If Nigeria is to reverse the shameless embarrassment of running a parasitic economy, she has to become a net producer of all of these items by 2021

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Steel nails -$35m
(2) Toothpicks - $18m
(3) Petrol - $6bn
(4) Fertilizer - $500m
(5) Brazilian hair - $400m
(6) Sugar - $406m
(7) Rice - $302m
(8) Fish - $170m
(9) Generators - $2bn
(10) Phone handsets - $745m

Basically, we are still spending about $11bn importing products we can easily produce locally. Now, of late, the Central Bank of Nigeria has waded into the matter by drawing up a list of products for which foreign exchange will not be made available to importers but that is only one tenth of the battle.

You can ban imports but it will become unenforceable unless you will the vacuum with local production. If you do not, all that will happen is smuggling will thrive.

It is pathetic that Nigeria is importing produce which she has in abundance. I look forward to the day we will have a trade and industry minister who actually sets production targets in Nigeria.

In somewhere like Delta State for instance where there is an abundance of wood, why has Governor Okowa not gathered all the industrialists in Government House and read them the riot act? His message should be clear - Produce 10m tonnes of toothpicks annually!