As Nigeria clocks 60 this year we should set ourselves minimum targets over the next six decades to achieve the following status symbols

By Ayo Akinfe

[1] Be in a position to meet all our healthcare needs internally
[2] Be in a position to provide domestic university education for all our people
[3] Every nation that takes prides in its security manufactures aircraft carriers that patrol its territorial waters. We need to manufacture at least two as the Niger Delta needs patrolling
[4] If we want to industrialise we need to be able to manufacture all our machine tolls domestically
[5] Every serious nation has the capacity to assemble all the automobiles it uses domestically. There is no economic logic to importing assembled cars
[6] As a status symbol, a nation that is serious industrially must have one iconic automobile that is its signature car e.g Volvo (Sweden), Proton (Malaysia), Daewoo (South Korea), Skoda (Czech Republic), Lada (Russia)
[7] We simply need to generate an export surplus. Importing more than you produce is a recipe for an eventual economic collapse
[8] Look at every serious nation and you will find that their annual budget is at least $1trn. Ours is currently $28.8bn and is likely to be cut this week as a result of the coronavirus-induced economic crash
[9] We lament about insecurity but fail to acknowledge that until we manufacture our own defence equipment, we will forever remain at the mercy of terrorists. No one can supply us with the weapons we need, in the quantities we need, at the time we need them and at the price we need them
[10] Nigeria is a nation of 200m football crazy people. It is simply unacceptable that we have not yet made any serious attempt to win the Fifa World Cup. That has got to be one of our key national goals. Just imagine the lift it will give everyone