10 things I would have done at the UK-Africa Summit were I in President Muhammadu Buhari’s shoes


By Ayo Akinfe

(1) My entourage would have included industrialists like Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola, Alakija, etc. Their jobs would have been to secure joint deals with British enterprueners like Richard Branson and Alan Sugar

(2) I would have brought along a crack economic team made up of the likes of Charles Soludo, Lamido Sanusi, Pat Utomi, Kingsley Moghalu, etc. Their job would be to set deal targets and then make sure, we meet these targets

(3) Nigeria has annual budget of $28bn. At the very least we have to leave London with that amount. If the economic team fail to hit the target, they will be refused entry back into Nigeria

(4) I would ask Governor Babajide Sanwooolu to reach a $20bn deal for the construction of a Lagos Underground Network. Governor Sanwoolu would announce the deal by declaring that from henceforth, he will only travel by public transport

(5) I would have brought Governor Yahaya Bello and got him to negotiate a $10bn investment package for the construction of a hydro-electric power plant at Idah

(6) Governor Ben Ayade would have been brought along to seal a deal for the dredging of Calabar port and the construction of a railway terminal linking it with Abuja, Enugu, Lagos and Port Harcourt

(7) Rotimi Anaechi would have been the key man on my entourage as rail would be the centrepiece of our pitch. There are 12m cars on Nigeria’s roads today and Amaechi’s job would be to halve that by constructing a national railway network that links up all our 774 local government areas

(8) Babatunde Fashola would have been mandated to get the likes of Siemens, EDF Energy, Scottish Power, etc to invest in our cash-strapped electricity distribution companies. He too would not be allowed back into the country unless he successfully woos at least three investors

(9) I would seek to bring the 5,000 staff of British Steel who face redundancy to Nigeria. Tata Steel no longer wants them as it is transferring production to India but Ajaokuta sure as hell needs them. I will sign them on a two-year deal with a mandate to train at least 5,000 Nigerians during that period

(10) Governor Okezie Ikpeazu would have been mandated to sign a deal with at least one fashion chain. This will mean Abia State supplying it with shoes, clothes, bags, belts, etc

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