DR Congo is undoubtedly the world’s biggest under-achieving economy and I am surprised Nigeria has not stepped in with a bilateral trade agreement

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Do you know that DR Congo is sitting on untapped deposits of raw minerals estimated to be worth in excess of $24trn. Just imagine what could be achieved if we had a bilateral trade deal to process all these resources in Nigeria

(2) Do you know that the River Congo accounts for one eighth of Africa’s hydro-electric capacity? If we had a bilateral power deal, both nations between them could electrify the whole of our continent

(3) Nature abhors a vacuum so it is no surprise that in the absence of a Nigerian presence, the West and China have stepped in to exploit DR Congo. We missed a trick on 1964 when Nigerian peacekeepers were sent into Congo. We should have used the opportunity to put Patrice Lumumba back in power and get him and Tafawa Balewa to sign a bilateral protection agreement similar to what Nato has

(4) DR Congo has 70% of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt, more than 30% of its diamond reserves and a tenth of its copper. Such an economy should be a member of the G-7. We need to merge it with Nigeria to create something unprecedented or Africa will remain perpetually broke

(5) I think the first thing we need to do is build a Calabar to Kinshasa railway line. We then need to open dozens of manufacturing plants in Calabar to process goods brought in from DR Congo

(6) Nigeria then needs to flood the Congo with technicians to help get its industry going. For instance, they have nothing like Nigeria’s road networks and it is very difficult to get around the country. I think we should start off by opening a Julius Berger office in the country

(7) As per transport connectivity, the airlines of Cross River and Akwa Ibom state governments Cally Air and Ibom Air should be made Nigeria’s official aviation partners with Central and East Africa. They should upgrade the Calabar and Uyo airports to international standards and fly to every city between Nigeria and Johannesburg. We should aim to develop at least 10 airports in DR Congo, bringing their aviation industry up to Nigeria’s level

(8) Our industrialists like Innoson Motors and Dangote Industries should have full access to the Congolese market to open plants and factories there. Between Nigeria and DR Congo, you can probably get every single raw material on earth

(9) DR Congo's largest export is raw minerals, with China accepting over 50% of exports. As the giant of Africa, Nigeria should be ashamed of herself for letting this happen. Our bilateral agreement with them should include a clause that all raw materials must have at least 50% value addition before being exported from the African continent

(10) Between the two of them, both nations should build the world’s largest steel company. With DR Congo providing most of the raw material and Ajaokuta and Aladja offering the expertise, we should be competing with India’s Tata Steel