10 things I would like to hear in President Buhari’s 2019 Independence Day broadcast today

By Ayo Akinfe

Fellow Nigerians , I, Muhammadu Buhari, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, make these solemn pledges to you today on Tuesday October 1 2019 on the occasion of our nation’s 59th Independence Day celebrations

(1) We shall release all political prisoners without charge and drop the pending charges against them. Those affected by this decision include the like of Omoyele Sowore, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu. As from henceforth, they are all 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 the 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 2023

(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 59 years of shameless perpetual import dependence today

(5) Nigeria has over 800km 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 merge their operations and form a national carrier to be known as Air Nigeria. 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 and Aladja steel mills. As a result, by 2023, the two plants will be producing 30m tonnes of steel. By 2030, we aim to match Germany’s 42m tonnes

(9) My government has entered into agreements with Nissan, Renault, BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Volvo to all open assembly plants in Nigeria. They have all pledged to source their component parts locally

(10) Later this week, I shall be sending a bill to the National Assembly that shall introduce the most radical restructuring of the Nigerian economy ever. This 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. Our goal is to produce a $1trn economy by 2030