As we celebrate Eid Mubarak, Nigerian Muslims should use it as an opportunity to reflect on how to attract Islamic finance to fund key developmental projects

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Our herdsman crisis can only be resolved by opening cattle ranches. We need to attract about $5bn to build six mega ranches with accompanying leather tanneries, milk processing plants, veterinary clinics and animal feed compounders

[2] In Turkey, they used Islamic finance to build a Eurostar-type railway tunnel under the Straits of Bosporus linking the European and Asian halves of Istanbul. Why can’t we use Islamic finance to fund a high speed Abuja to Lagos railway line?

[3] We have all seen how Saudi Arabia is using Islamic finance to upgrade its tourism facilities and hospitality industry. Why is Usman Dan Fodio’s resting place not a major tourist attraction for all African Muslims?

[4] Nigerian Muslims are always happy to dash off to Dubai forgetting that the facilities they go there to enjoy were built with Islamic finance. I want to see a mega nature reserve similar to South Africa’s National Kruge Park built in Taraba State

[5] Malaysia does not joke with education and training. They use Islamic finance to build technical vocational colleges and training centres. Nigeria has 10m out-of-school children. If everyone of our 19 northern state governors sought Islamic finance investment of $1bn each for vocational training annually, our Almajiri problem would disappear within five years

[6] Indonesia, Malaysia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have all used Islamic finance to fund power projects. Just imagine if every state governor in Nigeria attracted $1bn worth of investment to build hydro electric power plants and electricity distribution centres

[7] Of all the Organisation of Islamic Conference countries, Egypt appears to have the most ambitious green energy programme. Why are we not attracting say $5bn worth of investment to fund the world’s largest solar farms in somewhere like Sambisa Forest. All those gun-totting insurgents need to be trained as solar panel manufacturing workers

[8] I am yet to see one thing the Northern State Governors Forum has done. Can someone please tell me why they cannot attract Islamic finance investment to build rail and road networks to link up all the 19 states of northern Nigeria

[9] Do you know that Vietnam now manufactures more mobile phones than any other nation on earth? With the coronavirus pandemic, many companies are now pulling out of China and investing in new plants in Thailand and the Philippines. Has one Nigerian governor sought Islamic finance funding for a PPP project to open a joint venture with a company like say Samsung? Just imagine how many jobs that would create

[10] Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing stopping a Christian governor obtaining Islamic finance. Nothing for instance stops the Cross River State governor from attracting $1bn worth of Islamic finance to dredge the port of Calabar