Whoever becomes Nigeria’s next president needs to appoint a minister of double digit economic growth 

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] As Nigeria reels from the current currency exchange crisis, can we please pause for a moment and reflect on the cause of all our troubles. I put it to you all that 95% of our woes are down to the fact that we are not productive enough 

[2] If Nigeria had enjoyed 10% gross domestic product (GDP) growth since 1960 until date, by now, headaches like ethnicity, religious intolerance, kidnapping, domestic terrorism, blatant corruption, etc, would all have disappeared 

[3] Our situation has become so dire now that we need a genius who can make it his life’s duty to get us double digit economic growth year-on-year for the next two decades at least . I hope whoever becomes the next president is a good student of history. He needs to read up when Winston Churchill did during World War Two when Britain was facing her darkest hour

[4] Faced with overwhelming odds with the might of the German airforce the Luftwaffe staring Britain in the face, in May 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill appointed Max Aitken, popularly known as Lord Beaverbrook, as the country’s minister of aviation production. Beaverbrook was given almost dictatorial powers over all aspects of aircraft production

[5] Lord Beaverbrook was actually Canadian but the situation was so dire, his expertise was needed. With the Luftwaffe turning their attention to Britain, Churchill knew he had to match the Germans in terms of aircraft virtually overnight and he found a man to do it 

[6] With Churchill's blessing, Beaverbrook overhauled all aspects of war-time aircraft production. He increased production targets by 15% across the board, took control of aircraft repairs and Royal Air Force storage units, replaced the management of plants that were underperforming and released German Jewish engineers from internment to work in the factories

[7] He seized materials and equipment destined for other departments and did not tolerate the arguments that supply bottlenecks were hindering aircraft production. Lord Beaverbrook required that aircraft manufacturers submit to him a daily list of bottleneck problems and he made it his mission to resolve such problems 

[8] One of Lord Beaverbrook's first acts as minister of aircraft production was to order the cannibalisation of all wrecked aircraft which totaled about 2,000 air planes. His argument was that for every two wrecked planes, it was possible to fashion a new one

[9] Under Beaverbrook, fighter and bomber production increased so much so that Churchill declared: "His personal force and genius made this Aitken's finest hour." Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding, the head of Fighter Command, added: “We had the organisation, we had the men, we had the spirit which could bring us victory in the air but we had not the supply of machines necessary to withstand the drain of continuous battle. Lord Beaverbrook gave us those machines and I do not believe that I exaggerate when I say that no other man in England could have done so.”

[10] In a nutshell, for Lord Beaverbrook, the end justified the means. He ensured Britain produced at least 300 aircraft a week. Now, Nigeria needs someone with this tenacity and single-mindedness to deliver double digit economic growth whatever it takes!