Are Nigeria’s presidential candidates really going to go to the polls next month without a programme to manufacture farming equipment?

Ayo Akinfe

[1] It is naive and utopian to think that we can just walk unto the world market and buy the equipment we want, in the quantities we want, at the price we want and at the time we want it

[2] Do we really think everyone else just manufactures goods and stores them in warehouses waiting for Nigerian orders?

[3] If we are serious about diversifying our economy, a company like John Deere must open at least one manufacturing plant in Nigeria

[4] I would like to see foreign direct investment from John Deere similar to the plant it opened in Domodedovo, Russia, or the $50m factory it opened in Tianjin in China to produce four-wheel-drive loaders and excavators.

[5] As part of a radical Nigerian agricultural, animal husbandry and aquacultural programme, every herdsman, almajiri and destitute must either be given a job in a cattle ranch, employed in a factory, trained to work in an animal feed compounder or be directly involved in agricultural production

[6] Again, as this is a land issue, it falls to state governors to take the initiative

[7] From an economic standpoint, the weakest link in the Nigerian chain is the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF). If the NGF was functioning properly, we would probably not even notice President Buhari’s shortcomings.

[8] Come May when the new government gets sworn-in, I would love to see an NGF delegation visit John Deere’s headquarters in Illinois

[9] I am sure they could easily sell a plan to the company’s board of directors that would justify opening a manufacturing facility in Nigeria

[10] All I would like to see now is one of the presidential candidates run with the idea. Sell it to all their gubernatorial candidates, so tu governors are ready to run with it come May