Would you not just love it if we found out that an agreement looking like this was reached between President Tinubu and Nigeria's Catholic bishops when they met at the Vatican

Ayo Akinfe

[1] We all commit to emulate the Knights Templar, that Catholic military order founded in 1119. The world owes them a debt of gratitude as they spearheaded the new age of enlightenment that spread across Europe at the time, opening up new frontiers in an unprecedented manner. We aim to emulate their acts in Nigeria

[2] In their day, the Templars became the favoured charity throughout Christendom. They were prominent in Christian finance. Non-combatant members of the order, who made up as much as 90% of them, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking. We will do likewise in Nigeria. Arguably, the Knights Templar also formed the world's first multinational corporation. We will look to float a similar catholic multinational corporation in Nigeria

[3] We will push for all Nigerian clergymen and women to adhere to the discipline the Templars imposed on themselves. They had a code of conduct known to modern historians as the Latin Rule. Its 72 clauses laid down the details of the knights' way of life, including the types of garments they were to wear and how many horses they could have. Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family

[4] New members had to willingly sign over all of their wealth and goods to the order and take vows of poverty, chastity, piety and obedience. We will push for a National Assembly bill compelling all Nigerian clergy men and women and public servants to do likewise. If every public servant is sworn to poverty, the issue of corruption does not arise

[5] We will support a National Assembly bill compelling all Nigerian churches to run their economic divisions as autonomous departments. They shall keep accounting records of all tithe and other collections just like any other financial house

[6] Nigeria's Catholic Church shall spearhead a move under which the financial departments of all churches pool their resources into one common pot to be known as Man of God Nigeria Limited. Nigeria's federal government will take out a 25% stake in the venture. A religious finance bill will be sent to the National Assembly compelling all churches to divert 70% of all tithe collections into Man of God Nigeria Limited

[7] Man of God Nigeria Limited will be a conglomerate with a presence in all the key sectors of the Nigerian economy. This will include power generation, animal husbandry, food processing, automobile manufacturing, steel production, shipbuilding, machine tool production, etc

[8] This Man of God Nigeria Limited will be floated on the Lagos, London, Tokyo and New York stock exchanges. It will be the bellweather of our economy, kind of like Tata Industries in India, Phillips in Holland, General Motors in the US and San Miguel in The Philippines. It should seek to employ at least 10m people nationwide

[9] Man of God Nigeria Limited will own six massive ranches across Nigeria with each being home to about 10m cattle. It will also have feed compounding plants on site, as well as meat processing factories and provide an array of ancillary services such as veterinary healthcare, packaging, adult education, primary healthcare and retailing at each of these locations

[10] This religious finance bill will also mandate all clergymen to hand their private jets to Man of God Nigeria Limited. These aircraft will be auctioned off and the proceeds used as capital investment

ayoakinfe@gmail.com