10 items Nigeria must place an import ban on as foreign exchange is going to become a very scarce commodity throughout the rest of 2020

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) Imported cars. From henceforth any company wanting to sell vehicles into the Nigerian market must open a local assembly plant

(2) Private jets. This is a total waste. From henceforth, the Central Bank of Nigeria should not be allowed to release one dollar for such extravagance nonsense

(3) Food items we can produce locally like rice, wheat, tomato paste, sugar, mackerel, stock fish, flour, etc. If anyone wants to supply us with these, they should come and produce them in Nigeria

(4) Luxury goods. It is time the likes of Gucci, Luis Vitton, Estée Lauder, Channel, Ralph Lauren, etc all came and opened plants in Nigeria. They want our market but do not want to employ our people. Now, that is just blatant racism

(5) Generator sets. In fact, it should be a crime punishable by five years imprisonment to pollute the environment. If every Nigerian invested the money they spend on generator sets in small solar, hydro or wind electricity projects, we would have power 24/7. If we cannot do that, then let us live in darkeness. In South Korea they have a saying: “Anything we don’t produce we don’t need.”

(6) Clothing items. We are closing textile mills and then importing clothes made in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, etc. Economics of the mad house

(7) Sporting products. Our government needs to read the riot act to the likes of Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. They must manufacture every single product they sell into the Nigerian market locally

(8) Religious pilgrimages. Let us build up the tombs of Usman Dan Fodio and Samuel Ajayi Crowther, so our Muslims and Christians can go there for annual pilgrimages. Or does God only answer prayers said in Mecca, Medina, Rome and Jerusalem?

(9) Tyres and rubber products. For decades now the Nigerian rubber industry has been in a comatose state. If the likes of Dunlop, Pirelli, Firestone, Goodyear, etc love the Nigerian market so much, they should invest in it. They should support rubber farmers to increase their crops as well as open manufacturing plants

(10) Pharmaceuticals. We have all the plants needed to manufacture any drug as we have such a diverse climatic range from the tropical rain forest to the Sahel. There is no reason whatsoever why drug companies cannot produce all they need in Nigeria

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