It is time for a Nigerian president to start telling the rest of the world that they either invest in the country or live with the consequences of a 200m strong African Afghanistan

Ayo Akinfe

[1] President Buhari was at another investment summit in Saudi Arabia this week. I am yet to hear of him signing any major Islamic finance deal while there

[2] Upon assuming office in 2015, President Buhari actually enjoyed a lot of international goodwill with Nigeria being invited to every capital in the world. However, all this has not translated into foreign direct investment (FDI)

[3] President Buhari has been welcomed as a guest to G-7 summits and everyone including the Americans, Chinese, British, French, Russians, Germans and Japanese have held African summits, where Nigeria has been a major participant. Enough of the window dressing now. We want to see the investment and job creation

[4] What exasperates me is that a token FDI of say $20bn a year would solve 50% of Nigeria’s socio-economic woes. Everyone is shying away from this now but when we become another Afghanistan, the rest of the world will be ready to pump $1trn into Nigeria

[5] I say enough is enough. President Buhari must read the industrialised world the riot act. Fail to invest at least $20bn a year in Nigeria at your peril!

[6] It is a very easy case to make. Unless the industrialised world creates jobs for Nigeria’s youth, the terrorist world will. The choice is yours but please do not complain when Al-Queida, Isis and the Taliban make Nigeria their headquarters

[7] Companies like Boeing and Embraer for instance must be compelled to open any new aircraft manufacturing facility in Nigeria. In this post-coronavirus era, airlines are clearly going to resort to using the Airbus A380 to recoup their losses. They must be told in no uncertain terms that about 50% of all such aircraft must be manufactured in Nigeria as from 2022

[8] By the same token, the automobile companies have got away with murder up until now. Nigeria must place a blanket ban on the imports of any vehicle whose parent company does not open an electric car plant in Nigeria. After a year, the likes of Toyota, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Nissan, General Motors, Ford, Range Rover, Citroen, Renault, Mitsubishi, Honda, Suzuki, Hyundai, Daewoo, etc will get the message

[9] In addition, by 2050, Nigeria will become the third most populous nation on earth. Our current landmass cannot sustain that kind of population, so the industrialised world must fund an expansion plan that will enable us to merge with Benin Republic, Cameroon and Niger Republic to form one mega Federal Republic of Songhai

[10] Does the rest of the world know that up to 80% of the landmass of Niger Republic is in the Sahara Desert? This is the world’s largest solar farm, so immediately Nigeria incorporates this area, the Industrial world needs to immediately fund an unprecedented energy programme unheard of in the history of mankind. I want to generate 80% of the world’s clean energy through this Sahara Desert Songhai Project. It will electrify the whole of Africa and account for at least a third of global electricity production