I wonder if President Tinubu’s advisers are telling him that he needs to grow Nigeria’s economy by about 15% every year during his tenure

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nobody will admit it publicly but we are Africans are regarded as inferior beings simply because we are not productive enough. Until we start contributing our fair share to global development, we really have no moral right to complain about this treatment

[2] We are considered a burden and a bunch of parasites by industrialised countries. Make no mistake about it, this will continue for as long as we remain eternal consumers, producing nothing

[3] It is not right for a continent to account for 18% of global population, yet only account for 3% of world trade and 1% of global manufacturing

[4] Is President Tinubu aware of the fact that India for instance plans to ensure it enjoys 10% economic growth every year. Do Nigerians even think this way at all?

[5] With about 70% of the Nigerian budget going on recurrent costs like salaries, transport, building maintenance, administration, etc, we have a problem. Basically, there is very little capital left for investment. If we want to enjoy any economic growth, we need to attract large scale foreign direct investment to get round our current stagnation

[6] As a nation, Nigeria needs an annual budget of at least $100bn to take care of her 200m people. We are currently only spending about $30bn a year, which is wholly inadequate

[7] After World War Two, Germany was in utter ruins, with her cities bombed, her industry in tatters, the population dispirited and no government in place. However, within five years, the nation was back on her feet, with both West and East Germany becoming thriving economies again. Nigeria simply has to follow suit if we want to get out of this rut

[8] We remain a mono-economy trapped by the vagaries of the global crude oil market. Our only hope of growth is economic diversification with a massive bias towards manufacturing

[9] When you do the arithmetic, you cannot but despair. We will need something like 15% annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth year-on-year over the next decade to get out of this morass. If between 2024 and 2030 Nigeria enjoys 15% economic growth every year, we will be able to recover. It is either that or we perish

[10] We do not even have the foreign reserves to prop us up at the moment. No matter how you look at it, Nigeria needs to launch a radical and unprecedented industrial economic diversification programme. It is either that or we descend into becoming another Somalia or Afghanistan