Whoever wins Nigeria’s next election should go to Beijing with a revised version of the Chinese Belt Road Initiative which guarantees foreign direct investment in exchange for raw materials

Ayo Akinfe

[1] As part of the programme to industrialise Nigeria we can enter into an interim five year agreement that guarantees pledged quantities of cocoa, coffee, crude oil, rubber, palm oil, groundnuts, coconuts, gum arabic, cassava, yam, papaya, pineapples, etc in exchange for $100bn of foreign direct investment (FDI) annually

[2] As part of this pact, Nigeria should also demand a platoon of an elite division of China’s special forces like The Leopards, The Siberian Tigers or the Night Tigers to help eliminate Boko Haram and the terrorist threat once and for all

[3] This bilateral agreement should include a requirement that China’s big four automobile manufacturers SAIC Motor, Dongfeng, FAW and Chang'an open a joint venture manufacturing facility in Nigeria. It must produce at least 1m units annually. Nigeria’s government will be happy to take out a minority stake in the venture which will manufacture a unique electric African car. Maybe call it the Madiba

[4] Each of these Chinese automobile companies must also open global assembly plants in Nigeria to assemble cars for worldwide distribution. At the very least, they must employ 20,000 Nigerians

[5] CRRC Corporation Limited (CRRC) is the world’s largest rolling stock manufacturer. It must open a manufacturing facility in Nigeria to build train carriages for the entire Europe, Africa and Middle East region

[6] China Power Investment Corporation supplies about 10% of China’s electricity. This state-owned company is engaged in the development, investment, construction, operation and management of power plants and power generation in 27 Chinese provinces. We want them to build six hydroelectric power plants in Nigeria at Lokoja, Idah, Yola, Asaba, Makurdi and Baro. Between them, they must generate 50,000MW of electricity

[7] TBEA is China's largest transformer manufacturer. We find it totally unacceptable that it has no manufacturing facility in Nigeria and by 2028, we want a plant up and running

[8] China is the world’s largest steel manufacturer with approximately 10 times the steelmaking capacity of the US. Do you know that in 2015, Chinese steel exports represented approximately one quarter of all global sales. We want a firm commitment that China will get the Ajaokuta, Oshogbo and Aladja steel plants up and running producing at least 5m tonnes before the end of this year and 20m tonnes by 2030

[9] China’s Beijing–Shanghai railway line is 1,318km long and is the world's longest high-speed line ever constructed in a single phase. It runs at 380km per hour. In 2027, the Chinese premier will be invited to Nigeria to lay the foundation stone for a similar Lagos to Abuja high speed railway line

[10] China has 34 major ports and more than 2,000 minor ports. We do not want that many. Our bilateral agreement will provide for China building six deep sea along our 853km Atlantic coastline at Ayetoro, Warri, Brass, Opobo, Ikot-Abasi and Calabar. They must be able to take pamanaxes of any size

ayoakinfe@gmail.com

www.ayoakinfe.com