Nigeria missed a trick by not cashing in on the coronavirus pandemic and mass producing these cheap and easy-to-produce lateral flow test kits

Ayo Akinfe

[1] It appears that the penny is yet to drop but with a population of 200m, Nigeria has no option but to be a mass producer of finished goods

[2] We need to manufacture finished products and export them to the rest of the world or the bony hand of hunger will decimate us

[3] With 80m living below the poverty line, 10m kids out of school, a 32.5% unemployment rate and 6m illegal firearms in the country, violent crime is going to continue to spiral for the foreseeable future

[4] Boko Haram, Iswap, kidnapping, banditry, etc, did not just appear from nowhere. Unless people have a means of livelihood, they will resort to crime

[5] We should have used this pandemic as an opportunity to turn Nigeria's fortunes around

[6] In India, they wasted no time. as soon as the pandemic broke, they resolved to make their country the "Pharmacy of the world."

[7] Today, India manufactures more Covid-19 vaccines than any other nation on earth

[8] I am at a loss as to why the likes of Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, etc, have not been wooed with everything we have to come and open manufacturing plants in Nigeria

[9] Even if we could not manufacture sophisticated drugs, surely, we can easily make these basis test kits. I cannot believe that the federal government has not asked the Chinese manufacturers of this product not to open a plant in Nigeria

[10] To break even Nigeria needs to generate about $100bn from the export on non-oil goods annually. It is time to establish quotas and charge ministers and governors who fail to meet theirs with economic sabotage. Here are the targets I would set:

[1] Food and agri-business products - $45bn
[2] Medical equipment - $5bn
[3] Household goods like fridges, freezers, washing machines, cookers, etc - $5bn
[4] Clothing and fashion items - $5bn
[5] Nollywood, music and entertainment - $5bn
[6] Tourism - $5bn
[7] Leather products - $5bn
[8] IT products like laptops, mobile phones and iPads - $5bn
[9] Pharmaceuticals - $5bn
[10] Heavy machinery like transformers, conveyor belts, agricultural equipment, sewing machines, catering equipment, defence equipment and constriction industry machines - $5bn