Buhari should kick off Ngozi’s tenure by striking a trade deal with Biden that involves repealing all homophobic laws in exchange for annual US foreign direct investment of $50bn

Ayo Akinfe

(1) If you ask me, having Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) makes it imperative that Nigeria becomes a serious player in the global economy. It is highly embarrassing that Africa accounts for 18% of the world’s population by only 3% of its trade. It now falls to Nigeria to correct this imbalance

(2) As is the case with every other African economy, the fundamental problem with Nigeria is that we are not productive enough. Because we do not produce enough, we are heavily reliant on imports to meet our domestic needs. An import-dependent nation can never be a major trading partner

(3) Because we manufacture almost nothing, we have very little to trade with. All African nations have are primary commodities like crude oil, gold, diamonds, timber, bauxite, tin, copper, yam, cassava, cashews, cocoa, etc. When you sell raw materials in exchange for finished goods, you are always going to have a balance of trade deficit because the value of their products after mark-up will be 10 times that of your cheap primary goods

(4) If Africa wants to join the global trading community, the first thing she needs to do as a continent is set serious foreign direct investment (FDI) targets. If Africa is attracting say $300bn worth of FDI annually, most of it will obviously go towards adding value to raw materials and processing our primary products

(5) I for one am a big believer in the Big Bang approach to addressing matters. I believe in taking one drastic move that makes a clear statement and outlines your intentions, leaving no room for doubt. With Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment coming at a time when the world needs a drastic post-coronavirus economic stimulus plan, President Muhammadu Buhari should seize the initiative and announce drastic measures that will make the Marshall Plan look like child’s play

(6) Already the Buhari and Biden administrations have clashed over Nigeria’s inexplicable homophobia. For some bizarre reason, Nigeria is hellbent on scapegoating homosexuals while turning a blind eye to terrorists, kidnappers, bandits, marauding armed herdsmen, rapists, etc. Now is the time to redress this misplaced priority

(7) President Buhari should pick up the phone and call the White House offering to repeal every single one of Nigeria’s homophobic and anti-gay laws in exchange for a five year agreement under which US companies will invest $50bn annually in the Nigerian economy

(8) All Nigeria is asking of President Biden is that he makes all US investment in Nigeria tax deductible in Washington and he offers US companies willing to operate in Nigeria open-ended access to export credits

(9) This package should be extended across the rest of Africa too. If the Biden administration can afford a local stimulus plan of $1.9trn, coming up with an Africa FDI development plan worth $300bn is child’s play. I actually suspect that if offered the deal, President Biden will take it because US firms desperately need new markets and production sites abroad. If they want to expand, they need access to global markets and Nigeria offers them that on a plate

(10) From what I can see, the biggest obstacle to the two presidents reaching such a deal will be the religion-inspired dogma, homophobia, bigotry and hate in Nigeria. My people need to look themselves in the mirror and ask which is more important. Religious dogma or socio-economic development