Buhari should be telling Boris that it is payback time for the former colonial master

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) New British prime minister Boris Johnson once referred to Africa as a country. He also once said Europe should recolonise Africa and this time not be made to feel guilty about it. Anyone expecting anything significant in terms of a robust and constructive foreign policy from his premiership is just dreaming. His xenophobia is clear to see and I am sure he regards Nigeria as a nation of savages where people have just climbed down from tree tops. A man who despises Europeans will see Africans as no more than apes

(2) Trust our Nigerian government not to have any strategy either. At the moment, Nigeria is the UK’s fastest growing export market but does President Buhari have any plans to boost trade and commerce between both countries? Does he have FDI investment targets for British investors in Nigeria? I somehow doubt he has even given it any thought

(3) According to Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) UK-Nigeria trade was worth £3.4bn in 2016. President Buhari should have a wish list demanding that this be boosted to around £50bn over the next five years. There are sectors like power, automobiles, railways, healthcare, etc where Britain has a lot of expertise that is badly needed in Nigeria

(4) Britain has one of the world’s largest wind farms in the North Sea. Why is the British government not pushing its investors to establish a similar project along Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline? President Buhari should be asking Boris to offer tax holidays and breaks to any British company that invests in the sector. I want to see an endless wall of wind turbines stretching for 800km from Badagry to Calabar

(5) Britain once used to have a thriving car manufacturing industry. Nigeria on the other hand desperately needs to start manufacturing automobiles at home to meet growing demand. Why are President Buhari and Prime Minister Johnson not discussing the locating of British car plants in Nigeria? Just imagine if we had Vauxhall and Leyland manufacturing facilities in Lagos and Abuja employing say 10,000 people and churning out vehicles for the local market

(6) One of the reasons why the British automobile industry collapsed is because she did not expand it into her former colonies. In contrast, the likes of Volkswagen, Peugeot, Toyota, Nissan, etc moved into markets like Nigeria big time. Can Boris turn this around? Well, to be honest, I do not think he will be in Downing Street long enough to implement such long term programmes

(7) Britain also owes Nigeria one big time when it comes to railways. They committed a crime against humanity when they built a narrow gauge track in Nigeria. Narrow gauge tracks are for intra-city trams or factory supply freight trains. Building a narrow gauge track from Lagos to Kano that runs at about 40km an hour is economic madness. They should be asked to compensate us for this by investment in the Nigerian railway sector

(8) Given the large number of Nigerians in the UK, it is increasingly becoming an important market for our food. As we speak, yam, egusi, gari, etc are widely available in UK supermarkets. President Buhari should get Prime Minister Johnson to sign a trade deal guaranteeing Nigerian produce shelf space in every British retail outlet

(9) We have been talking about a national carrier for ages but alas, very little has been done about it. President Buhari should be asking our former colonial masters to pledge that BA will take a 30% stake in Nigeria Air. They owe us one big time here as Britain left Nigeria with no airline. Also, Lagos to London is one of the most lucrative routes in the world and British airlines like Virgin and BA have made a fortune from it

(10) To be honest, I do not expect any serious outcome from the Buhari-Johnson relationship as for starters, both of them have their minds elsewhere. Johnson is hellbent on pressing the Brexit self-destruct button, while Buhari is more interested in ramming Ruga cattle colonies down our collective throats than in any serious economic plan.