Ayo Akinfe
[1] So far, the US/Israeli air strikes on Iran have failed to create a panic in the global crude oil market but should the situation escalate and prices rise to say over $100 a barrel, Nigeria needs to come up with an action plan
[2] Do you know that the gross domestic products (GDP) of Nigeria and Israel are about the same size but alas, they are 20m people, while we are 200m. I keep on making the point that our number one problem in Nigeria is that we are not productive enough. If our unit-per-head output matched that of Israel, we would have a GDP of about $2trn, which make us a G-7 economy
[3] Now, we need an emergency law passed by the National Assembly stipulating that if global crude prices exceed $80 a barrel, the excess must go into a special fund that can ONLY be used for specific infrastructural projects. These will be listed in the sponsoring bill as power facilities, railway lines, sea ports, specialist hospitals, inter-state motorways, tourism facilities and airports
[4] As much as we must condemn Zionism for colonising the Arabs and grabbing Palestinian land, you have to admire the resilience of the Israelis. Their can-do spirit, surviving in a hostile environment surrounded by nations they are at war with takes guts. They hate Africans too but we brought such derision on ourselves. Would they treat us so if Nigeria had say the world’s fourth largest economy?
[5] Nigerians like to blame the slave trade, colonialism and imperialism for their plethora of socio-economic woes but that is just looking for excuses in my opinion. We have had 60 years to turn round our fortunes. We need to seize the next opportunity as it may be our last one
[6] Israel was created in 1948 and by 1967 had firmly established herself as a regional power. Her Arab neighbours were fast asleep while Israel was drawing up plans to attack them. That is the kind of imagination we lack in Nigeria. Intellectually lazy people get dominated - It is as simple as that
[7] Israel lost 6m Jews during the Holocaust, which is more than Nigeria lost during the trans-Atlantic Slave trade. If they could bounce back from it, we really have no excuse. we should aim to make sure that if oil prices rise, we invest the money in ventures that diversify our economy and end our perpetual dependence on petroleum
[8] Yes, Israel is America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East and half of its budget gets counter-funded by Washington but hey, they have an annual budget of $129bn compared with Nigeria’s paltry and embarrassing $33bn. How can a nation of 200m people have a budget of less than $200bn for heaven’s sake? We need to make a solemn pledge never to allow Nigeria's annual budget to drop below $100bn after this Middle East crisis
[9] Between 1960 and now, Nigeria has made more money from the sale of crude oil than Israel has got in US subsidies. Yet, they have managed to find a way to irrigate the desert while we are still debating nomadic cattle rearing. Let us make a solmen pledge that 2025 will be the turning point in our history
[10] I have said again and again, that the only problem with Nigeria is Nigerians. There is no civic responsibility, everyone is so obsessed with accumulating personal wealth, our vanity makes us obsessed with needless titles, we embrace religion fanatically without question, we are easily misled along ethnic lines and are intellectually lazy like the Arabs, who are still herding camels when Israel is building rockets. Nigeria has got to join the league of progressive humanity on the back of this crisis
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