Our current economic model under which we consume more than we produce is a recipe for perpetual poverty

Ayo Akinfe

[1] As we reel from the effects of the travel apartheid, I have been wracking my brains to look for a solution to the problem of the African being regarded as sub-human. No matter how you look at it, this prejudice and bias will never go away until we have an African economy that sits at the high table of humanity

[2] Just look at the way almost every African nation has gone to the IMF and World Bank begging for loans in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. These loans are being provided by G-7 nations like the US, Japan, Germany, Britain and France. Do we really expect them to regard us as equal human beings when we cannot survive without their bailouts?

[3] Just imagine how the narrative would change if say 10 of the top 100 global brands were African, two of the G-7 economies were African nations and maybe one third of all manufactured products worldwide came from Africa. As things stand, Nigeria produces nothing but consumes everything. That parasitic economic model is simply not sustainable

[4] I am looking at how the status quo can be turned around in the wake of this pandemic and the new economic order it will harbinger. If African leaders set themselves maybe a short term goal of accounting for 10% of global output by 2025, I put it to you that racism would die a natural death

[5] The big question is how do we achieve this as the organic process is too slow, cumbersome and fraught with setbacks. Africa as a continent simply has to force the pace of development and I see no other alternative than the Russian option. How dare Nigeria be the world second fastest growing private jet market when we do not even manufacture a propeller? I would ban the use of private jets in Nigeria until we start manufacturing them locally

[6] In Russia, President Vladimir Putin gathers the Russian oligarchs in the Kremlin where he reads them the riot act. Putin’s economic blueprint is very simple. He tells the country’s millionaires that Russia needs to invest $10bn in a new power plant, $5bn dredging three new ports, $3bn in two new airports, $2bn in five new universities, etc and tells them they must pay for it. Anyone who refuses to cooperate gets their assets confiscated and is charged with corruption

[7] As brutal as Putin’s methods are, they are highly effective. Yes, we all love human rights but there is a thing called “The Chief Good,” which I believe should take priority over everything else. For your key African economies like Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, DR Congo, etc, the chief good is abolishing poverty and everything else must be subservient to achieving that goal. We cannot produce just primary commodities and import everything else we need and then pretend we do not a crisis on our hands

[8] Sometimes, the end justifies the means and we are at a junction now where we simply have to get our priorities right. When you have a population of 200m and need a GDP of about $2trn to sustain them, the Nigerian government simply has to force the pace of development aggressively, even if it means making internal and external enemies in the process

[9] I once saw President Buhari meeting with investors like Dangote, Otedola, Adenuga, Alakija, etc in Aso Rock. Now, I would like to see him add the general overseers like Adeboye, Oyedepo, Oyakhilome, Okotie, Joshua, Ashimolowo, etc to that list. President Buhari should meet with them once a quarter and provide them with a list of investment targets. It should be their job to come up with the capital investment for such projects

[10] I can bet you that President Putin has read Russian scientists and the oligarchs their orders. His message will have been simple and straightforward - Come up with a vaccine for this virus! When Nigerians are ready for that kind of harsh medicine, we will get out of this rut