President Tinubu has just named a new ministerial nominee and a new Inec chairman. I am surprised he has not also named a minister of infrastructural development given that we have an annual deficit of about $100bn. This would be his brief

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Foreign direct investment - Aim for $50bn annually. When Mark Zuckerberg last visited Nigeria, did we get him to commit to a minimum annual investment figure?

[2] Development grants - I have lost track of how many billions are available through bodies like Unesco, Unicef, WHO, WTO, World Bank, etc. Do we have an annual target we want them to invest in Nigeria annually?

[3] Federal government funding - This source is fast drying up though as oil demand remains weak. What we actually need is a federal government capital fund which state governments can apply for

[4] Foreign loans - They should, however, only be taken out on the condition that they are self-financing and the projects will pay them off within 10 years

[5] Domestic loans - Do we actually know the total lending capacity of our local banking industry? I would like to know how much is the total they can actually lend. We have not explored this option enough to secure favourable conditions

[6] Public Private Initiatives - This is sometimes popular with foreign investors as when the government is committed to a project they have a vested interest in it succeeding. However, in Nigeria, corruption has ruined this model as we saw with Richard Branson. Our ministers kept demanding bribes claiming they were Nigeria Airways debts that Branson had to clear off. This eventually forced the man to leave Nigeria

[7] State government funding - In 1959, Balewa’s federal government had an annual budget of £50m but Awolowo’s Western Region government had an annual budget of £55m. No law in Nigeria prevents any stage from generating 10 times more revenue than the federal government. I look forward to a Nigerian state one day generating more revenue than the federal government

[8] Seeking local investors - Do you know that Nigeria is sitting on a total of about $900bn worth of dead capital. A minister for infrastructure will get our local financiers to meet with the president at Aso Rock and agree annual investment figures

[9] Religious finance - At the moment, this is my preferred mode of industrial financing as our pastorprueners are wealthy, shrewd, highly financially literate and getting richer by the day. They sit on huge wads of cash and have the capacity to generate billions overnight thanks to the cult following they enjoy from their millions of followers. On the other hand, Islamic finance has been used to breathtaking effect in Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, etc

[10] Asset sales - I do not think we will raise that much here as these assets are obsolete and in need of major investment upgrades. However, we desperately need to sell the three petroleum refineries, the Ajaokuta and Aladja steel plants and other such albatrosses we have around our necks as they are bleeding the Nigerian treasury dry. Even if it just $1bn we raise, it will help a little.

ayoakinfe@gmail.com