As we await the full details of President Tinubu and Prime Minister Starmer’s deal, I hope they agreed on a timber products pact that involves Nigeria supplying the UK with furniture

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Given that 45% of Nigerian timber exports are rosewood, a highly prized wood used for the production of luxurious furniture we need to start tapping into this. For starters, we need to ban the export of raw wood immediately

[2] Using the UK as a major market, I hope they agreed that Nigeria must match Brazil’s production of 11bn kg of timber by 2030

[3] In each of our 36 states, there must be at least five pulp, laminated wood, sawmill, plywood, furniture or paper mill factories. British furniture companies should provide the investment for this

[4] Chile generates at least $2bn a year from timber products. Nigeria must seek to match that by 2030. By 2035, we should aim to become the number one exporter of timber products globally

[5] Nigeria’s River Basin Authority will dredge of all of the country’s waterways to enable them transport logs to the Atlantic coast

[6] For every tree that is felled, across Nigeria, three must be planted to replace it. A joint UK-Nigeria conservation group will be established to guarantee this

[7] Every state in Nigeria must declare a green belt within its territory where lumbering is restricted. This is to enable our tree population grow. Again, the joint task force will monitor this

[8] All towns and cities across Nigeria with a forestry products facility will be linked by a national railway network. They must be able to get their products to port quickly and efficiently

[9] All the major British furniture manufacturers will be invited to come and open shop in Nigeria. They will be given five year tax holidays and 99 year land leases to open plantations, processing plants and factories that manufacture finished products

[10] A special forestry products bank will be opened to advance loans to any local carpenter who wants to use his innovative skills to start factories or the production of special products

ayoakinfe@gmail.com