030

[9] Worldwide, the average percentage of paved roads is 64%. In Nigeria it is currently 15%. We should give ourselves up to 2030 to bring our figures up to the global average

[10] We need to ringfence 20 tropical crops which we must become the number one producer of by 2030 - Yam, cassava, millet, sorghum, kolanuts, shea nuts, papaya, plantain, okra, cocoyam, groundnuts, pineapples, tatase, red bell pepper, cocoa, mangoes, melon seed, neem, palm oil, cashews

ayoakinfe@gmail.com