How about President Tinubu and his lovely wife use the ocassion of Valentines Day to launch a campaign called Fall in Love With Nigeria

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigeria’s federal government will buy the rights to the world’s most successful car the Volkswagen Beetle. We will then enter into a pact with Innoson Motors under which the government owns 25% of a joint venture that manufactures electric Beetles, making Nigeria the world’s largest manufacturer of such vehicles

[2] We will place an eagle in the middle of the national flag. People need to see a clear break from the past as they did in South Africa at the end of apartheid. Our message is simple - Nigeria is now open for business

[3] We will build the world’s largest wind farm along Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline stretching from Calabar to Badagry. This 850km facility will generate at least 10,000MW of electricity

[4] Our tourism development authority will import millions of the giraffe’s relative the okapi and make it Nigeria’s national animal like the Australian kangaroo or the New Zealand kiwi. We will open up parks where tourists can come from all over the world to see these lovely animals

[5] We will attract the likes of KLM, Lufthansa and Air France to invest in a Nigerian national carrier called Air Afrique. Air Peace will be part of this venture and we will then set ourselves the goal of acquiring as many other African airlines as possible with the aim of making it a genuine global colossus

[6] We will open negotiations with our neighbours about merging to create a a sub-Saharan giant. By 2050, it is predicted that Nigeria will be the third most populous nation on earth. Our current landmass is insufficient to sustain this, so whether we like it or not, we simply have to merge with Niger Republic, Cameroon and Benin Republic and create a new country, which I will name Songhai

[7] Make Nigeria a maritime power by opening four shipyards in the Niger Delta. Offer these shipyards anything just to attract them

[8] Create unprecedented history by turning the Sahara Desert in the current Niger Republic into the world’s largest solar farm that generates up to 50% of global electricity. Up to 70% of Niger Republic is Sahara Desert, so in this age of solar and clean energy, it is prime time real estate. We crave Niger Republic’s Sahara Desert more than how Taubman Goldie or Frederick Lugard craved Nigeria

[9] As the world’s largest black nation, Nigeria simply has to be the centre of tropical medicine. Today, India prides itself on being the pharmacy of the world. By 2030, we will be in there competing with them

[10] To kick-start this whole thing, we need to host another Festac. As we all know, Festac 77 kick-started an infrastructural boom that included National Theatre, Festac Town, Satellite Town, etc. Nigeria will host another Festac festival in 2030!

ayoakinfe@gmail.com