Tinubu will solve half of Nigeria’s problems if he can get the following manufacturing concerns operating at full capacity within his first four years in office 

Ayo Akinfe

[1] NNPC
My stance on this has always been clear. Privatise the NNPC with the government holding say a 25% stake in it. Then expand its operations to cover manufacturing, automobile assembly, food processing, petrochemicals, power generation, railway equipment manufacture, etc. Within a year, the NNPC should be floated on the New York and London stock exchanges with a market capitalisation of at least $200bn

[2] Man of God PLC
Nigeria’s clergymen are some of her wealthiest citizens. I want to see the likes of Enoch Adeboye, David Oyedepo, Kris Okotie, Chris Oyakilome, Biodun Fatoyinbo, Suleman Johnson, etc merge all their commercial operations and form a company that can play the same role the Catholic Church played in 18th century Europe. The Catholic Church was the biggest operator in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Man of God Nigeria Limited should also be a huge player in sectors that include rail franchises, airline operators, manufacturing, automobile assembly, food processing, petrochemicals, power generation, railway equipment manufacture, solar energy production, etc

[3] Dangote Industries
Alhaji Dangote is the closest thing we have to an industrial enterpruener in Nigeria today. He is investing in oil refineries, sugar, cement, rice, tomato paste production and other types of food processing. Dangote’s three key sectors are power, food and housing materials. I want to see a massive expansion in its operations

[4] Atilogwu Enterprises
By any standards you want to use, Ndigbo are Africa’s most enterprueneral people. It is time all these small operators merged into one conglomerate. Just imagine if you had one giant corporation manufacturing all of Nigeria’s pharmaceuticals, clothes & shoes and automobile spare parts. Atilogwu Enterprises should have three massive manufacturing plants in Nnewi, Aba and Orlu employing at least 5,000 people in these individual plants, each producing car parts, clothing and drugs respectively

[5] Nigerian Airlines
Despite the failures of Nigerian Airways, Arik Air and MedView Airlines, I remain optimistic that we can crack the aviation nut. Air Peace gives me hope that there are still people out there like Allen Onyeama who know how to do things properly and are not just motivated by short term greed. We should merge all our domestic airlines into one and get it to function in a manner similar to Ethiopian Airlines or Egypt Air

[6] Otedola and Adenuga Corporation
Femi Otedola and Mike Adenuga are two moguls who have a massive presence in the telecommunications and energy industries. Of late, they have begun investing in the power sector. I want to see them merge their operations and take the power sector in particular to unprecedented heights. Do you know that theoretically, two lone nuclear reactors running on small pellets could power the entire planet, safely and cleanly? It is called nuclear fusion. I would like to see these two invest billions of dollars in such ventures

[7] Alakija Womens Enterprises
Africa’s wealthiest woman Folorunso Alakija serves as testimony to the phrase that anything a man can do, a woman can do too (or better). Being a feminist, I am delighted that at least one is our leading enterprueners is a woman. Mrs Alakija is also into energy so I would like her to also be part of the power revolution. For me, she should also be the world’s largest manufacturer of women’s products like sanitary towels and be the largest supplier to companies like Mary Kay

[8] Innoson Manufacturing Company
Nigerians take pride in the fact that we have a local company that assembles cars but hey, it is not yet uhuru. Most of Innoson’s products are manufactured in China and the companies cars cannot be exported to Europe as they will fail EU emissions tests. We need to turn Nnewi, Aba, Ohafia, Enugu, Benin and Auchi into huge manufacturing sites, kind of like Detroit and produce cars for distribution all over Africa

[9] Arewa Enterprises
During the First Republic, Ahmadu Bello dreamt of a northern Nigeria that was economically self-reliant. He opened facilities like the Mokwa Cattle Ranch, the Jebba Sugar Mill, Arewa Textiles, etc, with a view to catching up with southern Nigeria. Given that northern Nigeria accounts for 72% of the country’s land mass and is the main producer of agricultural produce, this dream is still realisable. Northern Nigeria is also home to most of our rivers that can easily used for power generation. Arewa Enterprises should set itself a target of zero unemployment across northern Nigeria

[10] Odua Group of Companies
As far as I am concerned, Nigeria has only ever produced one visionary leader and that is Obafemi Awolowo. The group he founded today is still in existence and runs some of his legacies like Cocoa House. It is time to start building on his foundation. I would like to see the Odua Group of Companies take the power revolution to new heights as Awolowo would have done with something dramatically futuristic. Why are we still relying on fossil fuels? For decades, scientists have viewed nuclear fusion as the Holy Grail for clean, abundant and sustainable power. Based on the same principle that powers the stars, including our own sun, a couple of nuclear reactors running on small pellets could power our planet without the risk of a catastrophic meltdown and zero greenhouse gas emissions. I want to see Nigeria lead the world with this kind of technology