Nigerian Coronavirus Emergency Industrial Development Bill 2020

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Every one of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas must have at least one industrial estate. Failure to establish one within one year of assuming office will make a local government chairman liable to face criminal, treason and economic sabotage charges

(2) No licences will be issued to any faith house to open a church or mosque unless such premises also involves the construction of an industrial complex which shall employ at least 50 people

(3) Every local government chairman shall organise producers of primary commodities within his or her domain into a cooperative. Such cooperatives are compelled by law to engage in semi processing

(4) It will henceforth be illegal to export any good from Nigeria unless there is at least 50% value addition to that product

(5) No federal, state or local government representative is allowed by law to enter into import contracts that do not involve locating a manufacturing facility in Nigeria. Every good we purchase from abroad must at least be assembled locally. Waivers may be given for specific and specialist products

(6) Every one of Nigeria’s 36 states must open a power generating plant and an accompanying transmission and distribution facility. It must be sufficient to meet local power needs

(7) Any state that does not attract up to $1bn in foreign direct investment annually will automatically be declared unviable. A state of emergency will be declared in such a state until it meets the minimum national requirement of $1bn

(8) The value of manufacturing output in every state must at least meet its running costs. A failure to do so will result in a state of emergency being declared

(9) A special Manufacturing Bank of Nigeria shall be floated. It will offer interest-free loans to industrialists and manufacturers. Traders and importers will not have access to such loans

(10) The federal government will take out a 25% stake in a Christian Bank of Nigeria and an Islamic Bank of Nigeria. Their statutes of registrations will not allow them to charge interest rates of more than 5% to industrialists