World wars always inadvertently create one or two new industrial giants as economies emerge to mass produce the consumer goods required. I am hoping that Nigeria realises that this Russian/Ukraine spat might just be her date with destiny

Ayo Akinfe

[1] When I look at the lockdown over Covid-19, I keep seeing parallels with World War Two. During that conflict, nations had to step up the production of new industrial goods like armaments, food was scarce and rationing was introduced in many countries. The US in particular, emerged as an unprecedented industrial economy from the conflict

[2] Just as we are recovering from the effects of Covid-19, we now have this spat. Many industrialised nations are yet to get their economies back to pre-pandemic levels, which is why Nato is not keen on a war. Is this the opportunity the world's biggest black nation has been waiting for?

[3] Why I love the World War Two parallel is that the 1939 to 1945 conflict forced nations to step up their game big time. Hitherto agrarian nations like Australia, Canada, India, China, etc got a huge wake-up call. They suddenly became industrial producers and have never looked back since

[4] Militarily, many nations, led by the US, had no armies of note before World War Two but alas, the conflict led them to go and build formidable armies, navies and air forces. These nations remain military giants today

[5] Australia for instance is one country that suffered a humiliating insult during World War Two as apart from the fact that the Japanese crushed their forces whenever they met, the Germans rubbished their navy as a scrap iron flotilla. It spurred the Australians on to building a modern navy, which is one of the pride's of the Pacific today

[6] At the start of World War Two, Australia backed Britain in the Mediterranean by sending its flotilla of five Royal Australian Navy destroyers to protect convoys. These five ships had been British Royal Navy ships that had been built and served during the First World War and were then transferred to Australia in the 1930s. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels laughed at the flotilla as floating junk and coined the phrase scrap iron flotilla. It is no surprise that the ships were soon sunk with torpedoes. Two of them survived but they were of no danger to man or beast. At best, they were fishing vessels

[7] Today, the Australian Navy prides itself on having a fleet made up of 50 commissioned warships. Its main strength is the eight frigates and two destroyers. Among other things, Australia has a fleet of guided missile submarines. Now, that is a nation that has pride and wants to be treated as equals with everyone else

[8] Is there anything stopping Nigerian from using this conflict to announce itself as a major manufacturer of battle tanks, assault rifles, attack aircraft, military helicopters, etc? Have we asked Nato if they would be happy to manufacture any of these in Nigeria?

[9] If I had my way, nations of the world would be split into two distinct categories- Producers and consumers. The presidents of eternal consumers should be made to wear a giant C around their necks as a sign that they are just parasites. Maybe if Nigeria’s president was humiliated this way, it would spur us into action the way the German insult did the Australians

[10] I simply cannot get my head round the fact that the average Nigerian is not ashamed about the fact that they have to import drugs, medical equipment and protective gear from other nations, many much smaller than theirs. Where is the pride in being a sovereign nation? We should be telling Nato, Ukraine and Russia now that if they want cheap munitions, Nigeria is the place to manufacture them!