10 kind of foreign investors Nigeria has no choice but to woo once this coronavirus pandemic is over

By Ayo Akinfe

[1] No matter how you look at it, this lockdown feels like an economic blockade for Nigeria. I can see our GDP falling from $375bn to around $200bn, our foreign earnings dropping from $28bn to about $10bn and unemployment rising by about 30%. Drastic post-Covid action will be needed to turn the tide, with foreign investment at its core

[2] According to Forbes, about 80% of American companies and 67% of European Union firms currently operating in China plan to relocate after this crisis. Nigeria needs to be in there aggressively wooing them to come and set up shop in our economy. We need to create something like 5m jobs through foreign investment in manufacturing if we want to avoid another 1920s style depression

[3] First of all, we need an aircraft manufacturer. President Buhari should be talking to the likes of Airbus and Boeing now, offering them all sorts of sweeteners to come and open shop in Nigeria. Airbus has an Airbus Final Assembly Line in Tianjin that employs 500 people directly. We desperately need them in Lagos

[4] We also have to graduate from automobile assembly lines to actual manufacturing. We want the likes of Toyota, Nissan, Renault, Mercedes, Fiat, Daewoo, Proton, etc to actually come and open worldwide manufacturing facilities that make parts like engine blocks. Any company that offers us full vertically integrated production should be offered a five year tax holiday

[5] From now on, we can no longer export primary agricultural produce. Our goal should be that by 2021, every food processing firm like Nestle, Cadbury, Mars, Tate & Lyle, Proctor & Gamble, etc must have at least one processing plant in Nigeria

[6] We now that medical equipment production is compulsory, Johnson & Johnson is worth $25bn, Medtronic £20bn, GE Healthcare $17bn and Siemens Healthcare $14.5bn. Every single one of them must have a plant in Nigeria

[7] Upgrading our railways is a major priority as we all know. We need at least three carriage manufacturing plants in Nigeria building both engines and passenger cars

[8] Power is another area where we have serious challenges. What stops Nigeria from becoming the world's largest manufacturer of equipment like turbines and transformers?

[9] Never again must Nigeria ever import any petrochemical product. Also, never again must we export crude oil. Every single drop of petroleum we produce must be processed into finished products and sold on the international market. I want to see at least a dozen petrochemical manufacturers in Nigeria

[10] Clothing is one area where we have actually been a major innovator as out local tailors have come up with all sorts of designs. We need to now take this to the next level by getting global fashion chains like Nike, Gucci, Zara, Adidas and H&M to sign up our producers as suppliers.

This is a chance in a lifetime. We may never get such an opening again to reverse our fortunes!