I would love it if President Buhari uses today the anniversary of Mikhail Gorbachev’s assent to office to unveil his own Perestroika plan

Ayo Akinfe

(1) It was on this day March 11, in 1985 that Mikhail Gorbachev assumed office as the leader of the Soviet Union

(2) Literally translated, Perestroika means restructuring. Over 200m Nigerians are clamouring for restructuring. I cannot think of a better day for President Buhari to initiate Nigeria’s plan than today

(3) Ultimately, Perestroika led to the tearing down of the stagnant and unproductive Soviet Union. We are talking about an economy that once enjoyed five straight years of 28% economic growth that by the 1980s would be lucky to see 1% gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Nigeria desperately needs her own restructuring programme that will see the country return to the 25% GDP growth she last saw in 1971 during the Gowon/Awolowo era

(4) When Gorby as he is popularly known, assumed office, the Soviet Union had essentially the same problem Nigeria has today. The economy had stagnated,  they were lucky if they got 1% annual GDP growth, their industries were not productive, the country had become dependent on grain imports and everything they produced was manufactured at uncompetitive prices. Basically, their unit per head output was too high and their products could not compete on the international market

(5) With his Perestroika programme, Gorbachev tried to breath new life into the economy. He opened up a rapport with the West, hoping to woo investors and attract foreign direct investment. I would love to see President Buhari give his finance team a minimum annual foreign direct investment (FDI) target of $100bn

(6) Many of the Soviet Union’s industrial projects had not been improved upon in like 20 years. You just needed to look at the quality of automobile Lada was churning out to get the point. Kind of like how many of of oil pipelines of Nepa transformers have not been replaced since the 1960s. Many of what should be the commanding heights of our economy like Ajaokuta and the Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are lying comatose

(7) Today, Lada, the Soviet automobile company has been bought by French car giant Renault and is churning out quality cars. I still wonder why Nigeria did not purchase the rights to the Volkswagen Beatle and open the world’s largest manufacturing plant in Nnewi. It would easily have attracted investors from across the automobile industry. The Beatle remains the world’s most successful car ever

(8) One area where the Soviet Union remained the global leader was with the manufacturing of armaments. Its AK47 assault rifle is the world’s signatory sub-machine gun, while it was the Soviet T-34 battle tank that won World War Two. Today, the Russian T-90 tank is a masterpiece at the top end of the tank spectrum. Nigeria in contrast needs to import weapons to equip her armed forces

(9) No nation that is serious about her security relies on imports to equip her military. How on earth do we expect other countries to manufacture the type and quality of weapons we want, in the quantities we want, at the time we want them and at the prices we can afford?

(10) I would love to see President Buhari make a nationwide address today in which he unveils a restricting programme that ushers in a new constitution, guaranteed double-digit economic growth, pledges to attract a minimum annual foreign direct investment of $100bn and divests power back to the states. He can call it the Nigerian Perestroika Programme