President Buhari needs to look Nigerians in the eye and tell them the blatant truth that these are 10 luxuries we cannot afford in this post-coronavirus era

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Private jets - A Gulfstream costs about $65m. Only the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has that kind of foreign exchange. In this new era, every penny needs to be saved for the purchase of much-needed industrial equipment. If we deplete the CBN’s reserves on things like private jets, then we have no moral right to complain when it has no dollars to buy refinery equipment of electricity turbines

(2) Religious pilgrimages - Anually, we send about 80,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia and about half that figure to Jerusalem. These pilgrimages account for about 1% of our annual budget. It is something that must go. Nigerian Muslims and Christians should be encouraged to build local religious sites that attract other pilgrims, especially from across Africa

(3) Lavish parties in places like Dubai and Seychelles - All we are doing is bankrolling the tourist industries of other nations. This is just plain dumb when our own tourist industry is crying out for patronage and investment

(4) Eternal life - This is another luxury we cannot afford. All those churches and mosques need to be converted into factories and manufacturing plants. Every Nigerian of this generation should give up on going heaven, considering it a sacrifice for the future of our children. Let us go to hell for the sake of our nation. When we have a $2trn economy, our children and grand children can returns to the ways of the light and go to heaven for us. I think it is self-indulgent and selfish for us not wanting to be the sacrificial lambs

(5) Countless monarchies - Do you know that about half of the world’s monarchs are in Nigeria? Just imagine the drain this is in our economy. Do traditional rulers really have any role to play in a modern democracy?

(6) Countless chieftaincy titles - This is another source of utter waste. What is the benefit of one man bearing the title Dr, Alhaji, Engineer, Otunba, Galadima Tunde Balogun, or Dr, JP, Barrister, Knight, Mazi Emeka Okafor, or Dr, Alhaji, Accountant, High Chief, Galadima Ibrahim Lamido? These things come with the need to splash out cash willy nilly. This money should be invested in manufacturing and industry

(7) More than two cars per family - Has it ever occurred to our people that if we invested all the money we spent on private automobiles on public transport, we would have a well-funded national railway network? Does any household really need more than two cars?

(8) Needless foreign check-ups - Even when a member of our elite pulls a slight muscle, they fly abroad for a medical check-up that could easily be done in Nigeria. Even if they are using private funds (which they seldom do), it still puts pressure on the CBN’s foreign reserves. Just imagine how our local medical industry would have thrived if it was getting all this patronage and investment

(9) Parties to mark every single event - Nigeria is the only country in the world where people throw a party to mark every single minor event. Where else do people throw owambes to mark a promotion at work, recovery from injury or surviving a robbery? We complain about a lack of investment in our economy but we will never get any so long as we keep splashing any spare cash around with this kind of reckless abandon

(10) Massive houses all over the place - Why does one man need three homes? Rather than invest in mansions, it would make more sense to build commercial property. Just imagine how the Nigerian housing problem would ease if every empty mansion was available in the property industry