I am waiting for one of the 2023 presidential candidates to come up with an audacious plan to make Nigeria the global capital of bamboo bicycles

[1] Do you know that China, India, the European Union, Taiwan and Japan are responsible for 87% of global bicycle production, churning out about 150m units annually

[2] As recently as 1965, world production of cars and bikes was essentially the same, with each at nearly 20m but as of 2003, bike production had climbed to over 100m per year compared with 42m cars. With the growing emphasis on the environment, the gulf will only widen

[3] China generates $3.3bn form, the export of bicycles, while Taiwan earns $1.1bn, the Netherlands $850m and Germany $760m. You not not need me to tell you that Nigeria generates $0.0m from bicycle exports

[4] With the whole world now moving towards bicycles as as part of the environmental push, bamboo bicycles are growing in popularity daily. Because of its light weight, vibration damping and sustainability, bamboo is slowly starting to be used in bicycle frame production

[5] Several aspects of bamboo are extremely valuable to both cyclists and bicycle manufacturers. These include high strength-to-weight ratio, vibration control and sustainable growth

[6] China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Spain are the world's biggest exporters of bamboo products. How European nations export more bamboo than tropical countries with large rain forests like Nigeria, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, etc has got to be one of the biggest mysteries in the world

[7] In India for instance, their demand for bamboo totals 30m tonnes a year and is expected to grow significantly. So, the Indian government decided to establish the National Bamboo Mission, which in turn set up the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre, whose task

[8] In China, there are about 10m bamboo farmers and the industry creates over 35m jobs in the construction, housing, furniture and utensils industry. If you want to see innovation, go to China and see how they are using bamboo to manufacture toilet paper and paper towels

[9] Globally, the bamboo market is said to be worth about $70bn at the moment and this figure is rising as producers keep coming up with innovative ways of using the plant for new things. In these days of eco-friendly buildings, bamboo is used to construct green hotels and even stadia

[10] According to Nigeria's Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra and Imo states are awash with bamboo. In these states, at least 10% of the natural vegetation is dominated by bamboo with existing clumps showing appreciable gregarious growth that is contiguous over large areas. I look forward to someone coming up with a plan to manufacture a bamboo bicycle plant in one of these states.