It is time Nigerian civil society groups organised a national debate between the leaders of the APC and the ADC alliance, forcing them to discuss economic diversification. Whoever can address the issues should get our votes come 2027

Ayo Akinfe

[1] All receipts that accrue from crude oil in excess of $60 a barrel should go into a special infrastructure fund

[2] All receipts that accrue from crude oil in excess of $80 a barrel should go into a special economic diversification fund

[3] All receipts that accrue from prices in excess of $100 a barrel should go into a dedicated clean energy fund

[4] Basically, we should see this as our last chance to diversify the Nigerian economy and invest the bonanza judiciously. Whatever it takes, Nigeria needs to raise the capital for economic diversification

[5] For me, the bulk of the cash has got to go towards supporting manufacturing. Whether we like it or not, manufacturing has got to take over from religion, Nollywood and owambes as our favourite national past times

[6] We must also spend at least $20bn annually on key infrastructure like railway networks, ports, power plants, roads, power plants, airports and shopping malls

[7] Whatever we do, the goal has got to be to wean our 36 states off federal allocation, with the ambitious target of making a few self-reliant by 2030

[8] We should not really invest in education, healthcare and housing at the federal level as that is the responsibility of state governments

[9] We should also offer to manufacture munitions for Israel, Iran, Russia and Ukraine. Everyone else profits from our wars, so why shouldn’t we cash in on theirs?

[10] Nigerian states should also lease land to Ukrainian grain companies and food processors in a bid to get them to relocate. We should aim to fill the void brought about by a drop in Ukrainian farm output

[10] Here are certain key sectors I think the next president should target for foreign direct investment as from 2027:

[1] Scandinavia - Railway construction

[2] Russia - Steel production

[3] Germany - Electricity generation and distribution

[4] Japan - Automobile manufacturing

[5] Australia - Solid mineral processing

[6] Canada - Livestock processing and animal feed compounding

[7] US - Food processing

[8] India - Pharmaceutical manufacturing

[9] China - Machine tool manufacturing

[10] Europe’s Low Countries - Household goods manufacturing

If we could attract just $10bn worth of investment from each origin, imagine how many jobs it would create. I do not believe that asking say Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Suzuki and Mazda to float a Nigerian joint venture is asking a lot. What is $10bn investment to these companies together?

Opening say a gearbox manufacturing plant in Nnewi a chassis facility in Nsukka and then maybe an assembly plant in Port Harcourt to churn out a unique Nigerian four-by-four vehicle would guarantee them bumper sales. Plants manufacturing other components could be opened up across the rest of West Africa in cities like Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Monrovia, Conakry and Banjul.

Across the board, this model could be replicated. It cannot be business as usual if we want to get out of this rut my people!

ayoakinfe@gmail.com