Which of the presidential candidates is going to come up with an ambitious religious finance plan that will generate $20bn in investment capital for Nigeria annually?

Ayo Akinfe

[1] I look forward to one of the presidential candidates getting all our pastorprueners together and telling them they will get his full backing but in exchange, they must flood the Nigerian economy with religious finance

[2] As President Roosevelt held a meeting with the the chairmen of the US automobile companies in 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, I expect Nigeria's president post-2023 to gather all the country's rich clergymen at Aso Rock and map out a religious finance programme to attack poverty aggressively

[3] For me, first of all, they must combine all their commercial operations into one industrial conglomerate called Man of God PLC and agree to invest at least $5bn a year in the Nigerian economy. I expect this conglomerate to grow to a point whereby it can compete with major global manufacturers like Mitsubishi (Japan), Fiat (Italy), Renault (France), etc. It should be Nigeria's signature company

[4] All these clergymen must also agree to pay a corporation tax of 40% on all their earnings like any other business

[5] They must sell off their fleets of private jets and use the proceeds to buy passenger planes. Man of God PLC will use such aircraft to run a commercial airline. If it grows significantly it may even become our national carrier. Maybe we can call it Nigerians in Heaven

[6] Given that power is our main headache in Nigeria today, Man of God PLC must pledge to invest in power generation plants and electricity transmission and distribution companies

[7] Given the deep pockets of these pastorprueners, they must agree to consider investing in all those areas of our economy desperately needing private capital. These include railway lines, sea ports, our comatose steel mills, food processing, etc

[8] Man of God PLC must also commit to investing significantly in tourism. I find it totally unacceptable that despite Nigeria’s large religious following, the tombs of Samuel Ajayi Crowther and Usman Dan Fodio are not major tourist attractions. We have to bring the two of them up to the level of the Taj Mahal at the very least

[9] As a payback for their investment, these pastorprueners will get tax rebates for any charitable work they do in the community like building clinics. Likewise, if they chose to invest in healthcare by building hospitals and providing drugs and treatment, offering free delivery, the government will pay them annually for this from our health budget

[10] Similarly, the government will reimburse these pastorprueners for any scholarships they offer to poor students who attend their universities. As part of this deal, any bright youngster who gains admission must be admitted and under no circumstances must anyone be denied an education for being poor