I would like to see the Southern Governors Forum follow up their recent actions on open grazing and VAT with the creation of an Okapi Nature Reserve

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] Kudos to the members of the Southern Governors Forum (SGF) for finally waking up from their slumber. They have finally realised that it is they who will fix Nigeria, not the federal government 

[2] Waiting for the federal government to come and bail you out is just looking for a lame excuse in my opinion. As we have seen from Amotekun, VAT and open grazing, things only get done when state governors take action 

[3] Now, that it has been proven that governors can make a change, I want the SGF to now focus its attention on economic matters. At their next summit, I want them to kick things off with a radical set of proposals aimed at generating as much as $20bn in tourism come 2023

[4] Once you offer security and have the infrastructure in place, you are half way there when it comes to tourism. The next big issue is actually having something people want to see and if our governors are a little bit imaginative, they are actually sitting on a goldmine

[5] Personally, I  want to see us open the world's largest Okapi colony because for me, it the the world's most rare tropical mammal and it falls on Nigeria to save this precious creature from extinction 

[6] Known as the forest giraffe, there are only about 10,000 okapis left in the world today, with their sole habitat being in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nigeria, the giant of Africa, the largest black nation on earth, should not be abdicating such responsibilities to DR Congo 

[7] I for one have a soft spot for the okapi because it is the only surviving relative of the giraffe. Due to the fact that their other relatives have become extinct, the okapi and the giraffe are the only living members of the family Giraffidae. Maybe with cross breeding, we can actually create some new species

[8] Unlike the giraffe that is a sahelian and desert animal, the okapi  inhabits canopy forests at altitudes of 500 to 1,500 metres. This means that southern Nigerian is one of the few places they can survive on earth

[9] I want the Southern Governors Forum to come up with a radical plan that will involve the construction of an Okapi Nature Reserve in somewhere like say Ore, Sapele or Agbor that will include the construction of hotels, restaurants, ferris wheels, theme parks, etc. Aim to attract say 10m international tourists a year

[10] Once we are done with okapis, we will look to extend this to other animals. I am working on the assumption that the creation of an Okapi Nature Reserve will automatically make the Northern State Governors Forum launch a Giraffe Nature Reserve. We can then build a high speed rail link connecting the two facilities for tourists.