No matter how you cut it Nigeria’s wealthy pastorprueners need to form a Flock of Abraham Livestock Company of Nigeria (Falcon) and invest in the animal husbandry sector

Ayo Akinfe

(1) With the casualty rate from the herdsmen saga growing by the day and the number of farms destroyed by roaming livestock on the increase, something drastic needs to be done immediately. This is not just a law and order issue, Nigeria needs to tackle it from an economic angle too. What happens when food production drops because of this constant crop destruction? We have no money to import food oooo

(2) Even if every Fulani kidnapper, rapist, armed robber and murderer was arrested and executed, we still have the problem of roaming livestock on our hands. In addition, we are also still faced with the problems of protein deficiency across Nigeria. How many Nigerians get the international minimum protein intake of 56 grams a day?

(3) More worrying for me is the fact that we have not made any attempt to turn the livestock industry into a money spinner. Why are beef, milk, dairy products like cheese, leather goods, animal feed compounds, etc, not all major export earners for Nigeria? Who said they cannot generate as much as crude oil for the economy?

(4) Let me sound this loud and clear once again. Nigeria’s main problem is that we are not productive enough as a people. You cannot have a gross domestic product (GDP) of $375bn when you have a population of 200m. We need a GDP of at least $1.5trn or no matter what we do, Nigeria will keep breeding kidnappers, racists, armed robbers and terrorists

(5) Any casual observer will easily come to the conclusion that the biggest problem with the Nigerian economy is that it lacks a vibrant bourgeoisie. There is no thriving class of industrial enterprueners investing in manufacturing, production, factories, job creation, etc. Until we have one, we are only going round in incoherent circles because foreign investors are wary of Nigeria and the government does not have the capital to engage in state capitalism. Even if it did, corruption would ruin any such intervention

(6) As I look around Nigeria, the only two industrialists I see are Aliko Dangote and Innocent Chukwuma. Everyone else is either just an importer of finished goods from abroad or the owner of an oil block. The concept of investing to create wealth and then re-investing the profits created to generate more wealth through expansion appears so alien to us. What we are practicing in Nigeria is not capitalism at all. Adam Smith would be turning in his grave at the sham economy we are running

(7) Just take the livestock sector for instance. For it to thrive, you need at least six mega ranches of about 10,000 square kilometres each. They need private sector investors ready to pump something like $50m into them opening dairy factories, leather tanneries, animal feed compounders, etc. All the state governments need to do is provide the land

(8) As I look across Nigeria and search for a class of industrialists, investors and entrepreneurs who have $50m to burn, I cannot see any futher than our evangelical clergymen. I challenge anyone to name me a set of capitalists in Nigeria today who can drop $50m apart from the general overseers

(9) My proposals are very simple. The six largest states in Nigeria - Borno, Niger, Taraba, Yobe, Bauchi and Kaduna will provide the land for these mega ranches. Our pastorprueners like Enoch Adeboye, David Oyedepo, Kris Okotie, Temitope Joshua, Matthew Ashimolowo, Chris Oyakhilome, Ayo Oritsejafor, Sam Adeyemi, Johnson Sulaiman, Tunde Bakare, etc, will then join hands to create the Flock of Abraham Livestock Company of Nigeria (Falcon) to invest in them

(10) Falcon will bring private sector capital investment into the sector, employing youths, creating wealth and turning livestock from a national burden into a major export earner. Anyone expecting President Buhari to come up with a solution to this problem is just being dishonest with themselves. Apart from the fact that he lacks the political will to, his government does not have the wherewithal to resolve a complex socio-economic malaise like this. It is time for Nigeria’s evangelical flock to pressurise their general overseers to act!