Contract with Nigeria: 2023 election manifesto

Ayo Akinfe

I will say thank you to all of you wonderful people for all the unbelievable birthday messages I received yesterday by launching a 2023 election manifesto. You guys all want Nigeria to be a better place, so here is a programme to lift our dear nation out of poverty

Let us all hope one of the candidates can pick this up and run with it. If someone does, between 2023 and 2030, we should enjoy significant economic growth:

[1] We should aim for annual double digit economic growth between 2023 and 2030. If we enjoy 10% growth every year for a decade, it will increase Nigeria's GDP to over $1trn from the current $500bn. At the moment, over 90% of government revenue comes from crude oil exports. This soft underbelly makes Nigeria highly vulnerable to the vagaries of the global oil market. By 2030, we should aim to reduce this to 50% as part of an aggressive diversification plan.

[2] Given that we have a very young population and are forecast to become one the world's five most populous nations by 2020, job creation is simply a must. Unless we get our youths into factories in huge numbers, we will continue to have urban delinquency problems with armed youths being used to foment trouble, violence, kidnapping, armed robbery, ethnic clashes, political violence etc. Our goal should be to create 20m manufacturing jobs by 2030.

[3] A high speed rail network to be constructed across the country over the next 20 years linking all 36 states. Currently, 90% of journeys in Nigeria are carried out by road. By 2035, we hope to reduce this to 40% by moving passengers on to trains and waterways.

[4] Nigeria currently has about 20m head of cattle. We should aim to double this to at least 40m by 2020 through an ambitious programme of industrial production, aggressive ranching, the provision of veterinary services and the provision of security for livestock. Every state government that is interested in providing land for livestock production should be encouraged to do so. We will then seek to build secure ranches there with accompanying veterinary clinics, police stations, food processing plants and animal feed compounding units. All cattle herders across the country will be made to take their herds to these secure ranches. We will also tag every animal so we can ascertain its health status and monitor its progress through the food chain.

[5] A Nigerian Livestock Agency (NLA) will be created to oversee this entire process and to manage the local ranches established. Each ranch will have an elected local management committee made of NLA officials, herdsmen, investors, security agents, veterinary experts and animal feed processors. Also, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) will be dissolved and reconstituted as the Nigerian Cattle Producers Association (NCPA). Meat processing companies will be encouraged to join this new association and it will now be illegal for livestock to roam unattended in public areas. Wherever such cattle are found they will be confiscated and taken to the nearest ranch where they will be handed over to the local management committee.

[6] Over a 25 year period, we gradually migrate back to the 1957/58 revenue sharing formula agreed by our founding fathers at the Lancaster House Conferences in London under which the federating units will control all the resources within their domains and remit 50% to the centre. Our federating units will keep 50% of all the revenue that they generate, put a further 30% into a central pot called the Excess Federation Account to which everyone can have access as the need arises and the remaining 20% will go to into the Federation Account used to run the federal government. Any state government that attracts inward investment to the tune of $1bn, will get a corresponding grant from the federal government. Any state that fails to generate as much revenue as it spends for two consecutive years as from 2023, will be subject to an immediate declaration of a state of emergency. It shall be administered centrally by the federal government until its books are balanced.

[7] Every of our 774 local governments must have at least one vocational training centre. Foreign and local investors who offer training at such centres will be granted tax holidays. There will be free tuition right up until the end of secondary school, Nigeria will spend 15% of its GDP on education, there will be free uniforms in all public schools and one free school meal will be provided for all state primary and secondary school pupils. Over the next 10 years, every state must strive for 90% literacy rates and every local government must have at least one adult literacy centre.

[8] In health, 12 specialist hospitals shall be established in Nigeria with two in each geo-political zone. These shall include - Dermatology, optometrics, renal failure, cardiology, neurology, ear/throat/nose, cancer, Hiv/Aids, orthopedia, rheumatics, tropical diseases and sickle cell anaemia. Pharmaceutical companies will be given 10 year tax holidays if they establish manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and each of Nigeria's 774 local governments must have at least two general hospitals. Nigeria will spend 10% of her GDP on healthcare

[9] Being found guilty of embezzling anything in excess of N1m should attract a mandatory life prison sentence. The president must sell off all of the nine aircraft in his presidential fleet and the president’s salary and allowances should not exceed $200,000 per annum. House of Representatives members should receive the same salary as heads of parastatals, while senators should receive the same pay as permanent secretaries.

[10] Six regional powers grids will be established across the country, with each responsible for providing electricity to the states within its domain. A national grid will operate on top of this serving as a supplement whenever there are shortages in any geo-political zone. Zonal grids will be free to sell excess power generated to other zones or export it as a commercial product. Over the next 10 years, the government shall aim to increase generated electricity supply to 100,000MW from the current 4,000MW through the construction of 10 power plants across the country through a combination of public-private deals and the awarding of contracts to private operators.