With US food companies renaming their products in response to the fight against racism Nigeria should be leading the race to launch African brands to fill the vacuum

Ayo Akinfe

(1) As you all know by now, Quaker Oats has announced that it is changing the name of its Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mixes. It says it recognises that Aunt Jemima's origins are based on a racial stereotype

(2) Likewise, Mars has said it will scrap the image of a black farmer on its Uncle Ben’s rice brand and could change its name. Used since the 1940s, the Uncle Ben’s image is now an embarrassment to Mars which said that it recognises the use of the character is out of step with the times

(3) There is now a massive market out there for genuine African and black products which depict real negro heroes but alas, the African giant Nigeria, is once again sleeping on duty. We should be witnessing a plethora of food companies emerging to get new products unto the global market at the moment

(4) Nigeria is the only nation on earth that can do this as we are the only African country in the world’s top 10 food producers. We are the world’s sixth largest farm goods producer but alas, we have no global brands

(5) Our main rivals in the food industry are India, Indonesia, China, the USA, Vietnam and Brazil. None of them can produce an authentic African food product as we can

(6) I find it despicable that Nigerians are not embarrassed about the fact that we have Basmati Rice and Indomie Noodles out there, yet there are no similar Nigerian food brands on the market. This is despite the fact that we are the world’s number one producer of cassava, yam, cashews, kolanuts, melon seeds, Shea nuts, bitter leaf, agbalumo, coco yam, etc

(7) As a people, we have to ask ourselves why we show great enthusiasm when it comes to organising owambes, opening churches and mosques on every street corner, throwing lavish parties in Dubai, going on pilgrimages to Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Rome, spraying money like it is confetti and being the second fastest growing market for private jets in the world, yet we have zero enthusiasm for building African brands

(8) If we had a responsive government, it would have secured something like $10bn in funding to offer loans to willing entrepreneurs who want to establish food brands. As it is, our finance minister Zainab Ahmed is only interested in obtaining loans to pay salaries

(9) Also, every street corner in Nigeria has a bukateria. How come it has not occurred to our numerous Mama alamalas, Iya Risikats, etc to join forces to produce the food products they sell? When I look at how Berry Gordie started Motown Records selling tapes off the back of a truck, it is easy to see where the average Nigerian is failing. Our instincts are consumerist

(10) Where are the Nigerian think tanks at the moment? I am shocked that none of the government’s advisory bodies has put together a white paper demanding that the likes of Dangote, Alakija, Adenuga, Otedola, Adeboye, Oyedepo, Joshua, Okotie, Oyakhilome, etc and other Nigerians with deep pockets be asked to use this opportunity to create global food brands. In the current post-coronavirus economic climate, President Buhari should be meeting with these millionaire investors at least once a week

Brands we should be thinking of unleashing on the global market today should include:

(1) Dantata Peanuts
(2) Oranmiyan Chocolate Bars
(3) Balewa Long Grain Rice
(4) Azikiwe Cashew Nuts
(5) Jaja of Opobo Yam Tubers
(6) Ojukwu Cassava Chips
(7) Awolowo Egusi
(8) Balewa Kolanuts
(9) Isong Bitter Leaf
(10) Tarka Shea Nuts