As Nigerian democracy matures, we have to move towards the politics of issues. That should entail us discussing policy matters like this and requesting that they are proposed this week, not petty talk like the president stumbling

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigeria will release all political prisoners without charge and drop the pending charges against them. Chief among these will be Nnamdi Kanu. As from henceforth, all of them are free to advance their causes in an open and democratic manner and shall not face state harassment as long as they do not take up arms against the government

[2] This government will scrap all planned cattle colonies and return the army of Fulani militia that were recruited from across West Africa back to their home countries. We will subsequently despatch units of the Nigerian Army to man the borders to control the influx of armed men into the country from our neighbours

[3] Given that over 90% of the rice, clothing items and cement, etc imported into Benin Republic is destined for Nigeria, we have decided to address the matter. Keeping the border between the two countries closed is no long term solution, so we will commence immediate negotiations about merging the two nations. Nigeria’s economy is at eternal peril for as long as we do not control the port of Cotonou and there is absolutely no justification for us having two nation states when only one is needed. Our aim is to effect a full merger by 2030

[4] Given the embarrassing security situation in the country, whereby the ragtag Boko Haram have held us hostage for about a decade, we have asked Innoson to open an armament subsidiary to manufacture equipment for our armed forces. No nation serious about its security imports basic defence items such as battle tanks, assault rifles and artillery pieces. It is manufacturing things like this that give you the pride of being a sovereign nation and we intend to start the process of reversing 64 years of shameless perpetual import dependence today

[5] Nigeria has 853km of Atlantic coastline and as such should be a maritime nation and a sea faring power. We are starting that process today by announcing that we shall open two shipbuilding and two shipbreaking yards on Brass, Nembe, Ikot Abasi and Forcados. Our aim is to make Nigeria a major global ship manufacturer. By 2030, we aim to add aircraft carriers and submarines to our portfolio. Five private sector companies have been offered three year tax holidays to come and start the process

[6] We have asked the five leading airlines in the country to begin discussions about how they can merge their operations with Air Peace and form a mega national carrier that can compete with the big boys. We will look for international partners to take out a stake in this airline, as will the federal government

[7] Given the ease with which arms enter Nigeria, a National Border Guard will be established to man our porous borders. Our aim is to have a 1m strong border guard that can man our entire perimeter

[8] We have signed manufacturing agreements with international partners to take over the running of Ajaokuta, Oshogbo and Aladja steel mills. As a result, by 2027, the three plants will be producing 30m tonnes of steel. By 2030, we aim to match Germany’s 42m tonnes

[9] Nigeria’s government has entered into agreements with Nissan, Renault, BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Volvo to all open electronic vehicle assembly plants in Nigeria. They have all pledged to source their component parts locally

[10] Later this year, the federal government shall be sending a bill to the National Assembly that shall introduce the most radical restructuring of the Nigerian economy ever. It will scrap the federal allocation regime and make the states the power houses of the economy, allowing them to keep 50% of their revenue as contained in the 1958 Lancaster House Agreement that formed the basis of Abubakar Tarawa-Balewa’s government. Under this arrangement, states will keep 50% or revenue, 20% will go into the Federation Account, 15% will go into a geo-political zone account and 15% into a sovereign wealth fund.