The antidote to being humiliated and disrespected the way Venezuela has just been treated is for a nation to become economically independent and militarily strong. I hope this episode has got President Tinubu thinking like this

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Tourism - $20bn

[2] Manufacturing - $50bn

[3] Food processing - $20bn

[4] Animal husbandry - $10bn

[5] Aviation - $20bn

[6] Clean energy - $20bn

[7] Shipping and maritime - $20bn

[8] Information and communication technology - $20bn

[9] Clothing, textiles and fashion items - $20bn

[10] Health and pharmaceutical services - $10bn

This would add $210bn to our current export earnings of about $50bn. Just imagine the difference it would make to Nigeria’s economy.

For me, 10 first steps that need to be taken to get Nigeria off her knees are:

[1] Beefing up security

[2] Banning the export of primary commodities

[3] Reaching an agreement among the numerous ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria to have a little faith in their neighbours. We cannot move forward while ethnic mistrust reigns supreme

[4] Immediately abrogating the federal allocation formula. Our 36 states must become self-reliant

[5] Launching a nationwide campaign against our me, me, me culture

[6] Getting our National Orientation Agency to launch a war against vanity. Nothing breeds corruption as much as it

[7] Reducing the influence of religion in the daily life of the average Nigerian. Let us unveil the slogan “We want to crate a slice of heaven in Nigeria”

[8] Launching an “If we can’t produce it, we don’t need it” campaign

[9] Getting every local government area to open at least one technical vocation college

[10] Getting every state to spend at least 30% of its budget on education. Our goal should be a 95% literacy rate and a 50% graduate rate by 2035

ayoakinfe@gmail.com