Nigeria needs a Moral Economic Crimes Commission (MEEC) to curtail activities that are not criminal but do untold damage to our economy

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Buying private jets when we do not have a national carrier or a functioning international aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) in Nigeria is just an act of economic sabotage. All it does is drain our minuscule foreign exchange and enrich foreign aircraft manufacturers. Surely, such money should be invested in the local aviation industry

[2] Buying generators when you could install solar panels on your roof is not only economically damaging but an environmental crime

[3] Nigeria spends about 1% of her annual budget on religious pilgrimages. This is a luxury we simply cannot afford. All we are doing is boosting the economies of Israel and Saudi Arabia

[4] Nigerians who go and throw lavish parties in Dubai just want to keep us in perpetual poverty. Their actions ensure that our own tourist industry will never develop with that of the UAE continues to flourish

[5] Government departments and corporates who go and purchase fleets of foreign vehicles rather than patronise Innoson Motors simply do not wish Nigeria well. Why they are no laws forbidding this is totally beyond me

[6] So-called businessmen who go and import luxury fashion accessories for distribution across Nigeria rather than manufacture them locally are just enemies of the people. Have they ever challenged the likes of Gucci or Luis Vitton to come and open plants in Nigeria?

[7] All those government officials who go abroad for medical treatment clearly do not wish Nigeria well. What happened to dying for your country? The amounts they spend on foreign clinics would make a huge difference if invested in local healthcare facilities

[8] Our import licence regime needs a massive overhaul. Food items, clothing, automobiles, household goods, communication equipment, etc that can all be easily manufactured in Nigeria should not be imported. At the moment, all the Central Bank of Nigeria has done is place a foreign exchange ban on them. We need to go further by naming and shaming importers who bring such goods into Nigeria. Anything we do not manufacture we do not need

[9] Nigeria’s aviation industry will never grow unless it is patronised. Flying by BA, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Emirates, etc when Air Peace plies the same route is perpetuating Nigeria’s under-development

[10] We need a constitutional amendment that compels state governments to only award contracts to foreign companies that come to Nigeria to invest. If they are not prepared to invest in our people, we should not be giving them our business. I do not understand how Nigeria can be an investment risk to them yet Nigeria’s money is acceptable to such companies

ayoakinfe@gmail.com