Once we have a new pope in place, I would love him to visit Nigeria for a week in his first international engagement and make sure he achieves the following before leaving

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Get the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs to each commit to attracting at least $10bn worth of investment annually into Nigeria as religious finance

[2] Get Nigeria's Fulani leaders to pledge their commitment to ranching. They must commit to ending nomadic farming and agree to disarm all herdsmen across the country

[3] Speak with the remnants of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West African Province. He should tell them he is not leaving until they lay down their arms

[4] Get Nigerian politicians to ease their blatant intolerance when it comes to homophobia. Some of the rhetoric we hear is reminiscent of Nazi Germany

[5] Persuade Nigerian clergymen to use money collected as tithes only for capital infrastructural projects

[6] Convince Nigeria's evangelical clergymen to combine their financial arms into one conglomerate called Man of God PLC. It should become a multinational manufacturer floated on the London, Frankfurt, Tokyo and New York stock exchanges and act as a bellweather of the Nigerian economy

[7] Nigeria accounts for one fortieth of the world's population. He should insist one fortieth of all foreign direct investment globally is destined for Nigeria. This needs to be agreed at G7 and World Economic Forum meetings

[8] He should insist that Nigeria's National Assembly passes a law making it mandatory that at least one third of all political appointments to go female. This should apply to shortlists for gubernatorial candidates too

[9] Our new pope should ask Nigeria's National Assembly to pass a law making it illegal to export primary products without at least adding 50% value

[10] Our new pope should convince Nigeria's political elite to eschew the bad habit of going for medical treatment abroad. They should be prepared to die in Nigeria if need be

ayoakinfe@gmail.com